Overview

This article will teach you the process to create an event signup in Trail Blazer and how it will look on a website.  First it will display the online event directory and the registration process; second it will detail the steps to create that event in the Trail Blazer system.

Notes:

12/20/12Upgrade to event system deployed – developed by Patrick Hanf.  Patrick programmed the forms utilizing HTML Flow allowing them to fit any sized screen from handheld mobile devices to desktop computers.

·     Products (formerly known as Marketing Notions) are now distinguished between Merchandise and Tickets.

    · Tickets can be Sold or Free.

    · Payments are now (optional) for an event.

    · Purchase orders and Grants can now be accepted as payments for an event.

    · The event card now contains separated purchase details on both merchandise and tickets.

    · There is now the ability to send automatic email responders for an event signup.

    · The ticket purchaser has the (option) to send digital tickets to designated email recipients during the purchase process.

    · There are a variety of new UI upgrades and enhancements.

Online Event Directory and Registration Process

Navigate to the URL where your event directory is located:  https://www.trailblz.info/yourdatabasename/EventDirectory.aspx

NOTE:  Site location now contains SSL security and must include “https” in the front of the URL.  VERY IMPORTANT when linking to these forms from your website.

In this example the location was https://www.trailblz.info/DemoNonProfitMark/EventDirectory.aspx

Image of online Event Directory:

Tap on an event name to begin registration.  In this example “2013 Gala Fundraiser” was selected as displayed in the image below.

This will open up the Event Card, in this example there were tickets and merchandise tied to the event. This is an optional feature controlled in Trail Blazer.  The Event Card is shown in two images below.

Push the [Order and Register] button to proceed.

After selecting some tickets and merchandise to purchase and pushing the [Order and Register] button you will be taken to a secure event registration page that also displays your Order Summary.  If you have registered for any other event(s) hosted by this organization you can click follow the “Click Here” link.  Otherwise, you will need to register.  In this example I chose to register as a new event attendee and purchase tickets on behalf of family and friends. This is displayed in 3 images below.

After you click the [Complete Registration Order] button you will be taken to a page detailing your receipt, as the purchaser you will also receive 2 emails.  One that is a copy of your receipt and another that displays your individual ticket with information regarding the event.  If you entered email(s) for the other ticket holders and chose the (option) to send a digital ticket after purchasing, they will also receive an email with their individual ticket and information regarding the event.  An image of the purchase order/receipt is displayed below.

Now that you understand the process to sign up for an event online we will go through the steps to create this event in Trail Blazer including creation of the tickets and merchandise that were associated with this event.

Steps to Create an Event in Trail Blazer

Under the Application Menu follow Calendar/Tasks > Events

Click the [Search] button on the search tool strip to populate a list of all the events that are currently in your database.  In this example there were 12 events in my demo database as displayed in the image below.

NOTE:  You can query your events by dates, event name, those events that track contributions, and those that are public (published to web).  You also have the ability to sort this list by many different data points by clicking on that column header to sort in either ascending or descending order.  By default the list is sorted by event name in alphabetical order.

If the event is already created you can click on any of the underlined fields to open that event card, otherwise you would begin creating that event by clicking the [+ New] button on the search tool strip.  In this example the event was already created as displayed in the online event registration covered in the first part of this article.  I clicked on the “2013 Gala Fundraiser” to open that event record card.

The images below detail each tab within the Event Card.  They reference the event details, merchandise, and tickets that were displayed in the first part of the article.

Now that you have seen detailed images of the Event Card the next part of this article will teach you how to create a Ticket and a Product.

Steps to Create a Product

To create a new Product first open the event card you want to sell it for and navigate to the Products tab and Merchandise sub-tab.  Click the [+ New] button on the tool strip.

In the Create New Event Merchandise Item window you have the (option) to create a new product or select an existing product from your list of global products.  You can choose this by selecting one of the two (radio buttons).  In this example I detail the “Cedar Sapling” product I created.

Click [Save] when you are finished creating the new product or selecting it from your list of global products.

Now we will go through the process to create a Ticket.

Steps to Create a Ticket

From within the event record card where you want to create a ticket first navigate to the Products tab and Tickets sub-tab, and click the [+ New] button.

Either click the radio button to create a new ticket or choose an existing ticket from the global product list.  In this example I chose to create a new ticket called “Plate” as displayed in the image below.

Click [Save] to finish creating a ticket and it will be added to the list of tickets within the Event Card and automatically published online if the event is “live”.

NOTE:  Check back often for feature updates and enhancements.  This may include a ticket/seating reservation system, as well as the ability to post attributes on the event signup page.

Steps to Remove an Event Participant, Set their Status, Set their Role

First open the event card you want to update participants in.  In this example I used the 2013 Gala Fundraiser.

Navigate to the Participants tab and click the Other link on the row of the participant you want to update/remove.  In this example I selected Christine Allmann as displayed in the image below.

NOTE:  You can also click the RSPV Response link to perform this same process.

The image below details the participant role card with sample information selected.

NOTE:  Clicking the red X at the top of this card to remove the participant will only remove them from this event.  It will not delete their record card from the database.

Click [Save] when you are finished updating the participant’s role.  This may be a process you run before the event starts to forecast how many people will be attending, you may also run this process post-event to analyze how many people did actually attend and to collect specific comments/user fields etc.

Related Resources

YouTube Channel – TrailBlazerSoftware – “Events 2013”

Trail Blazer Knowledge Base - “Web site signup < iFrame >”

Trail Blazer Knowledge Base - “Configure Website”

Trail Blazer Knowledge Base - “Setting the Time Zone in your Trail Blazer Database”

Trail Blazer Knowledge Base - “Email Notification of Web Occurrences”