Guest Category - Creating and Managing

• Creating an Event with a Guest Category
• Data Entry Mode for the Guest Step
• Build Form Mode for the Guest Step

Creating an Event with a Guest Category

NOTE: The Calendar Announcement and Event with Detail Page types have been removed.  These Event Types are only available via the front-end CMS listing option for creating these non-registration types of Events that only exist in Listings or as content pages. 

• Select the Create a new event radio button and the 4 registration models will be displayed. 
  
  
• Select the option Allow registrants to bring guests.  This option is selected by default and adds the Guest step and Guest category to the event.  The Guest step will be added as the second step to the form by default.  If this option is disabled, a warning message will appear letting you know that collecting guest information without using this guest control will cause issues in reporting.  Guest information can only be reported accurately when this control is used.
  
  NOTE:  The 'Allow registrant to bring guests' option is available on the Content Properties page for the Event and can be turned on or off at anytime.
  • Guests collected through the guest category will always count towards registration limits.
• The option Enable registration limits across all registrants will include the primary registrant and their guests.  Guests are considered registrants in Encompass and will be included in member limit counts.
• The option Enable registration limit for each primary registrant is set to a maximum of 20.  This means that the primary registrant can register themselves plus 19 guests by default.  The admin has the ability to restrict the number of guests to less than 19 through this option.  See Member Registration Limits for more information.
• If the option to Create related activities is enabled, the activity that is added will be added to a third step by default if the event has guests.  It will be added to the second step by default if the event doesn't have guests.
• The Message to coordinator option is unchecked (disabled) by default.

Data Entry Mode for the Guest Step

The Guest category is displayed to the admin in data entry mode and to the registrant with only the Add Guest button in the category.  The fields in the category are not rendered until the Add Guest button is selected.

Selecting the Add Guest button will display the new guest category allowing the admin to enter guest information.  By default the fields that will be displayed in the Guest category are First Name, Last Name, Email, option to Send this guest a copy of the confirmation email, Class Year and the Attendee List Opt-Out option.  If the email address is removed by the admin as a field in the Guest category, then the check box to Send this guest a copy of the confirmation email is also removed.  These items are tied together, since an email can't be sent if we don't have the email address.

If an email address that is entered in the guest email field has already been registered for the event, a message is displayed letting the primary registrant know that the guest has already been registered for the event.  They will not be allowed to register the guest using that email address.

Once all the required fields have been completed on the guest category and the admin/primary registrant hits the Save button, they are returned to the Guest step with the guest added under the Add Guest button.  The guest is displayed with all of the fields from the guest category with the exception of the 'Send this guest a copy of the confirmation email.' check box field.   Fields with and without values will be displayed.  The admin / primary registrant can remove the guest by selecting the 'X' in the upper right hand corner of the guest section.  This will bring up a message confirming that the user wants to remove the guest. If the user selects 'OK' they are returned to the guest page and the guest is no longer displayed under the guest list.  If the user selects 'cancel' they are returned to the guest page and the guest remains under the guest list.  The admin/primary registrant can edit the guest information by selecting the 'edit' link next to the guest name.  This will display the guest category with the guest information displayed in editable fields.

Build Form Mode for the Guest Step

The guest category is displayed to the admin in the build form mode with the Add Guest button in the category and all of the fields rendered in the guest category.  The admin will set up and configure one guest category per event.

By default, the new guest step with the guest category will be added to the second step on the event form.   The admin will be able to move the Guest Step using the Sort Steps option under Manage Forms, but the Guest Step has to be after the Registrant Step and before any Activity Steps.  If the admin attempts to move the Guest Step before the Registrant Step or after an Activity Step, there will be messaging displayed to the admin and the admin will not be able to proceed.

The Guest Category is called Guests when added to the event form.  This can be changed by using the pencil icon to the right of the name. 

The button will default to Add Guest and the messaging displayed to the user when no guests have been added will default to 'You currently have no guests'.  Both of these can be changed through Category Settings. 

