Events in the Making Music Platform

This guidance specifically covers Events in the Making Music Platform. Before reading this, please ensure that you have read our help guide on Getting Started with your Making Music Platform.

All of the Making Music Platform help guides and latest Platform News can be found on the MM Platform Service Hub page.

You can also download and read the full Events in the Making Music Platform helpguide in PDF format.

ADDING EVENTS IN THE PLATFORM

Creating an Event and Event Access Levels

Making Music Platform can help you manage and publicise all of your group’s events, including rehearsals, performances, committee meetings, fundraisers, and socials.

Events on MM Platform can display different information to different viewers. Take a concert for example: the general public will be able to see the concert’s time and date, venue, poster and ticket details. Members can see all those details and extra information about (e.g.) concert dress requirements and attendance. Event administrators can see all the above as well as any private administrative details, and can also update the event. 

TIP: for more information on Making Music Platform’s Access Levels, see our help guide.

You can create a new event by clicking the ‘+ Add new event’ button at the top of your Event Calendar and Upcoming Events pages. 

Keeping Ensemble events private

If your group has several Ensembles who rehearse and perform at different times, you can make each Ensemble’s events invisible to members who don’t participate in that Ensemble.

This option can be enabled in your Website Setup and Configuration:

  1. When logged in as a Webmaster, click the cog icon in the top-right corner of any page on your site.
  2. Click the Settings cog next to where it says ‘Making Music Platform | Your group’s name’ to open your Making Music Platform Details page.
  3. Click on the Configuration tab and scroll about halfway down the page to the section titled Privacy.
  4. Tick the box labelled ‘Each event is visible only to members of that event's ensemble(s)?’
  5. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

If you cannot find what you are looking for in our help guides or have any questions please get in touch.

 

How to create a riser stack

Before creating any riser stacks (diagrams of the placement of your performing members on stage), ensure that the Riser Stack module is enabled.  To do so, simply visit the Riser Stacks page.  If you see a message telling you that the module is not enabled, then do the following...

  1. Ensure you're logged in with "Webmaster" access
  2. Click the little "cog" icon in the top-right corner
  3. Click the cog icon next to Making Music Platform
  4. Click the Configuration tab
  5. At the top of the tab, there's a set of tick boxes that determine what modules are enabled.  Tick the box next to Riser Stacks
  6. Click Save at the bottom

Now riser stacks can be created, as follows...

  1. Click the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard

  2. Scroll down to the Riser Stacks line, and click on the Riser Stacks link in the Public/Member Pages column

  3. Click the Add new riser stack button in the top-right corner
  4. Enter the required details (usually just the name), and click Save
  5. You are now taken to the page where you can arrange the members on the risers.  At the outset, all members are grouped in their sections off the risers.  Simply drag members from the lower part of the screen onto each member's correct spot on the risers.
  6. Click the Save button.
Event Venues

How frequently does your group meet, rehearse or perform at the same venue? With Making Music Platform you can save your regular venues and assign them directly to events. This saves you time entering in address details for multiple events and allows you to store all sorts of information about your venue in your Platform database.

Creating a Venue

You can manage your group’s Venues from the Venues Administration page (accessible via your Admin Dashboard in the Events Row, the ‘Event Venues’ link.)

At the very top of your Venues Admin page you’ll see a link to create a new venue ‘Manually’. Click this and you’ll be transported to a page where you can enter all your venue’s details, including its address, main contact details, accessibility information, acoustics and seating capacity. Once you’ve added all the information you want to store, click Save at the bottom of the page and your venue will be created. You can now assign your venue to events.

TIP: if you want to sell a limited number of tickets for an event, you need to set a seating capacity for the event’s venue. For more information, see our Event Tickets help guide. 

If you have already entered address details into an event, you can use those details to create a new venue. You can do this from the Venues Administration page (click ‘Create new venue: Copy from existing event’) or from the event’s own page (in the Event Details box, click ‘Create new venue from this event’).

If you cannot find what you are looking for in our help guides or have any questions please get in touch.

Working with Event Programmes

What is an Event Programme?

A "programme" for an event is a timetable of what will be happening during that event, be it a rehearsal, performance, workshop, or any other type of event. This feature is known to some people as "Strategic rehearsal planning", although it does not pertain only to rehearsals. Any type of event can have a program. When the event is a rehearsal (or a workshop), your music director is usually the person to create the programme, several days or weeks before the rehearsal. Once the programme is complete, the details are emailed to members (as part of the regular event notification email), so that everyone knows what will be happening during the rehearsal.

