Setting Up Registration and RSVPs

Every event can decide how people respond, from just showing the details to collecting full sign-ups. This article walks through the Registration section of the event editor so you can pick the right style for your event.

Before you begin

You need the Admin role or an events grant for your church.
The event must already exist. If you have not made it yet, start with Creating an Event.

Step-by-step

Open the event and scroll to Registration. In the event editor, find the Registration section, labeled "How people respond, plus capacity and sign-up details."
Choose how people respond. Pick one of the four buttons:
- No sign-up shows the event details only. People can see it but there is nothing to sign up for.
- Register gives guests a sign-up form on the public event page.
- RSVP lets guests tap Going, Maybe, or Can't go.
- Link sends people to your own sign-up page on another site, such as Eventbrite. See Sending People to Another Site to Register.
Set the Maybe option (RSVP only). When you choose RSVP, a switch labeled Include a "Maybe" option appears. Turn it off if you only want Going and Can't go.
Write a registration message (optional). With Register, RSVP, or Link on, a Registration message box appears. Whatever you type shows above the Register button on the public event page. You have up to 280 characters. Leave it blank to use the default message.
Set a registration deadline (optional). Turn on Registration deadline and pick a date to automatically close sign-ups after that day.
Set an attendee limit (optional). Turn on Limit attendance and enter a Max attendees number. Anyone who signs up past that number goes onto a waiting list.

You're all set. Your choices save with the rest of the event.

Closing sign-ups early

Below the deadline is a switch called Close registration now. Turn it on to immediately stop new sign-ups and show a "Registration closed" message, no matter what the deadline says. Turn it back off any time to reopen sign-ups. This is handy when your event fills up sooner than expected or plans change. For more on this, see Closing Registration.

Adding your own questions

Further down the Registration section is a Registration form block where you can add custom questions, such as dietary needs or a t-shirt size. Click Add question to build them. This block only appears when Register or RSVP is turned on. It is a separate feature with its own setup, so it is covered in its own article.

Repeating events: settings that can differ by date

On a repeating event, some sign-up settings can be different on one date. Pick the date at the top of the editor and change them under Registration. When you save, choose This date, This and following dates, or All dates.

The Sign-ups on switch, which names the date you're viewing, turns sign-ups off for the dates you choose, so those dates show "No registration needed". People who already responded keep their response.
Allow guests and Guests per person set whether people can bring others on that date, and how many. People who already signed up keep their guests.
Close registration now, Limit attendance, and the Registration message work per date too.

Some settings are the same on every date: How people respond (Register, RSVP, or Link), the Maybe option, the Registration deadline, Guest details, and Price and payment. Each shows its current value with an Edit button. Edit opens a window, and Save for all dates saves that one setting for every date right away. Registration questions also apply to every date and save as soon as you add or change one.

When one date has its own price, the every-date choice below is not offered, since one sign-up can't cover dates that cost different amounts. Other per-date rules (a lower limit, closed sign-ups, no guests) are handled week by week, as described below.

Repeating events: this date or every date

On a repeating event, tapping Register, Going, Maybe, or Can't go opens one screen. It shows your household if you have one, and an Applies to choice: Just this date (the default) or Every week. The second choice follows how the event repeats, so it reads Every other week or Every month when that fits. The choice covers everyone whose response you change on that screen.

Going for every week puts the person on the list for that date and every date after it, with no need to sign up again each week.
Before they register, the screen tells them exactly what that means. When every week is a normal one, it's one line. Otherwise it says "You'll be signed up for every Thursday except:" and lists the weeks that differ: a full week puts them on that week's waitlist, a week whose sign-ups are closed leaves them off its list, and a cancelled week is shown too. Weeks they can still come to (no sign-up needed, a moved date, fewer guests allowed) appear as short notes underneath.
If the date they picked is full, they go on its waitlist and are signed up from the next date with room. If every upcoming date is full, the button reads Join the waitlist and their whole sign-up waits.
A household stays together: if a week has room for some of them but not all, they all go on that week's waitlist.
Once signed up, a week that fills up later never takes their spot. Their confirmation and confirmation email list the same weeks.
Maybe for every week is a standing maybe: they show as a maybe on each date and are never counted as going.
Can't go for every week takes them off the list from that date on, including any weeks they were waiting on. Dates they already attended keep their record.
On any single date they can change their answer for that date only. Tapping Going again on a skipped date puts them back.
Their confirmation card reads the same as for a single date ("You're going!"), and the line under it says when the answer covers every week. Change your response opens the same screen. Someone with no household gets the three response buttons there instead of a list.
On a registration-form event, Cancel registration asks the same question: skip just this date, or stop going to all.
In Edit registration, unchecking a household member who is on the every-date list asks which dates they come off: Just this date (the default) or This and all following dates. Either way, earlier dates keep their record.
Each date's count and attendee list include everyone signed up for every date, minus anyone who opted out of that particular date, plus anyone who signed up for just that date.
Household members follow the same choice. When Applies to is set to every week, each partner or child marked Going or Maybe gets the same standing answer, and a Can't go takes that member off the list from that date on. The picker labels anyone already on the every-date list. With Just this date, a member's change affects that date only.
Full dates work the same for household members. A partner or child marked Going for every week on a full date goes on that date's waitlist and is going from the next date with room, just like a new sign-up.
Someone already going every week who picks Every week from an earlier date moves their start earlier. If that earlier date is full, they wait on it and their sign-up starts at the next date with room. Family members who came with them move with them.

Paid repeating events do not offer the every-date choice yet, and one-time events never show it.

RSVP buttons in emails

When an email you send is about an event, it can carry an RSVP button so people answer right from their inbox. Tapping it opens a page with Yes, I'll be there and Can't make it. It follows the same rules as the event page:

Yes signs them up just like the event page does. If the event is full, they join the waiting list and the page says You're on the waitlist. Someone already on the waiting list stays in line.
If the event takes payment or has registration questions, the page says Almost done and a Continue on the event page button opens the sign-up form there.
If the event uses Link, the page says Almost done and Continue on the event page opens the event page, where Register opens your sign-up page.
If sign-ups are turned off, past the deadline, or closed, the page says so instead of offering Yes. A cancelled event or date shows that it was cancelled. Once the event is over, the page says it has ended and takes no answer at all.
After a Yes, they get the same confirmation email as signing up on the event page, and you get the usual heads-up if registration alerts are on.
Can't make it cancels a free spot right away. For a booking they paid for, the page sends them to the event page to cancel, where any refund is handled.
If the event limits who can sign up and this person isn't included, the page says so instead of offering Yes. Someone who already has a spot keeps it. See Choosing Who Can Sign Up for an Event.

Good to know

No sign-up clears the deadline, attendance limit, and any paid-event settings, since there is nothing to sign up for.
The Registration message shows for Register, RSVP, and Link. The custom Registration form shows only for Register and RSVP.
Maybe responses are counted separately from Going, so a "Maybe" does not fill an attendee spot.
When someone goes over your attendee limit, they land on a waiting list rather than being turned away. See Managing Capacity and Waitlists.
To let everyone see an event while only your members, or certain groups or teams, can sign up, use Who can sign up?. See Choosing Who Can Sign Up for an Event.