If you are looking for a powerful and easy-to-use tool to manage your events, look no further than CiviEvent. CiviEvent is a component of CiviCRM, the open source constituent relationship management system for non-profits, NGOs and advocacy organizations.
CiviEvent allows you to create and manage any type of event, from simple meetings and workshops to complex conferences and fundraisers. You can set up online registration forms, collect payments, send confirmation emails and receipts, track attendance, generate reports and more.
How to Host Successful Events with CiviEvent
In this blog post, we will show you some of the key features and benefits of using CiviEvent for your events, and how our hosting company can provide you with the best support and performance for your CiviCRM site.
What is CiviEvent?
CiviEvent is a component of CiviCRM that provides a full set of tools for running events and recording a constituent’s attendance in their activity record¹. CiviEvent helps you to:
– Create event registration forms, register participants online or offline, sign up volunteers, and automatically generate registration confirmations and receipts.
– Establish your event’s date, time, location, registration period, capacity, fees, discounts, waitlists and cancellation policies.
– Search for participants by event, event type, participant role, status, payment method and more. Easily import and export participant data to/from other systems.
– Send pre-event reminders or post-event follow-ups to attendees, donors, sponsors and more. Customize your email templates with tokens and mail merge.
– Generate reports and analysis on your events’ performance, revenue, attendance and feedback. Export your reports as PDF or CSV files.
– Set up recurring events and activities. Allow users to export events as iCal files and configure online calendar applications to “subscribe” to iCal feeds of your public events.
Why use CiviEvent?
CiviEvent is not just another event management tool. It is part of a comprehensive CRM system that integrates with other components such as CiviContribute (for donations), CiviMember (for memberships), CiviMail (for email marketing), CiviCase (for case management) and more.
This means that you can leverage the power of CiviCRM to create a holistic view of your constituents’ engagement with your organization. You can track their event participation history, interests, preferences, donations, memberships, communications and interactions in one place.
You can also use CiviCRM’s features such as groups, tags, custom fields, profiles and smart groups to segment your audience and target them with personalized messages and offers based on their event behavior.
CiviEvent is also flexible and customizable to suit your specific needs. You can create custom event types, participant roles and statuses. You can use form builder to design your own registration forms. You can use extensions to add more functionality such as event templates, QR codes, seating charts and more.
How to configure CiviEvent?
Before you can start creating and managing events with CiviEvent, you need to do some basic configuration steps. These include:
- Enabling the CiviEvent component in Administer > System Settings > Components.
- Setting up your event types in Administer > CiviEvent > Event Types. You can create custom event types such as webinar, workshop, gala etc.
- Setting up your participant roles in Administer > CiviEvent > Participant Roles. You can create custom participant roles such as speaker, volunteer, sponsor etc.
- Setting up your participant statuses in Administer > CiviEvent > Participant Statuses. You can create custom participant statuses such as confirmed, waitlisted, cancelled etc.
- Setting up your payment processors in Administer > CiviContribute > Payment Processors. You can choose from various payment options such as PayPal, Stripe etc.
- Setting up your price sets in Administer > CiviEvent > Price Sets. You can create custom price sets for different events such as early bird pricing, member discounts etc.
These are some of the essential configuration steps that you need to do before creating your first event.
How to configure volunteers in CiviEvent?
If you need volunteers for your events, you can use CiviEvent to register and manage them. You can create a custom participant role for volunteers and assign them to your events. You can also use a different profile to collect specific information from your volunteers, such as their availability, skills and preferences.
To configure volunteers in CiviEvent, you need to follow these steps:
– Create a custom participant role for volunteers in Administer > CiviEvent > Participant Roles. You can name it “Volunteer” or anything else that suits your needs.
– Create a custom profile for volunteers in Administer > Customize Data and Screens > Profiles. You can add any fields that you want to collect from your volunteers, such as contact information, dietary requirements, emergency contacts etc.
– Create an event for your volunteers in Events > New Event. You can use the same event as your main event or create a separate event for your volunteers. Make sure to enable online registration and select the volunteer profile as the registration profile.
– Add your volunteers to the event in Events > Manage Events > Find Participants. You can either register them manually or let them register themselves online. Make sure to select the volunteer role for each participant.
– Manage your volunteers in Events > Manage Events > Event Dashboard. You can view and edit the details of your volunteers, send them emails, print badges, generate reports and more.
By using CiviEvent to configure volunteers, you can streamline your event management process and ensure that your volunteers have a positive experience with your organization.
How to host CiviEvent?
CiviEvent is part of CiviCRM which is a web-based application that runs on a server. To host CiviEvent successfully, you need a reliable hosting provider that can offer you:
– High performance: Your hosting provider should have fast servers with enough resources (CPU, RAM, disk space) to handle your site’s traffic and load. Your hosting provider should also have caching mechanisms and CDN services to optimize your site’s speed and performance.
– Security: Your hosting provider should have secure servers with firewalls, SSL certificates, backups and malware protection. Your hosting provider should also follow the best practices for updating and patching your site’s software and plugins.
– Support: Your hosting provider should have knowledgeable and responsive staff who can help you with any issues or questions related to your site’s hosting. Your hosting provider should also have documentation and tutorials to guide you through the installation and configuration of your site.
That’s why we recommend our hosting company 2020media.com as the best choice for hosting your CiviCRM site with CiviEvent. We have been providing hosting services for CiviCRM sites for over 10 years. We have the expertise and experience to ensure that your site runs smoothly and securely.
We offer:
– Dedicated servers with fast RAID drives and generous bandwidth
– Free and paid SSL certificates
– Daily backups
– 24/7 monitoring
– 99.9% uptime guarantee
– One-click installation of CiviCRM
– Free migration from your existing host
– Free domain name or transfer.