Sign-up sheets is a way for your members to sign up for an event online, such as a lunch or a trip. You can see an example of this on the Ambridge demo site. This facility is not enabled by default but you can request for it to be added. The settings are somewhat complicated so we normally do this for you.
You can add and edit your sign-up sheets from the Sign-up Sheets menu on the dashboard. All Sheets will show all your existing sheets and allow you to add new ones.
If you hover over a title you will see a popup menu, allowing you to view the list of who has signed up, edit the sheet, etc. Click on the title to see the list of signups so far.
From here you can view the list, clear individual sign-ups if someone has had to pull out, and export the whole list as a CSV file, which you can then open with Excel or any other spreadsheet editor.
Create a new sign-up sheet
Click on New Sheet and you’ll get to the sheet editor.
You need to give the event a title and then select either the Single Event type, or for a monthly event you could use use the Recurring type, which allows you to enter multiple dates with the same details. Recurring events are useful but be aware that if you export to CSV you will export a single file for all events in the series.
Generally you can leave the options at their default setting. You are required to enter a name and email address for the Chair or contact person for the event. You can enter a fake email address here but it may be better to use the secretary’s email address if the chair doesn’t have one, just in case someone does try to email.
Below this is a space to enter details of the event. You might put something to describe the event, the cost and any other relevant details. If there is a cutoff date for booking you should mention it here because there is no automatic way to close the booking sheet. You should also tell members what to do should they wish to cancel their booking.
You then need to Save the sheet and then click the Edit Tasks button to set the date for the event (this structure is because this facility was originally designed for a school PTA to sign up parents to run school social events, so you could have multiple tasks/stall on the same date). If you don’t do this next step, your event will not appear!
Firstly you have to enter the date for the event, or a set of dates if you have chosen a recurring event.
Next you have to add a ‘Task/Item’ for which I suggest you use the same name as the event name. You must enter a number for Needed as this determines the maximum number of people who can sign up. It doesn’t matter if it is too high.
You can also enter a start and end time if you wish. To set these, click in the box and a list of times should pop up; just click on the time you want. Note that midday is shown as 12 PM.
Look out for messages at the top of the screen; if anything is entered in a format that is not accepted, you will get an error message something like this:
Finally click Save and your sheet is ready.
Duplicating a sheet
Once you have set up a sheet to your liking it is often convenient to make a copy and edit it for your next event, rather than starting from scratch. From the main sheet listing, hover over the sheet title and select Copy. A duplicate will be created (but with no participants) which you can then edit with the new information.
Displaying sheets
To display your sheets it is best to put them on a separate page. When you click on a link in one of the signup sheet screens, the page is reloaded with a specific sheet. In doing that it takes you back up to the top of the page, and if your signup were in the middle of a page you would have to scroll down to find it again.
In order to display sign-up forms you just need to insert the shortcode [pta_sign_up_sheet] on a new page. Some clubs have found it useful to prefix this with a paragraph explaining what to do if you don’t use email. A suggested text is:
Note: The sign-up sheet system requires you to enter an email address. If you don’t have one you can use none@example.com instead
You will then need to create a link to the sign-up page from your events page.