When the event is a performance of some sort, the programme can be made public, if you wish, so that your audience can see in advance what will be happening during the show. Or the programme can be visible only to members.

Here is an example of what an event programme might look like (in the example below, the event is a rehearsal for a choir):

Example Event Program

Things to note about this example, and using event programmes in general...

  • There are various types of activities in the Activity column. Your Making Music Platform has been pre-loaded with several types of activities. You can, of course, define your own, or even remove the predefined ones.
  • If your event has a start time, the start time for each programme item and the finish time for the entire programme are calculated automatically - from the number of minutes duration of each item. If your event's start time is later changed, your programme automatically updates itself.
  • Aside from Print programme, the set of links across the top of the programme is available to administrators only.
  • A set of programme items (the entire programme, in other words) can be saved as a "template", for other similar events. Programmes can take 10 minutes or so to create - but if you already have a template that closely matches the programme for your event, you can simply decide to create the programme from the template. It takes two clicks. You can then make adjustments to the newly created programme to tailor it to the current event. Note that templates can only be created from the programmes of events (not from scratch), and only if you're logged in as a member. In other words, if you're logged in as one of the "anonymous" administrators, such as "preadmin", you will not see a link to save a programme as a template.
  • When creating or updating a programme, if you find that you want to reorder the sequence of items in your programme, you can simply drag-and-drop the items into their correct sequence using the little <>icon on the far right of the item's row.
  • You can nominate what access level people need to be able to see the programme (the programme's "visibility"). For example, you may have a public event, but you want the programme to be visible only to members. If so, you can specify the programme's visibility separately from the event's visibility. Similarly, if you have an existing event, visible to members, but you are still working on the programme, you can set the programme to Data Administration Access so that only administrators can see it (not regular members). When you have completed working on the programme, you can change the programme's visibility back to Regular Member Access. By default, the programme's visibility will be the same as the event's access level.

To get started with event programmes, simply visit any event's page, and look for the new link called Create programme in the set of admin links across the top of the page.

Finally, if you work on a particular song over several events (rehearsals, performances, etc), and each event's programme accurately reflects this, then the system collates all activities about that song and presents them on the song's page. At the bottom of the song's page, there's a report called History/Schedule that lists every instance where a song has been (and will be) worked on (rehearsing, performing, choreo, etc). There's even a total of all the minutes spent on that song.

If you have no need for event programmes at all in your group, you can turn off the module. Do this by clicking the little "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site. Then click the cog icon next to Making Music Platform. Then click the Configuration tab. At the top of the tab, there is a set of tickboxes that represents all modules in your Making Music Platform. Untick Event Programmes to turn off that module for your group.

Setting up Productions

In Making Music Platform, a "production" is typically a theatrical or musical show, one that runs over one or more performances.  The Productions Module in Making Music Platform was created to facilitate the promotion of these productions to your site visitors.

A "production" can be thought of as a collection of events - typically "performance" events - gathered together on one page with some promotional content (banner photo, description, venue & map, attached programme/flyer, etc).  It is not necessary for this promotional content to be duplicated on each event's page - that's handled automatically by the Making Music Platform software.  These promotional details are displayed on a single page on your Making Music Platform, with links to each of the individual performance events.  In this way, a "production" record in the Making Music Platform database can be treated as an umbrella for a set of event records.

As well as a collection of events, you can also specify a collection of "roles" for a production.  A production's set of roles can include the cast, the crew, the ensemble or chorus, the orchestra or band, the creative team (director, writer, producer, etc), the backstage team, the support team, etc.  All the roles you create for a production are displayed on the production's page.

This page describes the various steps involved in getting productions displayed on your Making Music Platform.

1. Enabling and Configuring the Productions Module

The first step in using Productions is to enable the Productions module.  This is done as follows...

  1. Ensure you're logged into your Making Music Platform as an administrator
  2. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site
  3. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to "Making Music Platform"
  4. Click the Configuration tab
  5. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Productions
  6. Further down the page, in the Miscellaneous section, ensure that the correct event category is selected from the"Performance" category for events drop-down list.  You need to select the event category that best represents production performances.
  7. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page

Now, every event in the Event Calendar can optionally be attached to a production.

You should probably also ensure that any Making Music Platform administrator who has administration privileges over the Events database should now also have administration privileges over the Productions and Production Roles databases.

