Section 12 - Groups.Place Resources
Adding an event to Groups.Place
To start adding events, go to https://app.groups.place/group/EYCZ and create an account (unless you have one already). Once you have requested access, lets Richelle know and she will give you event organiser access.
A few things to remember:
Always clone the template, don't create an event from scratch. The first thing you do when cloning the event is to RENAME it.
Feel free to play with test events (put your name at the front of any test event), but do not publish it unless it is an actual event.
Always open Groups.Place direct from your browser (chrome/safari) when using your phone. You can do this by clicking the link, then clicking on the menu at the top or bottom, and selecting “View in safari/Chrome”), or simply cut and pasting the link into your browser. Clicking on a link direct from Facebook takes you to the Facebook internet browser, which often lacks the functionality of a usual safari/chrome browser. This results in forms not working properly, and the chance of losing any data you have entered. We suggest making a habit of this for any links that may involve doing anything more than reading (eg, shopping etc).
There is no app for Groups.Place, however with the webpage open on your phone, go to your browser menu, and save it to Home Screen, this creates a shortcut to the website, and looks like an app.
Please view the video for complete instructions.
How do payments on Groups.Place work?
Members who have paid a yearly or monthly membership get to RSVP to all walk events for no charge. They select this option when RSVPing.
Visitors who are attending their first event will select the “Casual Visitor (first event free)” option
All other visitors are charges 10-$15 to attend events to cover off insurance and other expenses.
When a visitor RSVPs and selects this paid visitors option, this amount is added to their profile as a balance due. This is a yellow box at the top of any page they visit on Groups.Place. They can click this box and pay their balance using their credit card. They can also see the breakdown of their amounts charged and paid by going to the menu, and selecting “My Billing”.
Cancellations/change of RSVP to no for Casual Visitors
Scenario 1 - RSVP’d Yes, but not paid, then RSVP’s no :
A Casual visitor rsvps yes, then they will get a little yellow box appear at the top of their page with "Balance Due", they can click on this to pay. They are supposed to do this as soon as they RSVP, but sometimes they take a few days to do it. As leaders there’s no expectation on you to chase these people. But in this scenario, if they haven’t yet paid, but then change their rsvp to no, the balance due is just removed. There is no credit or refund as they never actually paid.
Scenario 2 - RSVP’d Yes, paid $10, then RSVP’s no (or event is cancelled):
A Casual visitor rsvp yes, and pays the $10, if the event is cancelled, or they change their rsvp to no, that $10 will be automatically retained as a credit on their account. Which means the next event they rsvp as a casual visitor will use the $10 credit as payment. So they will never get the little yellow "Balance Due" box, as they have used their credit in their account.
In the case where the participant insists on a refund of their paid amount, ask them to contact Richelle directly.
Where a visitor is a no show they will not receive a credit. Rule of thumb, if they are still on the going list at the start of the event, they will be charged. Obviously things can happen where this might not apply, contact Richelle for any adjustments.
If you are organising an event with event specific costs, please check in with Richelle to confirm how to do it (and how much to charge).
Delaying the RSVP open date for an event
If you are creating an event that you think will fill up quickly, or is a long time in advance, you can set it to open RSVP’ at a future date. This is a good way to make it fair so that everyone gets a chance to see it before it opens. It also encourages people to check their diaries before just clicking Yes on everything. Here’s how to do it:
Avoiding last minute RSVP changes
Late cancellation is where someone cancels less than 48hrs before an event without messaging you with an explanation.
Currently, if your event is open to RSVP's right up until the start time, people can change their RSVP just minutes before the start time, and it just removes them off the list. As they are not on the list, when you take attendance, their name isn’t there for you to mark "late cancellation". So we cant see the repeat offenders (and we really want to see those repeaters).
So here’s the process for closing the event to RSVP’s 48hrs before the event. It is in the template, but you can add it to any of your events, or turn this on or off as required.
Set your RSVP's to closed 48hrs before the event (you can do this automatically with the Virtual Assistant). This means that members must contact you to have you remove them (they cant remove themselves), but also means no new people can rsvp unless they message you to add them manually. Here’s the walkthrough.
Waitlists
Here’s a few things to know about waitlists:
The waitlist will automatically kick in once the maximum number of attendees has been reached.
Any participant can view those on the waitlist (and judge where on the list they are), by clicking on the eye icon, next to the “X Waiting” section under “Who’s Going”
People will be moved off the waitlist to “going” when someone marked as “going” changes their RSVP to no. People will be moved off the waitlist in the order they were added (with earliest date first).
When you make adjustments as a leader, automatic wait list processing will not happen. That means if you increase the number of open spots, or take people off the RSVP list, nothing will happen automatically. This is by design to keep you in control of your attendance list without worrying about the system doing its own thing. To “process” the waitlist, you need to go into the event, Who’s Going (list of attendees), click “Manage Waitlist” and click “Process Waitlist”.
If someone has been moved off the waitlist at the last minute (eg a day or 2 before the event), they may not see they have been moved, so I like to send them a message, or an sms to let them know (and they it can be offerred to someone else if they cant come).
Adding or deleting participants from an event
There may be a range of reasons why you need to manually add or delete a participant from an event.
Cancelling or changing the date or location of an event
You may need to cancel an event due to weather, ill health, insufficient RSVP’s or something else. If it’s weather related, consider changing your event to a lunch/coffee catchup instead, people love doing this! If you cannot make it, attempt to find a replacement leader by checking in with your crew support or posting in the leaders FB group. Ensure that any location or leader changes are clearly communicated to the participants.
To cancel an event, take the following steps:
To cancel, put a post in the comments with the reason for the cancellation
Cancel the event using the cancel button in the edit mode. Always use cancel, do not delete. This will send an additional alert to the participants.
If it is very last minute, ask for acknowledgement in the comments, or you can send an SMS to the participant (their phone number is in their profile)
To change the date of an event:
If you have less than 5 people going to the event, you can change the date, and advise them all using the comments, asking for acknowledgement
If there are more than 5, usually the cleanest way is to cancel the event, and start a new one. You can simply clone the event to create the new one. We do this because it gets too messy making sure everyone knows that the date has changed, unless you are willing to follow everyone up individually. You can put a comment in the old event with a link to the new event to ensure that the original people know about it as soon as it’s done.
Sharing and event from Groups.Place to Facebook
I have noticed that sometimes the details that come across from Groups.Place on events you share on Facebook are sometimes a bit light on detail. Ive just done this screenshare to give you some tips on how best to advertise your upcoming events to get the best engagement.