Create a simple event

The following tasks ensure that replies to event advertising emails will go to the event organizer, that there will be no emails automatically sent to ASURA and that the WA generated event process emails will not go to the event organizer.

1. While in "Event details" click on blue "Edit" button and then on the gray "Emails" tab. This opens up the email options for the event.
2. Event Organizer - this is the person or organization that will receive email replies when a member "replies" to any of the email announcements. It should be the chair of the event. To change, click on "Change..." and enter the name of the chair in the search box. Click on the name and then on "Select" 
3. Make sure the “Copy emails according to email routing settings” is not checked.
4. Registration emails (right hand column) - these are the system emails that WA sends as part of the registration process, e.g., thanks for the registration. Make sure that all the "Send copy to organizer" are not checked.
5. Click on the blue“Save” button.

The following material explains how to create and schedule the emails that are sent to the members advertising the event and reminding those who have registered that the event is imminent. Editing these emails is something several event chairs have learned to do.

Prepare email announcement 1

There are four messages that you will need to edit: Announcements 1, 2, & 3 and Reminder 1 (and sometimes Reminder 2). These emails are the principal method of advertising the event and you will be editing either a system generated default announcement or an old announcement if you created the event by duplicating an old event. The announcements use system macros, i.e., text enclosed in {}. The default announcements use yellow highlighting to indicate the minimum that has to be modified. To get to the where you can  create/edit these announcements click on the gray "Emails" button.

To prepare your announcement:

1. Open the announcement you want to edit by clicking on the blue announcement you want to edit, e.g., Announcement 1, Announcement 2, Announcement 3, or Reminder 1 (Reminder 2/3).
2. Click on the Edit button
3. In the gray horizontal menu stripe click on Layout ,select 1 column and then click on the Apply button. This gives a much nicer looking email.
4. The next two things to check are whether:
   
   1. Reply to: this should be the event chair and if it is not this means something went wrong during the Administrative email task.
   2. Subject: -the email subject, located in a box above the body of the email should read “First/Second/Third Announcement/Reminder for {the event title}. It is best to use the {Event_Title} macro rather than typing in the title
5. Remove any yellow highlighting as follows:
   
   1. select the yellowed text,
   2. click the “A” with the black boarder in the editing toolbar, and
   3. click on the white box in the pallet of colors.
   4. delete or modify any yellowed text that is information about creating the announcement and not part of the announcement.
6. Edit / create the announcement. While creating the announcement there is one macro you don’t want to use is the {Event_Details} marco, enticing as it may seem. Using this macro is an easy way to get the event material off the webpage into an announcement but once you do this you lose control of the announcement formatting and content and typically the formatting and content on the event page is not what you want in the announcements.
   
   
   
   The typical announcement layout is:
   1. Begin with the email recipient’s first and last name or just the first name. Use either the {Contact_FullName} or {Contact_First_name} macro.
   2. Next insert a left justified graphic which may or may not be one of the graphics used on the events page. See Advanced WA editing techniques to see how to upload and where to save an image.
   3. Next add the event title, left justified; use the {Event_Title} macro and increase its font size to something just a bit larger than the announcement text.
   4. Next follows three lines: Date, Time, and Place or Location. These should use the appropriate event macros, e.g., Date:  {Event_Date}.
   5. Now enter the announcement text. You are free to choose any font and font size; historically the announcements have used Arial 16pt. Whatever font you use make sure all the text uses the same font. Spacing of 24 pt rather than using automatic makes the email easier to read.
      
      
      
      The tone of the announcement should be personal, an invitation from the event organizer. If you like the text on the event page than copy and paste it into the announcement. You should feel free to add material encouraging members to attend.
   6. The last part of the announcement is information on how to register. There should be a Registration heading followed by some introductory text, e.g., to register
      
      1. Register Online. The link should be to the appropriate page in the ASURA website (https://asura.asu.edu/upcoming-events). Use similar links for Pre-retirement and Affiliated Events. 
      2. Call the ASURA Office at 480-965-7668.
   7. Include a closing date for registration.
   8. Finally include a closing, e.g., Best regards, followed by the event organizer with  a title.
7. When completed click on the blue“Save” button
8. Click on the green “Send test email” button and review the sent email announcement. You should check to make sure the formatting is ok and that any links actually link to the correct location.
9. If there are any edits required click on the “Edit” button, make the changes, and then click on “Save”. You should again send a test email to make sure all is well.
10. When you are satisfied forward the test email to the event organizer for approval and or suggestions.