2. Creating a Production

The process for creating a complete production on your Making Music Platform website is as follows...

  1. Create the "production" record in the database, with all the promotional content
  2. Create some "performance" events associated with this production - or associate existing events with this new production
  3. Create the "roles" for the production

To create the production itself...

  1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
  2. Scroll down to the Events heading, and click on Productions in the far-right Database tables column
  3. On the Productions Administration page, click the Add new production button in the top-right corner
  4. Fill in the details of the production, on the General and Public tabs
  5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page

To create the production's performance events...

Production performance events are created in the same way that you'd create any other event.  The only important step is to ensure that the production is selected from the drop-down list called Production at the top of the General tab.

Note: If an event is associated with a production, then it is not necessary to complete any of the following event details:

  • Finish date
  • Any of the venue or Google map details
  • Any of the fields on the public tab

All such details are automatically inherited from the production itself and will be shown on the event's page.

If you do decide to enter such information into the event record, then the details you enter will override the details from the production record when viewing the event.

Note also that it's possible to create other types of production events, such as rehearsals, associated with the production, but these events will not be displayed on the production's page.

To create the production's roles...

  1. From the Productions Administration page (see above), click on the name of the production that you created earlier
  2. At the top of the page, click the Add new role link
  3. Enter the details of the role, including the name of the role, what category of roles it belongs to, and which member or members are filling the role
  4. The Description of role that you enter will be displayed on the production's page and should describe the role and perhaps the person filling the role
  5. Click the Save button at the bottom

Once you have entered all the production's events and roles, the production should be ready for public consumption.

How do our Visitors see this New Production?

Naturally, you - as an administrator - can always access any production from the Productions Administration page.  But how do your visitors view the production details?  There are various options available to you...

  • Via the Upcoming Events section at the bottom of the home page (and other pages)
  • Via the menu across the top of every page
  • Via some sort of banner ad on the home page
  • On the Past Performances page (after the production is completed)

Display a link in the Upcoming Events section of the Home page...

It's easy to get a production to display in the Upcoming Events section of the home page (and other pages):

  1. When on the production's page (see above), click the Update button to update the production's details
  2. Click the Public tab
  3. Tick the box on that tab called Show in Upcoming Events section on homepage footer?
  4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page

Note that if you nominate that a production should be displayed in the Upcoming Events section, then any events associated with that production will not be displayed in that section, no matter whether you've nominated to display them there or not.  Displaying the production there overrides the display of any associated events there.

Display in the site's top menu...

If you want site visitors to be able to access production details via the site's top menu, you first need to decide how this should look...

  • A single menu option, perhaps in the News & Events menu, called Productions (or similar)
  • A new menu, called Productions (or similar) with each item in the menu representing one production
  • A single item in the top menu for each production

Each of these options involves creating one or more "navigation links" (from the Navigation Links Administration page).  If you are comfortable with administering the Navigation Links database, then you shouldn't have any trouble with this.  If not, please contact us and we can give you some assistance.

Display a banner ad on your home page...

Perhaps you envisage a professionally designed advertisement/banner on some part of your home page, advertising your new production to your site visitors.  When they click on this banner, they would be directed to your new production's page.  This option would first involve the ad being created by a graphic designer.  If you have one that you use, then you could ask them to create one for you.  If not, let us know - we know some great graphic designers.

Once the ad is created, you need to get it onto your home page.  If you have experience in editing Making Music Platform pages, then you shouldn't have too much trouble.  If you can't get it just right, contact us and we'll help you.

Display the production's details on the Past Performances page...

It's easy to get a production that's completed to display in the Past Performances page:

  1. When on the production's page (see above), click the Update button to update the production's details
  2. Click the Past tab
  3. Tick the box on that tab called Show on Past Performances page?
  4. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page

Note that the Past tab of the production's details contains other fields, such as Description, photo gallery and YouTube video.  Each of these replaces the production's main details when that production is being displayed on the Past Performances page.  The production's roles are also displayed on the Past Performances page.

Note that if you nominate that a production should be displayed on the Past Performances page, then any events associated with that production will not be displayed on that page, no matter whether you've nominated to display them there or not.  Displaying the production there overrides the display of any associated events there.

Setting up Your Making Music Platform to Sell Tickets to Events

For all the set-up instructions below, ensure that you are logged into your Making Music Platform with a "Webmaster" level of access.

