With the ability to create, schedule and invite attendees to events, as well as send automated emails, the event management system in Slate consolidates and simplifies office processes into a single, straightforward system.

Examples

Admissions

Examples of admissions events include:

• Campus tours

• Information sessions

• Open houses

• Admitted student events, and more

Student Success

Examples of student success events include:

• Academic Advising Sessions

• Lunch and Learns

• Student Club/Organization Events

• Orientation Events, and more

Advancement

Examples of Advancement events include:

• Alumni events

• Homecomings

• Class reunions, and more

Event templates

Event templates save time and effort by keeping event configuration centralized in event templates.

Event templates can be used to add recurring events en masse, without the need for any additional configurations. All events that have an event template inherit that template’s registration form and communications.

If you need to make changes to these items after events have been created from a template, those changes can be made at the template level.

⭐ Best Practice

Always use an event template, even if only one event uses that template at the moment.

To create an event template:

1. Events in the top navigation bar.

2. Click New Template.

3. Enter the following User configurations:

   • Template Name: Give template a descriptive name.

   • Status: Make template Active.

   • Time Zone: The Timezone setting Autodetect from Location will use the information entered on the Location tab to determine the timezone of event.

   • Privacy: Checking this on a template will hide all events that use this template. Normally this will be left unchecked at the template level.

   • User: This will default to User's name but may be changed to another user.

   • Admin Notify Email: Skip this setting at this time.

4. Location and Description: If desired, enter information on the Location tab or the Description tab. This information will be passed down to events using this template, although this can be overridden on the individual event.

5. Limits - If this type of event has a registrant limit, this may be set that at the template level. Events using this template will honor this limit unless a different registrant limit has been set on the individual event. 

Override Template Info

It is possible to override the basic event template settings on an individual event basis. For example, a single information session may meet at a different location than usual, and therefore has a lower registration limit. The location and registration limit for that individual event may be changed without impacting other events associated with that event template. Since the event is still associated with the event template, the registration form, event communications, and landing page will still function as normal.

Location

If the event regularly occurs in the same location (for example, a campus tour always begins at the admissions office), enter that location information in the event template:

• Online Event - Leave this box unchecked.

• Location Name - Enter the location name.

• Address Information - Enter address information.

• Preserve Formatting - All addresses are sent to the USPS for validation and standardization. Check this box to prevent the address from being updated. This is generally useful for addresses where the USPS abbreviates a city name, or if a building name or room number information should be included. This setting will not remain checked once the event is saved, though the formatting will have been preserved. 

Description

• Optionally include a description of your event. This description will display on the event registration page beneath the Title, Time, and Location information:

Notes

Any information provided on the Notes tab will only display administratively.

When basic template configurations are saved, the Template Management screen appears.

Event Form

Constructing a registration form for an event template will ensure that the same form is used for every event using that template. For example, if it is decided later that one more field should be added to the campus tour registration form, the form associated with the template may be modified and will update the registration forms for all of the existing campus tour events.

Guests vs Attendees

If the registration limit should apply to guests as well, include a form field that is mapped to either: Special Form Fields > Guests or Special Form Fields > Attendees.

Guests represents the number of people, not including the registrant, that will attend the event with the registrant. If the registrant brings 2 guests, guests would be 2.

Attendees is the number of people, including the registrant, that will attend. If the registrant brings 2 guests, attendees would be 3.

• Type: Both Guests and Attendees are prompt-driven fields, so use the Form Builder Palette to add a form field that is compatible with prompt lists.

• System Field: Select Special Form Fields and then select either Guests or Attendees

• Prompts: By default, the prompt options for both Guests and Attendees go up to 5. Override system prompts to reduce this number, or even increase it.

Guests count toward the registration limit set for an event if "Include guests in registrant limit" is selected for the Include Guests setting under the Limits tab of the event settings. For example, the event may have a limit of 10 people. If 5 registrants each bring 1 guest, the limit would be met and the event would be marked as Full.

If the registrant limit is exceeded when guests are added, the registration limit default message or (or custom message if it has been configured) will appear in a pop-up window. The default message is: "Registration is no longer available because the registration capacity has been exceeded."

At the template or individual event level, Slate can count guests against the Registrant Limit using the Include Guests setting in the event/event template "Limits" tab:

Here is a truth table for the different setting combinations for the Include Guests setting:

✅ = guests factored against limit   ❌ = guests not factored against limit

The Include Guests setting will be factored into Slate's waitlist transfer functionality, meaning that guests will be included when a registration is transferred from the waitlist. The status of a related event shown on the related events selector will not reflect if there are waitlist spots available. 

Ensure Slate collects the correct number of guests for the total registration amount by mapping only one form field to either Guests or Attendees under the Special Form Fields category.