The Guest Category will include First Name, Last Name, Email, option to 'Send this guest a copy of the confirmation email' (unchecked by default), Class Year and the Attendee List Opt Out option as default fields.  

• If the site does not have a field with the system alias of Class_Year, then the class year field is not added to the registrant or guest step.  
• If the Attendee List Opt Out option is enabled when you create an event, it will automatically be added to guest category.  If it's disabled when you create an event it is not added to the guest category.  If you want to add it to the guest category, you have to add it to primary registrant category and then add via Add Existing Field.
• The field that drives registration for the main event can be added to the Registrant step or any step before the guest step.  Adding the registration driver will automatically add that field to the guest category.  NOTE:  The system will allow the event to be configured with the field driving registration on a step after the guest category, but this will result in the guests not being registered correctly.  The registration driver for the main event should always be added before the guest category.
  

Admins will be able to remove any of these fields by selecting, the red "X", remove field option to the right of each field.  They can also sort the fields by selecting the sort option to the right of each field.  The admin will not have the ability to edit any fields that are shared with the registrant step of the form.  These fields should be edited from the registrant step and the changes would be applied to the fields on the guest category.   Any new fields added to just the guest category, can be edited through the guest category. 

 The admin will have the following options available to them under Manage Category:

• Category Settings
• Add Rich Text
• Add New Field
• Add Existing Field
• Sort Fields

Category settings will allow the admin to enable the category header, include category instructions and edit the Guest Button and No Guest Message verbiage.

Adding rich text will allow the admin to add specific help text to the guest category.   Displaying the rich text can be driven off of the Primary Registrants role.

The following fields are available to be added to the guest category:

• CheckBox
• CheckBox Series
• Country Drop Down List
• DateBox
• DateTimeBox
• DropDown List
• Email TextBox
• Email TextBox Confirm
• File Upload
• Hidden Value
• ListBox
• MultiSelect Box
• Radio Button Series 
• State Drop Down List
• Text Box
• Text Box Confirm
• Text Box Currency Decimal
• Text Box Distinct
• TextArea
• TextArea Large
• Time Zone DropDown
• TimeBox

The fields that can't be added to the guest category are the following:

• Commerce Item Field
• Fee Control
• Promotion Code
• CEEB Lookup - College
• CEEB Lookup - High School
• Commerce Amount Field
• Email Forwarding Address
• Label
• Password Box
• Social Security Number TextBox
• Dual DropDown Lists

Admins can add existing fields to the guest category.  Existing profile fields, non-commerce form fields and fields from the event main registrant category can be added to the guest category.  An event folder called Event Name - Registrant Step can be found when adding existing fields from the guest category.  This folder includes a folder for each category on the registrant step with all fields in that category that have not been added to the guest category.  By default, all fields added on the registrant step that drive registration will automatically be added to the guest category.  All other fields that are added to the registrant step will not be added to the guest category.  The admin would need to use this new folder to add those fields.  The following options are available when adding existing fields:

Copy as the only option

• Any field that exists on the registrant step, regardless of whether it is instance, reusable instance, clonable, not clonable
• Reusable instance fields from other forms
• Normal (non-instance) fields from other forms that have is_clonable set to False

Copy and Clone as options

• Normal (non-instance) fields from other forms that have is_clonable set to True

Clone as the only option

• Instance fields from other forms

Fields that are added to the guest category from the registrant step will not show up as new columns in the export. 

The admin will have the following options available to them under Manage Forms from the Guest step:

• Add Activity Step
• Add Step
• Edit Step Settings
• Sort Steps
• Delete This Step
• Lock Form
• Review / Finish Pages
• Edit Billing Page Header
• Member Confirmation Email
• Admin Confirmation Email
• Registration Fees / Commerce Items
• Attendee List
• Form Reporting
• Import From Data

When the guest option is enabled, the Guest step with the Guest category are added.  Admins will not be able to add any additional categories to the Guest step or remove the guest category from the Guest step.  To remove the Guest Step and Guest category, the admin should go into Content Properties and disable (uncheck) the 'Allow registrants to bring guests' option.