How to create and manage events
Sign in
Before you start, be sure to Sign in to CougarConnect using the link in the upper-right.
Manage Events
- Select the Manage Organization button. Note: if you don't see this button, you don't have access to manage any organizations.
- Select the button that looks like 3 horizontal lines and an arrow symbol, found in the upper left corner. This is button will open your Organization Tool Drawer.
- Next, click the gear icon next to your organization.
- Then select Events.
From the Manage Events page, you can:
Create a new event
Now, you will be on the Manage Events page and you can select the blue Create Event button.
When creating an event, answer all applicable sections:
Basic Details
Give your event a title and description.
Time and Place
Date and Time: Set a date for your meeting and add start and end times.
Location: In this section, you can also add a location. The location can be a physical location or an online location. If you are adding an online location, you’ll want to have the link to your online event available.
There will be an option to add another date. If you are holding a repeat event, you can add up to 21 unique dates and times on this event. When you have submitted the event, each separate date will be created as its own event in the system. If you need to make an edit, the edit will need to be made on each event separately.
Event Visibility
Show to: select the audience you would like your event visible to. We recommend checking the box to allow attendees to get credit for attending on their Co-Curricular Transcript.
Event categories and Perks: select the event categories and if there are any perks, such as free food, credit for attending, or giveaways.
When finished, select the blue Next button at the bottom of the page.
Now you can select who can RSVP:
At the top of this page, you have the option to check the box* that invites everyone in your organization to this event.
*Please note two important things about checking this box:
- When you have invited people to your event and then you make edits to that event, your invitees will all receive an email every time you make a change to the event’s details, even if they have not RSVP’ed yes. This can be overwhelming to your invitees if they receive too many emails about event changes. So, if you’ve checked this box and invited everyone from your page, please keep edits to a minimum as much as possible.
- This option to invite everyone from your page only exists when you first create an event. If you didn’t check the box the first time and then went back into the event to edit details, this option will no longer exist. So, if this is something you want to use, please be mindful to check the box as you are creating the event.
You can also create pre-registration questions that attendees will be required to answer when they RSVP Yes to attend the event.
When you have added the pre-registration questions, select the blue Next button on the bottom right of the page.
Post Event Feedback
You can also add post-evaluation questions to get feedback from your attendees. We always recommend asking for feedback so you can know what went well and what you can improve for next time! Even if no post-event questions are added, attendees will still be able to rate your event via a 5-star scale.
When you are done, click the blue
Next button.
Photos
Complete all questions and add an event photo if you can. Make sure to keep selecting next and answering all questions.
Make sure to select the blue
Submit button when complete.
Manage an existing event
All events will appear on this page, though some events may appear grayed out. These events are co-hosted by multiple organizations, including yours. Under the event name, it will list which organization manages this event. This event manager will have the access to manage this event.
The events that you can manage will appear highlighted in blue. Search this list for the event that you would like to manage and then select the name of the event.
When you have selected the name of the event that you would like to manage, this will open the admin view of the event.
On the admin view, you’ll have the ability to do the following:
Manage event details
- To make any changes to an event, select Change Details or Cancel the Event if needed.
- The box with the 2 digits and the stars is the Event Rating section and this is populated once your attendees have reviewed the event after it has ended.
- Below the event rating section, you can check the date, time, and location information for your event.
- Next, you can check the Status of the event (Approved, Pending, or Denied), the Visibility of the event, and the RSVP setting you selected.
Attendance and Feedback
When you scroll down, there is a section that lists how many people have been invited or who have RSVP’ed pre-event and it lists the number of attendees post-event.
On the right side, there are buttons to:
- Track attendance - to credit people who attend the day of the event.
- View Invitations & RSVPs - to invite people to RSVP, or to see who has already RSVP’ed.
After the event, it is an incredibly important best practice to give the attendees credit in CougarConnect. This is important for several reasons:
- First, the attendance credit will go on the students’ Co-Curricular Transcript which they can use for things like applying for scholarships and internships.
- Second, only people who you have credited as having attended the event will be able to complete the post-event evaluation for you.
Hosts and Path Items
Next, there will be a list of all organizations who are co-hosting this event.
For the last section, if your event is part of a Co-Curricular Path, that information will be listed here. If you would like to learn more about Co-Curricular Paths, please contact Student Engagement and Inclusion at studentengagement@cscc.edu.
Invite People
To invite people, select the Invitations & RSVPs button. On this page, there will be a list of everyone who has RSVP’ed.
You can select the red Export button to export the RSVP data into an excel sheet.
Selecting the blue +Invite People button allows you to send invitations. You will have the ability to invite people by email or individually by name. You can paste up to 500 email addresses into the box to invite by email. When inviting by name, make sure to select the correct organization that they are a member of.
Pro Tip: When creating an event, you also have the ability to invite everyone in your organization by checking the box that automatically invites everyone in your organization to this event. See the RSVP settings section of this article for more.
Track Attendance
To give your attendees credit, select the blue Track Attendance box:
On the Track attendance page, you can export the list of people who attended with the red Export button.
Or add attendees by selecting the blue Add Attendance button.
Add attendance page allows you to credit attendees either by their RSVP, inserting their emails (up to 500 at a time), or by uploading an excel document that has attendees’ emails listed.
When events happen in person, you can easily track attendance in real time during the event by using the Event Check-In App.
Help
Please contact studentengagement@cscc.edu with questions.
The process highlighted in this guide is also available as a video. Please see the Student Engagement and Inclusion CougarConnect page and search the Gallery for all videos.