1.  Enable the Ticketing module and set up payment options

Before tickets to events can be sold from your website, the Ticketing module must be enabled.  You must also select at least one payment method.  If you are already using the Membership Invoicing module or the Merchandise module in your Making Music Platform, then you will most likely have already set up payment methods, and should not need to change them.

The payment methods available are:

  • Credit card via a secure payment gateway. When a visitor uses this option to pay for their order, they remain on your website for the entire process (unlike PayPal, below). Making Music Platform currently has integrated support for two payment gateways:  Stripe and eWay.  Please refer to our Payment Gateways page for more information.
  • Credit card via PayPal.  Note that your group must have a PayPal account in order to enable this payment method.  These are free to set up, but note that PayPal takes fees on every transaction.
  • Internet Bank Transfer. Your bank account details are displayed to visitors when they check out. They make a manual transfer via their own Internet banking system, and when your merchandise manager sees the payment in your group's bank account, they then manually mark the order as paid, and the goods can be shipped.
  • Cheque/Money Order.  Your postal address is displayed to members when they received their invoice. They post a cheque, and when your merchandise manager receives it, they then manually mark the order as paid, and the goods can be shipped.

To enable the order module and set up payment options...

  1. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site
  2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to "Making Music Platform"
  3. Click the Configuration tab
  4. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Online Invoices/Orders/Tickets/Donations
  5. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Event Tickets
  6. Click the Payments tab
  7. If you haven't already done so, enter the details of at least one payment method.  For example, the bank account instructions may look something like this...

    Please pay funds into the following account:

    Bank: First Bank of Making Music
    BSB: 123456
    Account name: My Excellent Group Inc.
    Account number: 12345678

    ...while the cheque/money order instructions may look like this...

    Please make cheques payable to My Excellent Group Inc.
    and post to:

    My Excellent Group Inc.
    PO BOX 9876
    Mytown SA 1234

  8. If you wish to allow visitors to pay for merchandise securely using a credit card, please refer to our Payment Gateways page for more information.  If you wish to use the "Stripe" payment gateway (recommended), then there is a page in your Making Music Platform to set this up quickly and easily.  Visit your main Members page, then look for the link called Connect to Stripe Payment Gateway, and follow the instructions there.

2.  Assign administration privileges

There are new Making Music Platform database areas that are involved in selling tickets.  Whichever of your members will be responsible for setting up and selling tickets need to have administration privileges over these areas.  As usual, all administration privileges are maintained in the Logins database.

For each member that will be responsible for setting up tickets for events, please do the following...

  1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard

  2. Scroll down to the Members heading, and click on Logins in the far-right Database tables column

  3. Locate the login for the member in question, and click the update icon
  4. Ensure that the Access Level for the log in is set to Data Administration Access
  5. The following database areas should be ticked:
    • Event ticket pricing
    • Event ticket types
    • Events
    • Lists
    • Order/invoice/booking items
    • Orders/Invoices/Bookings
  6. Click Save at the bottom

3.  Set up ticket types and pricing levels

Pricing Levels

You will most likely wish to sell your event tickets with a variety of pricing levels. Your Making Music Platform should already have the following pricing levels set up:

  • Full price
  • Concession
  • Senior
  • Complimentary

Naturally, not all of them will be used for all events.  When it comes time to set up an event for selling tickets, you can select which of these will be used for that event.

Note that these pricing levels do not include the actual price!  The prices vary from event to event and are defined when you set up the event itself.

You are welcome to create new pricing levels at any time.  Any pricing level you create will be available to be used all future events.  You can create (or modify or delete) pricing levels now, or you can wait until you are setting up ticketing for an event.  It's actually easier to wait until you are setting up an event, but if you want to do it now, the steps are:

  1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
  2. Scroll down to the Website Config/Info heading, and click on Lists in the far-right Database tables column
  3. From the All Lists categories box, click on Ticket price levels
  4. On the Lists Administration Page, you can either:
    1. Create a new pricing level. Simply click the Add new list item button in the top-right corner, and fill in the blanks
    2. Edit or delete existing pricing levels.  In the large list of options, locate each of the price levels above, and click either the "update" or "delete" icons

 

Ticket Types

At any given event, you may have a variety of different seating options or seating areas. Your Making Music Platform comes with the following predefined types:

  • Main auditorium
  • Premium seating

Naturally, you are welcome to change these ones, or delete them, or create new ones.  There must always be at least one.  As with pricing levels, not all of the ticket types will be used for all events.  When it comes time to set up an event for selling tickets, you can select which ticket types will be available for that event.

