Vega Forms: Events, RSVPs and raffles

Use an Event / RSVP form to sell tickets, collect RSVPs or run a raffle. The Tickets section does the work. The form's button starts as Book now.

Before you start

Set up the event in Vega first: an Event campaign with its event type (Ticketed, RSVP or Raffle), its capacity and, for ticketed events and raffles, its ticket types. Each ticket type has a name, price, capacity and GL code. For an RSVP, the campaign's RSVP Decline setting decides whether people can say they can't come, and its price, if it has one, is charged for each guest. The form reads all of this from the campaign.

The campaign has two sets of dates:

Available From and To: when bookings are open. The form checks these.
Event Start Date and End Date: when the event itself happens. Add to calendar uses these.

Choosing the event campaign

Select the Tickets section and choose the Event campaign on its Vega setup tab first. Only active Event campaigns are listed, each with its event type, for example Spring Gala (Ticketed).

The campaign's event type decides how the section works:

Campaign event type	What the form does
Ticketed	Sells the campaign's ticket types
RSVP	Asks people to RSVP. If the campaign's RSVP Decline is on, they can also say they can't attend
Raffle or Ticket Books	Sells the campaign's ticket types. Attendee details are off unless you turn them on

The builder shows the event type as from the campaign in Vega. If the campaign has no event type, or a different one (such as Table or Team), you choose how the form works.

The form checks the campaign every time it opens, so a change to the campaign's event type, RSVP Decline, price, dates or capacity reaches the form without saving it again. Choosing a different campaign clears the tickets picked from the old one.

The Heading on the Content tab is the heading over the tickets, e.g. Book your seats. Left blank, it says Tickets, RSVP or Raffle tickets.

Several events on one form

A form can offer several events and let people choose which one to book: one event per booking. The events can be any mix of ticketed events, RSVPs and raffles. Each is its own campaign, with its own bookings, attendees and capacity.

Once the first event campaign is chosen, click + Add another event under More events on the Vega setup tab. The Tickets section then lists its events:

Tab	What's there
Vega setup	The events, in the order the form shows them. Drag ⠿ to change the order (or select it and use the ↑ ↓ keys). Default is the event selected when the form opens; with none, or when the default can't be booked, the form opens on the first that can. The bin removes an event, and + Add another event adds one
Content	Each event's Name on the form (left blank, its campaign's name), the Words over the events (Choose an event if left blank), and Show the events as: Buttons or A dropdown
Emails	Acknowledgement for each event. Left as The form's, a booking sends the form's own acknowledgement. A pathway rule that names one still comes first

Click an event in either list to edit its campaign and tickets. The settings under the list say which event they're for (Settings below are for Spring Gala), on both tabs. Everything else in the section (the heading, attendee details, Add to calendar, the messages when an event can't be booked) is shared by all the events.

Each event's type comes from its own campaign. One whose campaign has no event type works as the first event does.

On the form:

People choose an event, then book for it as for a single event. The tickets, RSVP and spaces left change with the event chosen.
An event that can't be booked (full, ended or not open yet) stays on the form, greyed out.
A link can open the form on a particular event with event= and its campaign ID. People can still choose a different one.
The booking is filed under the chosen event's campaign.

Removing events down to one makes it a single-event form again.

Ticketed events and raffles

Choose the event campaign. Its ticket types load under Tickets from the campaign.
Tick the tickets this form sells.
Use ↑ ↓ under Ticket types to set the order.

Each ticket shows its price, capacity, per booking limit and GL code. These come from the campaign and can't be edited on the form. Change them in Vega and the form picks up the change straight away, without being saved again.

How many people can book

Capacity is counted in tickets issued, the way Vega issues them, not in the quantity chosen:

A ticket type that issues several tickets per unit counts them all. A book of 50 raffle tickets is 50 tickets, so 8 books are 400.
Any bonus tickets on the ticket type count too, whether given once per booking or for each unit.
Products (merchandise) issue no tickets and use no capacity.

People can't book:

more than a ticket type's per-booking limit;
more tickets of a type than are left of its own capacity, if it has one in the campaign;
more tickets in total than the event has left.

The + button stops at the most that fits. A ticket type shows as Sold out when not even one more fits. If a booking gets past the form, it's refused when submitted, with a message such as Only 70 "Book of 50" ticket(s) are left, and 2 would be 100 tickets, rather than being taken and the tickets suspended later.

Older forms: a ticket marked Not linked to the event campaign was set up before tickets came from campaigns. Load the campaign's tickets and remove the old one.

RSVPs

Setting	What it does
Maximum guests per RSVP	How many people one RSVP can include, counting the person filling it in. Above 1, the form shows a Number attending counter. It's also capped by the event's spaces left
Decline button wording	The wording of the decline button, when declines are offered. Left empty, it reads Sorry, I can't attend

The RSVP answer is recorded against Vega's shared RSVP attribute: Yes with the number of guests, or No for a decline. Declines are also recorded as RSVP No, so you know who isn't coming.

On the form:

The submit button reads Yes, I'll attend, unless you've written the form's button wording yourself. The default Book now gives way to it.
With a maximum of 1 guest and no attendee details, the form shows no RSVP box, just the decline button if declines are offered.
Declining doesn't ask for payment, attendee details or ticked consent boxes, and is still possible when the event is full.

