Event request forms allow you to gather event requests from people who don't have access to Calendar. These also come in handy if you'd like to have an approval process for events that don't need any rooms or resources.
Anyone with the form's link can request an event while the form is open. People in the form's default approval group are notified and can either approve it to create the event or reject it to delete the request.
Tip
Want to see how to fill out the event request form? Check out this article!
Open the Forms tab on the Events page and select the New form button.
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Note
Only Organization Administrators and Event Administrators can create and edit event request forms. Everyone that can log in to Calendar can view all event request forms and submissions.
Choose the default settings for all events that will be created with this form.
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Caution
Payments are not supported in Calendar. If you'd like to charge a fee for reserving an event, you can create a hidden signup in Registrations to collect non-deductible payments for rentals and add the signup's URL address to the event request form's description.
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Name the form.
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Set the default event owner.
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Assign an approval group.
Notice
Approvers will not receive an email notification when the form is created.
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Click the green Create form button to... you guessed it... create the form!
Once an event request form has been created, you can add options and make any edits you want.
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Add a description with pricing information, a list of requestable rooms or resources, or instructions for requesters to let them know what additional information you need them to provide.
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Set your form to be open or closed.
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Use this link to share your form with people.
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Edit the default event owner, when needed. The new owner will receive an email notification.
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Choose required tags and add other tags to apply to the events created with this form.
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Edit the assigned approval group. Changing the approval group will immediately update pending requests in the Approvals tab on the Events page for members of affected approval groups. New approvers will not receive email notifications for existing pending requests.
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Archive or delete the form.
Notice
Deleting a form will reject and delete all associated pending event requests. Requested events that have already been approved are not affected.
Deleted forms and event requests cannot be recovered.
Event request forms can be open, closed, or archived.
Open - People can submit requests and the pending event will show in the calendar view for the default event owner and assigned approvers.
Closed - No new requests can be submitted, but any pending requests are kept intact and hidden for everyone in the calendar view. Feeds from closed forms will be hidden from the Filter pane on the Events page until they are reopened.
If someone tries to use the form's link while it's closed, they'll see a message that the form is not accepting submissions.
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Archived - When an event request form is archived, it will change the status to Closed and all of its pending event requests are rejected and deleted. You can restore an archived event request form in the Status section of the Settings tab by changing its status from Archived to Open or Closed.
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When an event request form is created, a new feed is automatically created for that form in the Event Requests Feed in the Filter pane on the Events page. Only forms with pending requests will be present in the feed..
Note
Event request form feeds are automatically enabled for only the default event owners and approvers, so pending events are included in their calendar view and filtered out for everyone else until they're approved.
Anyone can select open form feeds to see or hide pending events in their main calendar view.
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As requests come in, they are added to the form's feed for the default event owner and members of the assigned approval group. They can view submissions and follow up with requesters via email in the Activity tab and then approve or reject the request.
When a new request is submitted, the members of the assigned approval group will receive an email letting them know there’s an event request that needs approval.
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There will be a yellow dot on the Approvals tab of the Events page for the approvers when there are pending requests. Requested events from forms are grouped together in the Event Requests section.
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The form's feed filter will be enabled automatically for the event owner and approvers in the Filter pane on the Events page so they can filter that form's pending events in or out of their calendar view.
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To see pending event requests, open the Forms tab on the Events page. You can see how many pending requests there are for each Form.
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Open a Form and go to the Requests tab to see requests for that form.
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Change the filter to Approved to see all previously approved submissions for this form.
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Click on a submission to open the pending event. The event owner, managers, and Event Administrators can reschedule and make other edits to a requested event before or after it's been approved.
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Use the columns selector to choose which information is displayed about the submissions.
Note
Rejected requests are immediately deleted, so there isn’t a way to view them.
The default event owner and approvers can send clarifying questions and follow up with requesters by emailing them from the Activity tab in the event request. This keeps a full communication log in the Activity tab for all administrators to follow, no matter who sends the emails.
Note
Emails to and from requesters are also sent to the event owner and approval group members. Other event subscribers are only sent email notifications for internal notes.
To email the requester, open the Activity tab in the requested event and select Send Email.
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The content of emails that are sent to the requester from the Activity tab will be shown in the Activity feed and highlighted in blue. When the event requester responds to the email, it will appear in the event activity, highlighted in yellow.
Tip
Emailed history can also be viewed on the requester’s People profile in the Communication tab.
Members of the designated approval group can approve or reject event requests from within the email notification, on the Approvals tab of the Events page, or from within the event request form submission.
Note
Default event owners cannot approve the event requests unless they are also a member of the assigned approval group.
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When an event request is approved, it becomes a full-fledged event. It is removed from the form's feed, added to the Calendar feed, and included on shared iCal feeds, kiosks, and embeds.
An email is sent to the requester letting them know, and the approver can add a custom comment to it.
To remove newly approved event requests from your shared calendars, edit the event and deselect the calendar and kiosk icons on the schedule. The shared calendar must be filtered to include public times only.
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Note
Requested events are hidden on Church Center by default, regardless of approval status, until manually shared from within the event's Settings tab.
If an event request is neglected until the requested date passes, the request will disappear from the Approvals tab but remain active and accessible in the Requests tab of the form. If the requested date is moved to a date in the future, the approval request will re-appear on the Approvals tab for the approvers.
Just like forms in People, event request forms are only accessible by their URL address. After your event request form has been set up, its link is shown in the form's Settings tab. You can also view the public version of a form at any time by clicking on the View public form button.
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Link to the form’s Church Center URL to share it on your website or make it publicly accessible on Church Center by adding it to a custom page with Publishing.
Caution
Event request forms are not listed on the public Calendar page in Church Center and cannot be embedded into another website.