Our Events element allows you to blend online training with instructor-led training and activities or simply record event attendance against a topic or article in your Tribal Habits portal.
Events may include webinars, in-person events, workshops, meetings and any other activities with a designated time and date.
Event sessions can be one-off or recurring. You can offer multiple sessions for explorers to choose from and set capacity limits, with or without a waiting list enabled.
Key terminology and principles
When using the Event element, there are a few key terms to understand.
Let’s begin with the concepts of Events, Sessions and Occurrences.
Event – Refers to the overall activity. An Event represents an instructor-led training interaction which may be held once, offered several times, or even on an on-going basis. The Event is the 'top level' item, representing the overall title and interaction. Reporting is based around Events - admins and assessors select an Event as the first step in their reporting.
Session – Each Event then consists of one or more Sessions. Sessions are dates and times that the event is held. An Event may be just a once-off, with a single Session or it may be offered regularly, for example, every month through the year. Sessions hold information about dates and times, as well as information on instructors, locations and capacity. Explorers register for a single Session in each Event. Capacity, waitlists and attendance are therefore based upon Sessions.
Occurrence – Each Session then has one or more Occurrences. If a Session occurs just once, it will have one Occurrence. But Sessions can also be recurring (e.g. every 2nd Wednesday) in which case they will have multiple Occurrences. When an explorer registers for a Session, they also register for all Occurrences - be it a single occurrence or a repeating set of occurrences. Explorers must attend all occurrences of a Session to finalise their attendance at an Event.
Next, there are four status an explorer can have for each Session.
Registered - Explorers must first Register for a session. Registration ‘books’ their attendance at a future session. Explorers must also register for a session before attending. Explorers can only register for one session per event (although that session may be a recurring session with multiple occurrences).
Attended or Did Not Attend - After the session end time is reached, explorers are recorded as Attended or Did Not Attend. If an explorer is marked as Did Not Attend in any occurrence of their register session, then they will need to register for a new session – to complete an event, the explorer must attend ALL occurrences of their registered session.
Pending – Finally, Pending is a status only seen by Assessors. It refers to an explorer who is registered for a session but not yet marked as Attended or Did Not Attend.
Configuring the event
Add the element to your topic or article by selecting the ‘Event’ option from the Content box, then follow these steps:
Insert an Event element and then click the placeholder to begin editing it.
Give the event a title.
Optionally enter a code for the event. The code is visible to explorers and may be useful for reporting purposes.
Optionally include some notes about your event. These notes are visible to explorers when viewing the event in Tribal Habits, in email notifications about the event and in calendar invitations. We recommend including any information explorers may require attending the event – this may be directions, instructions on what to bring or wear, and so forth. Note that these event notes apply to every session in the event (there are separate session notes for individual sessions).
In ‘Explorer requirements’, configure how attendance will be recorded (automatically or manually by either the explorer themselves or a creator, assessor or admin once the event date has passed). See ‘Settings and options’ further down for more information.
In ‘Progress settings’, configure whether the explorer can progress further in the online training before the event has been attended and whether they can complete the training without attending the event. See ‘Settings and options’ further down for more information.
Add at least one sessions for the event and configure each session as required. See below for more details.
Click ‘Save’ to save the Event element and its sessions.
Configuring attendance and progress settings
There are several options when configuring events and their associated sessions. These are detailed below.
Explorer requirements
These settings allow you to specify how attendance is recorded.
Automatically by the platform – when selected, explorers registered to attend a session are marked as having attended automatically after the session’s end time. NOTE 1: Automatic attendance does not check to see if explorers did actually attend – it assumes attendance and marks all registered explorers as attending. NOTE 2: Automatic attendance is checked twice per hour and so there may be a small delay (3-20 mins) between the exact end of a session and the automatic marking, depending on the end time of the session. As a result, explorers can also manually mark their own attendance when this option is selected, in case they cannot wait for the automatic marking.
Manually by the explorer from 5 minutes before session start – when selected, explorers are required to return to the topic or article from five minutes before the session’s start time to manually mark themselves as attending the session.
Manually by the explorer from session completion – when selected, explorers are required to return to the topic or article after the session’s end time to manually mark themselves as having attended the session.
Manually by a creator, assessor or admin – when selected, a creator, assessor or admin must review the event on the Assess tab for the topic or article and manually mark each explorer as attended or not. For more information, click here.
Progress settings
These settings allow you to specify whether explorers can progress through the topic or article before attending the event as well as whether they can complete the topic or article before attending the event.
Explorer cannot progress in this topic/article until all requirements are met – when selected, explorers cannot continue to the next section of the topic or article until after they’ve attended all occurrences of their registered session in the event.
Explorer cannot complete this topic/article until all requirements are met – when selected, explorers cannot complete the topic or article until after they’ve attended all occurrences of their registered session in the event.
Let’s consider some scenarios for these progress settings.
Selecting the first option but not the second will ensure explorers cannot progress further in the topic or article until after the event has end. This is often used to withhold content in the next section until the event is complete – such as a copy of the event slides or polls about the event itself.