Email Confirmation

The Email Confirmation system field can be used to ensure accurate email address entry.

• System Field - Special Form Fields > Email Confirmation

The second email address entry is unique in that the value will not be stored in any other field other than the form field. This mapping is used only to prevent form submission if the Email Confirmation value does not exactly match the Email Address form field that is mapped to the Email system field under the Student Record.

Using Internal Only Fields

Sometimes events require additional administrative processing steps once a student has registered. For example, a registrant for a campus tour may need to be assigned to a student guide.

A useful way to manage post-registration work is to add fields to the registration form that are configured as Internal Only. An Internal Only field will not display on the public registration page, but it will display on the administrative registration page. For example, a form field for Tour Guide may be created:

• Type - Be sure to select a compatible format type for your question.

• Label - This text will only display for your Slate administrators.

• System Field - Internal Only fields can be mapped or unmapped.

• Export Key - Provide an export key if you choose to keep your field unmapped.

• Prompts - In this example, the prompts would be the names of the student guides.

• Options - Be sure to check the Internal Only box.

After a student registers for the event, the processing team may open and edit the registration. When editing the event registration, the Internal Only fields will be visible to the processing team.

Hidden versus Internal?

Hidden fields never display on the registration page, even if the registration page is being viewed administratively. If you need to be able to enter data into a field that should only display administratively, configure the field as Internal Only.

Create Events

On the Template Management screen, click the button to batch-generate individual events. Provide details for your events:

1. Select the desired template.

2. Click Create Events.

3. Enter the following configurations in the popup window:

   • Page Title - Name the event. This title will appear on the public registration page.

   • Folder - Important: Create a folder for events. Folders are Critical! Events will be publicized based on folder names. Be sure to provide clear and informative folder names (e.g., “Campus Tours”). 

   • Status - Set the status to Confirmed/Active.

   • Recurrence - If creating more than one event, click the Recurrence box.

   • Date Range - Provide the date range for which events should be created, and the time of the events.

   • Deadline - Provide a deadline, if required.  If no deadline is provided, Slate will use the Start Time.

   • Activation Date/Time - Provide an activation date/time if required. If left blank, the registration form will be live immediately upon marking the status as confirmed/active. 

   • Weekdays - Select the days of the week during which  event occurs. In this example, a Campus Tour will be scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at 1:00 pm during for first 10 days in November.

   • Registrant Limit - Navigate to the Limits tab to provide a registration limit, if desired. If template has a limit, that limit will be used once events are created.

   • Privacy - Leave the Privacy setting unchecked.

   • User - Will default to user name.

4. Provide location information for events on the Location tab. If event template includes this information, the template address information will be used once events are created.

5. A description may be included on the Description tab. This information will display below the page title for an individual event. If the event template includes a description, the template information will be used once events are created.

After saving, the individual instances of the event will be created and will display on the Template Management screen.

Different Details? Create separate batches

Use the same template to create events that occur at various times on different days. For example, a campus tour summer schedule might look like this:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 1 pm

• Tuesday and Thursday at 10 am

Create events for M,W,F first; then create T, Th events.

Use the same template to create events that occur at various locations. For example, information sessions might be in two different locations on campus, like this:

• Building 1 at 1pm

• Building 2 at 1pm

Create events for Building 1 events first; then create Building 2 events.

Manage Events

After creating events, they will also appear in the event calendar view:

Overriding the template

When an event instance is edited (e.g., the time, event status, registration limit) the new details will override any template information for that event instance only.

Settings

Once an event has been created, the screen to manage registrations and edit the event itself resembles the following:

This event management screen will display the high level settings of the event, including:

• The date and time of the event

• The event location (with a map that can be edited). If the location is associated with a dataset record, the name of the location will be linked to the record.

• A link to the event template

• The event folder

• The user associated with the event

• The status of the event

• The public URL for the event. This URL can be edited to feature a vanity URL.

• Any documents associated with this event

All of these settings can be adjusted by editing the event using the top right Edit button on the event management screen.

If a Notes form is associated with this event, a Notes tab will be present near the top right of the event management screen. 

Don't see the event map?

If the map isn't displaying on an event, this could mean that the event geolocation is not saved when the event is created.

1. To add a map to an existing event where the geolocation did not happen, edit the event and add a space to the end of the street address and re-save. This will force it to re-run the geolocation.

2. To add a map to an event, click Edit Map and search for any location, or drag and drop the pin.

It is always recommended to double check the map that is automatically granted to an event to ensure that its geolocation matches the expected map area.

Edit and Export Options

On the right side of the screen, the following options are available to further edit the event and its components, export data, or view responses: