Creating an event

Creating an event is the foundation for everything else. Tickets, attendees, the door, the waitlist, and your emails all hang off the event you set up here. The form is one long page, and you can come back and edit anything later.

How to create an event

1. Go to Events then My Events in your dashboard.
2. Click Create New at the top right (or in the empty state if this is your first one).
3. Fill in the event details below.
4. Click Create Event at the bottom to save it.

You will be sent back to the events list once it is saved. From there, click into the event to add tickets.

Basic information

Event title

A short, clear name. This is what fans see in your store, on their tickets, and in their inbox. Something like "Summer Sessions Live at The Hollow" reads better than "Live Show 8/12".

Description

The pitch. Use the rich-text editor to format the description with paragraphs, links, lists, and images if you need them. Tell fans what to expect: what time doors open, who is playing, whether food is involved, the dress code, anything that helps them say yes.

Cover image

The hero image for the event. Upload a JPG or PNG in a 16:9 video-style aspect ratio, which is how it will be displayed on event cards, the event page, and ticket emails.

When it happens

Date and time

Pick the date and start time using the date picker. You cannot schedule an event in the past.

Ends (optional)

The time the event finishes. Leave it blank if there is no stated end. With an end time set, the event stays in your upcoming list until it finishes rather than until it begins, which matters for a festival day or an all-night party.

Doors open (optional)

When attendees can arrive, if that is earlier than the start time. This shows on the door screen so whoever is scanning knows when to open up.

Timezone

Pick the timezone the event runs in. This is critical for two reasons:

• Fans see the time in the event's timezone wherever they are in the world.
• Ticket sale windows (covered in managing tickets) use the same timezone.

TribeNest picks up your browser's timezone by default, but always double-check it matches where the event is actually happening.

Event type

Choose how the event is run:

• Physical for in-person only at a venue.
• Virtual for online only. No address required.
• Hybrid for both at the same time.

If you pick Physical or Hybrid, a Location section appears asking for venue details: Location Name, Street Address, City, State / Province, Country, and Zip Code (required for USA addresses). Attendees see the formatted address on their ticket and on the event page.

Ticket sale message

A rich-text message that is included in the email sent to a buyer after they purchase a ticket. Use it for parking notes, ID requirements, or a thank-you in your own voice. Optional.

Reminder emails

Send built-in reminder emails is ticked by default. When it is on, TribeNest reminds every ticket holder 48 hours, 24 hours, and 1 hour before the event without you doing anything. Turn it off if you would rather drive reminders yourself from an automation.

Venue capacity

People this event can hold is a ceiling across all of your ticket types, sitting on top of each type's own quantity. Use it when the room holds fewer people than your tiers add up to. Three tiers of 100 each in a room that fits 200 is exactly the situation this exists for.

Leave it blank for no cap, in which case only each ticket type's own quantity limits how many can be sold.

Cancellation policy

This decides whether a buyer can cancel their own ticket, and by when. Under Buyers can cancel, choose:

• Not set so buyers are told nothing and cannot cancel themselves. You can still refund manually.
• No self-serve cancellation so buyers see plainly that the purchase cannot be cancelled. You can still refund manually.
• Until a cut-off before the event, which then asks you for a Cut-off (hours before the event). Buyers can cancel themselves right up to that point and not after.
• Any time before the event starts.

Under the picker, TribeNest shows you the exact sentence buyers will read, so you can check the wording before you save.

Terms shown to buyers

An optional free-text box, up to 2000 characters, for your own refund wording. Something like "Refunds are returned to the original payment method within 5 working days." It appears alongside the policy on the buyer's ticket.

Your booking fee

A booking fee is added to what the buyer pays and is paid to you. TribeNest takes none of it. The fee applies once per order and is calculated after any discount code. A free ticket is never charged one.

You have two choices:

• Use my default booking fee so this event follows the fee set on your account. Change the default later and this event follows it.
• Set a fee for this event, which overrides the default for this event only. Enter 0 in both boxes to charge nothing at all, which is not the same as following your default.

If you choose a custom fee you get two boxes, and they work independently:

• Flat fee per order, charged once whatever the basket size.
• Percentage of the ticket total.

Leaving one blank means that part still follows your account default and is added on top. As you type, TribeNest shows a worked example on a real ticket price from your event: what the fee comes to, and what the buyer is charged in total.

To set the account-wide default, go to Settings then the Ticketing tab and fill in Your default booking fee. Every event uses it unless it sets a fee of its own.

Asking for attendee names

Tick Ask for each attendee's name at checkout and every pass gets its own name box during checkout, one per seat. The buyer sees a "Who's coming?" section, with the first seat pre-filled with their own name.

Those names print on the passes and are what your door staff check against. Leave the box unticked and every pass is issued in the purchaser's name. Turning it off later does not remove names you already collected.

Questionnaire

The Questionnaire section lets you collect extra information from each ticket buyer at checkout: t-shirt size, dietary needs, a song request, the name of a plus-one.

Adding a question

1. Click Add Question at the top of the section.
2. Pick a Question Type: Text (Single line), Textarea (Multiple lines), or Select (Dropdown).
3. Type the question text the attendee will see.
4. If you picked Select (Dropdown), type each option. Click Add Option for more, and the X beside an option to remove it. You need at least one.
5. Tick Make this question optional if an answer should not be required.

Drag the handle on the left of any question to reorder them, and click the trash icon to delete one. Changes save when you save the event.

Action button (optional)

If you are not selling tickets through TribeNest and just want a button that links somewhere, fill in Action Text (the button label, up to 100 characters) and Action Link (the address it opens). Leave both blank if you are selling tickets here.

Editing an event

1. Open the event from your events list.
2. Click the three-dot More menu in the top right.
3. Choose Edit.
4. Change what you need, then click Update Event.

Existing ticket holders are not affected by edits. If you change the date, time, or location, either postpone the event properly so everyone is emailed and their calendar entry is updated, or email your attendees so nobody shows up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Duplicating an event

Running the same show again is a copy, not a rebuild.

1. Open the event, or find its row in the events list.
2. Choose Duplicate event from the More menu. There is also a duplicate icon on each row in the list.
3. Decide where the duplicate goes: Add as another date of this event series for the next night of the same run, or Create a separate event for reusing this setup on something unrelated.
4. Optionally set a New date and time and a Title for the duplicate. Leave the title blank and TribeNest appends "(Copy)".
5. Click Duplicate event.

What comes across: your ticket types, with their sales counters reset. Archived ticket types are skipped. Orders, sold tickets, attendees, waitlist entries, and tracking settings are not copied.

If you set a new date, everything else with a time on it (the end time, doors, and each ticket's sale window) shifts by the same amount, so a doors-at-7 show stays a doors-at-7 show.

Choosing Add as another date of this event series is how a run of shows gets a shared page. See event series.

Where to go next

• Add tickets so fans can buy in. See managing tickets.
• Running a tour or a residency? See event series.
• Ready for the night itself? See the door and box office.