Selecting the second option but not the first will allow explorers to progress further in the topic or article but not complete the entire topic or article until after the event has end. This is often used when attendance at an event is a mandatory requirement for completion of the topic or article. If this setting is used on its own, it allows the explorer to finish exploring the rest of the topic, then when their attendance is recorded at the event, the topic will automatically set to complete.
Selecting both options will prevent explorers from both progressing further in the topic or article and completing the entire topic or article until after the event has commenced.
Configuring the sessions
For each Event element you add to a topic or article, you can create multiple Sessions for explorers to register for. Follow these steps to add Sessions to an Event element:
Click +Add to add a new session.
Select the event type (Workshop, Webinar, Conference, Meeting).
Specify the start date and time.
Ensure the correct time zone is selected.
Set the session duration in minutes.
For recurring sessions, change the recurrence from ‘Single’ to ‘Repeating’ then specify how often the session repeats (daily, weekly or monthly) along with the frequency (i.e. every 2 weeks, every 3 months, etc.) and the number of recurrences. The schedule will be displayed according to your settings. See ‘Settings and options’ further down for more information.
Specify the location. This may be a physical address or the URL to join a webinar (for example a Teams link).
Optionally specify the details of any instructors for the session.
Optionally set a capacity limit for the session.
Optionally enable the waiting list (NOTE: Waitlisting is only available when a capacity limit is also set for the session). When enabled, explorers can join a waiting list for sessions that have reached their capacity. When another explorer removes themselves from the session, the next explorer in line will be registered.
Optionally include any notes specific to the session. These notes are visible to explorers when viewing the session in Tribal Habits, in email notifications about the session and in calendar invitations. We recommend including any information explorers may require attending the specific session – this may be directions, instructions on what to bring or wear, and so forth.
Click ‘Save session’.
Refer to the following section for more information on the available settings.
Multiple sessions
You can create multiple sessions in each event for explorers to choose from. Each session is configured separately to allow for the details to vary. This includes the type, duration, location, and instructor and so on.
When editing an Event element, ‘Future’ sessions are displayed. Change the drop-down to view ‘All’ or ‘Past’ sessions, if required.
NOTE: Once the scheduled end time for a Session has passed, the Session will no longer be in the “Future”. So see that Session, select “Past” from the filter.
Configuring occurrences (recurring sessions)
You can configure sessions to include multiple occurrences (or be recurring) by changing the Recurrence drop-down from ‘Single’ to ‘Repeating’. Then indicate if occurrences should be daily, weekly, or monthly.
Daily: Select the frequency (Every) and then the recurrences (Count). The Count is the total number of sessions. So selecting Daily, every 2 days for 5 times, means a total of 5 occurrences held every other day from the start date.
Weekly: Select the frequency (Every), then which days of the week (On) and then the recurrences (Count). Once again, the count is the total number of occurrences. So selecting Weekly, every 2 weeks on Monday and Thursday for 5 occurrences with a Start Date of a Monday, means a total of 5 occurrences being Monday and Thursday in week 1, Monday and Thursday in week 3 and Monday in week 5.
Monthly: Select the frequency (Every), then which days of the month (On) and then the recurrences (Count). Once again, the count is the total number of occurrences. So selecting Monthly, every 1 month on the 1st Monday and 3rd Monday for 5 occurrences with a start date of a Monday, means the 1st and 3rd Monday in month 1 and 2 and the 1st Monday in month 3.
The schedule will automatically be displayed below showing each occurrence of the session.
NOTE: Check your Start Date! If you are using a repeating pattern, ensure your start date is the correct first occurrence in the schedule.
Configuring capacity limits and waiting lists
You can set capacity limits and optionally enable waiting lists.
Set a capacity by entering the appropriate number into the Capacity field. This is the maximum number of registrations that will be accepted for this session.
Tick ‘Allow waiting list’ next to the Waiting list field if you want explorers to be able to join a waiting list for sessions that are already at capacity.
If attendees cancel their registration, the next person in line will automatically become registered into the session and an email notification will be sent to them to advise.
If attendees do not cancel their registration then all explorers on the waitlist will be removed from the waitlist at the end of the session. They will be notified that they did not come off the waitlist and to register for another session.
Email notifications
The following email notifications are sent to explorers in relation to events. Email notifications are mandatory (they cannot be disabled) and the email templates are fixed (they cannot be edited, but are simple emails with straight forward information).
Registration confirmed – when explorers register for event sessions or when they’re added to an event session after joining the waiting list, they will receive an email notification confirming their registration along with details of the date, time, location and any associated notes. They’ll also be able to add the event session to their calendar by clicking the appropriate option in the email.
Joined waiting list – when explorers join the waiting list for event sessions that have reached capacity but have a waiting list enabled, the will receive an email notification to confirm.
Removed from the waiting list – when an explorer is on the waiting list for a session but the session passes, they will be automatically removed from the waiting list and send a notification to register for another session.
Unregistered – if an explorer removes their registration for an event session or is removed from a session by an assessor, they will receive an email notification to confirm.
