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Event Custom Field: Session Selection

Updated

 

The Goal: Let registrants choose a session (or sessions) to attend during event registration by adding an Event Custom Field — no Expo module required.

Before You Begin:

  • You have an existing event to which you want to add session selection.
  • You have permission to edit event registration settings.
  • You know which sessions (and how many timeslots) registrants should be able to choose from. For background, see Event Custom Fields.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. Go to Events & Learning, Events section, and open your event.

  2. In the event, navigate to the Attendee Setup tab and find the Custom Fields section. Click the + to add a custom field.
     

    screenshot

  3. Set up your custom field as follows:

    screenshot
    1. Field Area: Event Registration
    2. Name: This is the name that will display internally in the back office.
    3. Display Name: This is what will display out on the event registration page.
    4. Description: Optional; you can add instructions or make the field more “friendly” by adding something here.
    5. Custom Field Data Type: Dropdown
    6. SelectListItems: Click the + to add options. You can add as many options/sessions as needed.
    7. Properties:
      • “Show on Event Registration”: this will make the field appear on the event registration page for your members to select.
      • “Required for Registrants”: if selecting a session is a requirement, enable this option.
      • “Required for Staff”: enable this to force staff making registrations from the back office to also make the session selection(s).
    8. Advanced Options: if you need to have this custom field apply ONLY to a specific registration type or types, enable the Advanced Options and select the registration type(s) from the dropdown.
  4. Click Done.
  5. Repeat to add more selections (for example, if you have multiple timeslots requiring a session selection). If you have an event with multiple timeslots, each with their own selection of sessions, you can set up a Custom Field for each timeslot.

The custom field will display on the event registration page once a registration type has been selected:

Prior to the event, you can use the Download Attendees option on the Attendees tab to download a spreadsheet of your registrants. The spreadsheet will contain the Custom Fields you have set up on the event. You can then filter or arrange the spreadsheet to reflect each session’s registrations.

Common Pitfalls

  • Field not appearing for registrants: If the custom field never shows on the registration page, confirm the “Show on Event Registration” property is enabled — without it, the field stays back-office only.

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