Paid RSVPs

If the RSVP campaign has a price in Vega, each guest coming is charged it, as the old Events widget did. The RSVP settings show it, e.g. Price: 25.00 per person, from the campaign in Vega, or Free when the campaign has no price.

A paid RSVP needs a Payment section, which charges the price for the number attending, along with any donation.
The payment is filed under the event campaign and its GL code. If the campaign has no GL code, it's filed under the Payment section's default campaign and GL code, which are then required.
Saying can't attend is free.

Capacity and closing dates

The form checks the event every time it opens, the same way the old event widget did:

The event is...	When
No longer available	The campaign is inactive or past its Available To date, or (for ticketed events and raffles) none of its tickets are on sale any more
Not open yet	The campaign's Available From date hasn't been reached
Full	The campaign's capacity has been reached, or every ticket type with its own capacity is sold out. A capacity of 0, or none, counts as full, so every event campaign needs one

How many are coming is counted as in Vega: for an RSVP, the contacts on the campaign's lists; for ticketed events and raffles, the tickets issued. Bookings still being processed count too.

When the event can't be booked, the form is replaced by a message:

Setting (Tickets section)	Shown when	Left empty, the form says
Event no longer available	The event has ended or isn't open yet	This event is no longer available. or Bookings for this event haven't opened yet.
Event full	The event is full	Sorry, this event is full.

Choose a Vega document for either under When the event can't be booked on the Tickets section's Vega setup tab, once the event campaign is chosen. Forms moved over from the old widgets keep the documents the widget used. On a form with several events, an event that can't be booked is greyed out instead, and people choose another.

When ten or fewer spaces are left, the form says so, e.g. Only 3 spaces left (or tickets left for a ticketed event).

Checked again when people book

The same checks are made again when someone submits, so two people can't book the last space at once.

When someone pays at an external payment page (Windcave, Flo2Cash, NAB Transact or Paystation), their places are held for up to 30 minutes while they pay, so no one else can take them in the meantime. If the last places were taken just before they went to pay, they're told Sorry, the last places for this event have just been taken. Nothing has been charged - please choose again. Once someone has paid, their booking is always recorded.

Note: Testing on a copy of a past event? If the campaign's Available To date has passed, the form shows no longer available. Use a campaign with a current one.

Attendee details

Setting	What it does
Collect attendee details	Asks for details for each ticket or guest. The person booking is Attendee 1. Off by default for raffles
Allow booking on behalf of others	Adds I'm booking on behalf of others – I won't be attending, so every attendee's details are asked for
Ask for attendee email	Asks each attendee for their email
Ask for dietary requirements	Asks each attendee about dietary needs
Also asked of each attendee	Lists your own questions put to attendees (see below)

Your own questions for attendees

Add a Custom attributes section and set the question's Applies to:

Each attendee – asked in each card: every attendee answers in their own card, and each answer is saved against that attendee.
All attendees – asked once: answered once, and the answer is saved against every attendee.
Primary contact: answered once, and saved against the person filling in the form.

When someone books on behalf of others, they aren't an attendee, so the attendee choices aren't saved against them. See Collecting contact information and answers.

Payment

Tickets and paid RSVPs are paid for through the form's Payment section, which charges the combined total. If any ticket has a price, or the RSVP has one, the form needs a Payment section.

Each ticket is filed under its own campaign and GL code, so on a form that only sells tickets, the Payment section doesn't ask for a default campaign and GL code. Those appear, and are required, if you add a Donation amount section, sell a paid RSVP whose campaign has no GL code, or offer the processing fee without its own fee campaign and GL code.

Free events: if every ticket the form sells is free, the Payment section shows a warning in the builder. On the form, choosing free tickets shows No payment is needed. Keep the Payment section if the tickets might be priced later, because ticket prices are read live from the campaign.

A free RSVP has nothing to pay for, so it can't be saved with a Payment section unless it also has a Donation amount or Membership section.

Add a Donation amount section to let people give while they book. The event donation receipt is then used for the donation.

Discount codes

Add a Discount codes section to give people a Gift card or discount code box, as the old event widget had. A code can take a percentage or an amount off all the tickets, or only the ticket types you choose, never a donation. Codes from the old widget are copied to the migrated form. See Donations and payments.

Add to calendar

Tick Show "Add to calendar" on the thank-you page in the Tickets section's Add to calendar settings. After booking, the thank-you page offers the event to Google Calendar, Outlook, or as an .ics file for Apple Calendar and others.

Setting	What it does
Event name	The name in their calendar. Left blank, the campaign's name
Location	Optional, e.g. Town Hall, 1 Queen Street, Auckland

The entry is for the campaign's Event Start Date and End Date, not its Available From and To. If the campaign has no Event Start Date, it isn't offered, and the checklist says so.
On a form with several events, the entry is for the event booked, with its own dates, under its name on the form.
It isn't shown when someone declines an RSVP, or for raffles.
Forms moved over from the old widgets keep the widget's setting.

Emails

The Tickets section's Emails tab offers:

Ticket email: sent to the person who booked
Attendee acknowledgement: sent to each attendee (when attendee details are collected)
Event donation receipt: for a donation made with a booking
Default acknowledgement: the booking receipt
Acknowledgement for each event: on a form with several events, a different acknowledgement for each

Showing progress

To show how much an event has raised against its target, add a Progress section measuring the event's campaign. With several events, set it to measure What the donor chose to show the chosen event's own figures. See Donations and payments.

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