The Events Management Section allows you to create and email invitations for events and training seminars, manage RSVP lists, track those who attended the event and how much they paid. You can invite both clients for whom you have records in SourceLink®, as well as “Non-Clients” (sponsors, your funders, partner organizations, etc.).
The options within the Events section are:
- Event Listing
- Manage Locations
This section covers Invitations. Creating an Event and Event Registration are covered in separate sections. Go to Managing Event Locations for more details on that.
Click on the desired event from the Event Listing on the left navigation bar.
Click the Invitations/Distribution tab in the top nav bar of the Event Listing.
The Invitations tab lets you create invitations to be e-mailed to prospective attendees. You may wish to create multiple invitations for on event. For example, two initial invitations to a networking event (one to your clients, another to community members or media), then possibly a reminder invitation a day or two before the actual event to those who have already registered.
Tip: You will need to create a separate invitation for each event. However, you can use the same Template.
Adding an Invitation
Click + Add Invitation
Choose from existing email template drop down menu or create a new template.
When Create New Template is selected, the Event Invitation Email Template will appear.
Enter the TemplateName. The Template Name is an internal way of helping you keep track of multiple invitations that may be created. For multiple invitations you will want to name them accordingly (Invitation to Sponsors, Reminder Invitation, etc.).
Enter Description of Usage, Email Subject Line, Reply to Email Address and the text/descriptive information that you want to appear in the body of the email invitation. You can format the body of the email using the html formatting controls which operate much the same way as do Word documents controls. When you are finished with the invitation, click Save.
Tip: The redesigned the email engine allows users to create and use e-mail templates for events invitations and follow-up communications. [tokens] that can be placed inside of e-mail communications to personalize the notes sent from SourceLink.
Once the template has been created, it can be edited to include the Session Information and Registration link.
For more information about templates, go to Email Templates for Survey and Event invitations.
Include Session Information—If you check this box, the information from the event you created will automatically appear in the email.
Include Registration Link—If you check this box, a link to the registration page in SourceLink will be included. If you want to link to a different website for registration, include that text in the body of the invitation.
Tip: It is a good idea to enter a method for the recipients to contact you should they have questions as direct replies to the email invitation itself cannot be retrieved.
Edit Invitation—Click on the Edit choice under Options to make changes in an existing invitation.
History—Click on the History choice under Options to see a listing invitations sent.
Send to Individuals
Click on Send to Individuals under Options. The Send this Invitation to Specific People screen will appear.
Begin typing a name into the search bar. When the correct name appears, click to select. You can type multiple names into the Select People box. When you have made your selections, click Send.
If you select a name in error, click the X to the right of the name to delete.
Send to Group
Click on Send to Group under Options. The Send Event Invitation to Group screen will appear.
The Send Invitation to Group allows you to create distribution lists and reuse those lists, using a series of filters.
Preview—Allows you to preview the list before sending.
Filter Set Options—Current Filters can be saved or you can open a saved set of Filters.
Tip: Name the saved Filter sets by who has been selected, such as Active Clients with valid emails so that you will know which group has been saved.
Available Filters:
- Interactions
- Snapshots
- Events
- Demographics
- Client Data
- Misc.
Each filter has a drop down menu. You can select multiple filters from which to build a distribution list. See Filters for Distribution Lists and Scout Reports for more information about these fields.
Tip: Selecting Filters for Distribution Lists works very much like selecting Filters for building a Scout Report.
Tip: If someone from your invitation list forwards the invitation to another person, that person will not be able to register from the email link. The registration link is unique to each person on the invitation list. Clicking on the link will provide the original invitee’s name and organization. A note will direct anyone else to call the phone number provided in the event information tab.
Invitation Statistics
If you hover over an event, you will get a summary of the following statistics:
Distribution Count—Number of people that have received the email invitation
Invitations Read—Number of invitations opened
Read %—What percentage of emails have been read
RSVPs—Number of people that have responded, either positively or negatively, to the event
Negative RSVP—Number of people that have declined the event
Positive RSVP—Number of people that have indicated that they will attend
Tip: Use Report EV 201 Event Participation Status to print out a list of those invitees who have registered for an event. Reference Reports.