Attended – after an explorer’s attendance has been recorded for an event session (automatically or manually by the explorer, an admin, creator or assessor), they will receive an email notification to confirm.
Did not attend – if an explorer did not attend a session (either they select ‘Did not attend’ for a missed session or an assessor marked them as ‘Did not attend’), they will receive a notification and be asked to register for another session.
Session updated - if the details of a session change, any registered explorers for that session will be sent an email about the changes (including listing what changed and attaching a new ical).
All email notifications include links to the relevant topic or article. Registration emails include an .ical link with relevant session information to add to the explorer’s calendar.
Assessing events
When the ‘Manually by a creator, assessor or admin’ option is enabled in ‘Explorer requirements’ settings for your Event element, a creator, assessor or admin must review the event on the Assess tab for the topic or article and manually mark each explorer as attended or not.
Depending on the Event element’s progress settings, explorers may or may not be able to progress in the topic or article until their attendance has been marked for the event. In any case, explorers will not be able to complete the topic or article until their attendance has been assessed.
Events reporting
Details of event registrations and attendances are available on the Events tab for the relevant topic or article, and when using the Events report in Analytics. For more information, click here.
Examples
Blended learning and manual recording of attendance
Scenario – the training involves the completion of the topic/article and attendance at a face-to-face session with the wider team. They cannot complete the topic/article and receive their completion certificate until they register for the event, attend the session, and then mark their own attendance.
In this example, after the event, the learner manually marks their own attendance by selecting ‘Attended’. Their attendance at the event is then completed and they can complete the topic/article.
Blended learning with automated recording of attendance
Scenario – the training involves the completion of the topic/article and attendance at a webinar session with the wider team. They cannot complete the topic/article and receive their completion certificate until they register for the event and attend the webinar session. After the webinar finishes, attendance is recorded automatically.
NOTE: Remember that automatic attendance does not integrate with any virtual platform. It assumes all registered explorers did attend and will automatically mark them as attended. Also remember that automatic attendance is not instant – it is checked twice per hour, so there may be a small delay between the session end time and the automatic marking.
In this example, after the event, the learner’s attendance is then completed automatically and they can complete the topic/article.
Multiple occurrences (recurring sessions)
Scenario – the training involves attendance at 4 x face-to-face occurrences of the session with the wider team. The learner cannot complete the topic/article and receive their completion certificate until they register and attend all 4 occurrences of the session. In this example, attendance will be recorded automatically and marked as complete only after the last occurrence has passed.
Multi-session events
Scenario – the training involves the completion of the topic/article and attendance at a workshop with the wider team. There are several dates to choose from, but the learner only needs to attend 1 x session. They cannot complete the topic/article and receive their completion certificate until they register for the event and attend the session. In this scenario, attendance will be recorded by the creator, assessor or admin after the session has passed.
Event FAQs
Does the Event element integrate with Teams or Zoom?
No. For online event sessions run using webinar platforms such as Teams or Zoom, simply enter the URL address for the event as the location for the session as created in Teams or Zoom.
Can an Event have different types of sessions - like Webinars vs Workshops?
Yes. Each session can be a different type, schedule (e.g. one full day workshop vs 5 x 90 minute webinars), capacity, location, instructors and more.
What happens if we change or update an existing session?
If you change an existing future session, then any registered explorers will be sent a notification about the change. The notification identifies the change and attaches a new ical. This occurs even for changes in notes or location.
Once a session has past, however, it cannot be edited. Only attendance can be recorded for past sessions.
Why can't I see a session in the Event element which happened earlier?
By default, the Event element shows FUTURE sessions. Once a session has passed, it can still be viewed in the Event element but the dropdown above the session list must be changed to PAST or ALL.
What happens if we delete a session?
If you delete a session, any explorers who were registered for that session will be unregistered and sent a notification to register for a different session. All registrations or attendances for that session will be lost.
How does the waiting list work?
First, the waiting list is optional. You can enable it for specific sessions as required.
Second, the waiting list is only available for sessions with a capacity limit. So you must first set a capacity for that session and then enable the waiting list.
Third, once a session is at capacity, explorers will see an option to 'Join the waiting list' for that session. If they join the waiting list, they will receive an email confirmation.
Fourth, if capacity becomes available in the session - either because another registered explorer unregisters from the session or the session capacity is increased - then explorers on the waiting list will become registered for the session in the order they joined the waiting list. Those explorers will receive an email confirmation of their registration.
Finally, if an explorer remains on the waiting list at the end of a session, they will be removed from the waiting list and emailed a notification to book another session.
How can I record an assessment for an Event?
When assessing an Event element, assessors can only record attendance - its a 'roll call'. If your Event has a separate assessment (a task which attendees must complete) and you wish to record whether it was passed, you can combine the Event element with a Task element.
Insert your Event element as usual. Then insert a Task element after it. The task is to pass the assessment at your Event. Set the task to require a pass mark from an Assessor (and the Progress settings as appropriate). Then your assessors can record attendance at the event and verify the task was completed.