Prepare announcement 2

The second announcement is generally the same as the first announcement. There are a couple of ways to create this announcement.

1. Create the announcement just as you did for the first announcement
2. Copy and paste from the first announcement to the second announcement
3. Copy the html code for the first announcement a paste replace the html code in the second announcement with it.

Prepare announcement 3

Announcement 3 is the same as announcement 1 except the text has been replaced with a shot statement to the effect that it is not too late to register (or something like that).

Prepare reminder

Reminder emails are only sent to those who have registered and are used to alter the member that the event is close and if there are last minute instructions about parking, etc. they can be included. The default system email can be tailored as necessary but is for most events adequate. In some cases events have sent out two reminders, especially if there is a number of special instructions or documents that should be understood before attending the event.

Schedule announcements and reminders

The number of event announcements that you send is not fixed but generally two or three are recommend. If you send more than three members may begin to feel they are being spammed and select to unsubscribe (an option at the bottom of the email).

• Event Announcement emails are only sent to members who have not already registered
• Event Reminder emails are sent only to those who have registered for the event.

To schedule an announcement or reminder:

1. Select the message you want to schedule, e.g., Announcement 1, Announcement 2, Announcement 3, or Reminder 1 or 2 and click on the gray “Schedule” button,
2. Enter the number of days before the event; the send date will appear in gray just below the box you where you entered the number of days before the event. The schedule should be checked with the event's chair;  typically the schedules are:
   
   1. announcement 1 - 4/5 weeks before the close of event registration
   2. announcement 2 -  15 days before the close of event registration
   3. announcement 3 - 4/7 days before the close of event registration
   4. reminder 1 - 1/2 days before the event
   5. reminder 2 - 3/4 days before the event
3. For announcements 1, 2, and 3,Select the “Selected contacts” radio button and then check the “Member levels”, box and then “All levels” box.
4. Click on the gray “Schedule” button.

Note: if the scheduled date is not what you want repeat steps 1, 2, and 4, adjusting the days before the event until you get the desired date.

Review announcement delivery

Occasionally Wild Apricot has difficulty successfully sending the announcement and some recipients do not get them. To check, select “Log” from the “Email” menu on the left side of the screen and find your announcement. There will be statistics stating what percentage have received or failed to receive the announcement. Once the percentage reaches one hundred, and this may take several minutes, if any of the announcements failed to be delivered click on the red percentage button and then on the “Resend to selected failures” button. You need to check back to see that these redos were delivered. In most cases all the redoes will be delivered but occasionally there will still be some that were not delivered. Send the names of those who did not receive the announcement to the Business Manager who will find out why the email address we have is not working.

There are two Registration emails.

• Event registration confirmed - Sent after registration was paid or confirmed by administrator
• Event registration canceled - Sent when registration is cancelled by registrant

The default system emails are generally fine and you will not need to change anything. But if there are some special instructions, you may want to modify one or both of these emails.

To review either email

1. Click on the blue link over the desired email in the right column
2. Review the email. At a minimum it should have an appropriate Subject, e.g., Event Registration for the event title, the ASURA logo, the person’s name, a statement to the effect that their registration has been successfully received, a statement directing them to the ASURA Office if they have questions, the events: name, date, time, and location. It may also include some registration information, e.g., name, email, phone.
3. If the text looks good then you are done and you click on “Back”. If there are some edits needed then click on the “Edit” button, make the edits, and click on “Save”. When you click on the “Edit” button you will see that the email uses a number of Macros.
4. It is a good idea to send a test email to confirm that the email is what you want.
5. The Event registration canceled email is rarely if ever used but you should take a look at what it says to make sure it make sense.

The Registrants & invitees tab makes it easy to search the attendees based on registration type, name, date, etc. There are options for generating reports. Events chairs often need the information available using this tab but they generally ask an Office volunteer to get the information. See the information on the Event registration tasks page to get instructions on how do these tasks.