As with pricing levels (above), you are welcome to create new ticket types at any time.  Any ticket type you create will be available to be used all future events.  You can create (or modify or delete) ticket types now, or you can wait until you are setting up ticketing for an event.  It's actually easier to wait until you are setting up an event, but if you want to do it now, the steps are:

  1.  Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
  2. Scroll down to the Events heading, and click on the Event ticket types link in the far-right Database tables column
  3. Edit or delete the existing ticket types in the usual way, or add new ones
  4. You can also reorder these (which affects the way they are presented to potential purchasers), by clicking the Reorder ticket types button

4.  Set up an event so that tickets can be sold

Note: If your Making Music Platform uses "productions" (see our guide to setting up productions), and you wish to sell tickets to each of the performances in your production, then each event must be set up to sell tickets individually.

 

4.1  Adjust the Event

To enable tickets to be sold for an event, you must nominate which member will be responsible for handling online ticket sales.  This member will receive notification emails whenever an event is sold.  It's a simple process to set this...

Note:  If the event is part of a production, then perform these steps on the production, not the event.

  1. Open the page where you view the details of the event (production)
  2. Click the Update link at the top of the page
  3. Click the Public tab
  4. In the field called Send ticket purchase notifications to, select the relevant member
  5. While you're here, ensure that the field just above that called Bookings webpage is empty - otherwise, this (external) webpage will be used to sell tickets to this event, instead of the built-in Making Music Platform ticketing system that we're currently configuring
  6. Click Save at the bottom

 

4.2  Set up Ticket Pricing

The event is now ready to have ticket pricing set up.  To do so...

  1. Click the Manage Tickets link at the top of the event's page
    Manage Tickets Link

     

  2. You are taken to the event's Manage Event Tickets page.  You need to create at least one ticket price.  Choose a ticket type/pricing level combination (e.g. Full price/Main auditorium), and click the Create pricing link that corresponds to that combination (i.e. one of the following links):

    Manage Tickets Page
      

  3. Enter a price (or leave as $0.00 for complimentary tickets)
  4. Click the Save button at the bottom
  5. Repeat steps 2 - 5 for each ticket type/pricing level combination you wish to sell tickets for. Note that it is NOT necessary to create pricing for every combination - only those combinations that you plan to sell (or give away) tickets for.

Once you have created the first of these ticket pricings, your event is ready for selling tickets!  You may now return to the event's page, where you'll see a big red Book Now button.  You can click that button to see what your site visitors will see when they wish to purchase tickets to your event.

The Booking Process

The booking process, for your site visitors, is simple and unsurprising...

  1. They visit your event's page
  2. They click the big red Book Now button
  3. They are taken to a page where they can select from the various ticket type/pricing level combinations.  They can book tickets from more than one combination.  Up to 50 tickets can be booked per combination
  4. They check out via a shopping cart.  They must enter their full contact details to check out
  5. They can pay via any of the payment methods you set up.
  6. At the completion of the booking process, they are sent an email containing the full details of their booking. If they chose one of the payment methods that supports instant payment (i.e. credit card or PayPal), then their email will contain a link to a page on your website where they can print their tickets.  Printed tickets look like this...

    Printed tickets
      

  7. The member nominated to receive booking notification emails will also receive an email when the booking is completed
  8. If the booker chose a payment method that does NOT involve instant payment (i.e. Internet bank transfer or cheque), then someone must keep an eye on the bank account or the letterbox. If payment is eventually received, someone MUST return to that booking and mark it as "Fully paid" AND send out an updated booking status/confirmation.  If this does not happen, then the person will have no means to print out their tickets!  See below for how to change the status of a booking and send a booking status update.
Viewing Tickets that have been Booked

After tickets have been sold, you can return to the Manage Tickets page for an event (see above) to do any of the following...

  • View a summary of all sold tickets, broken down by ticket type and pricing level
  • View a full list of all individual bookings
  • Send a bulk email to all ticket purchasers
  • Adjust the number of tickets sold offline (sold without using the Making Music Platform ticket system)

Notice the three different tabs on this page:

Sold Tickets

Note also that it's possible to print this page.  Look for the Printable version link at the bottom of the page.

Receiving Payments

When payment for an online booking is received via Internet bank transfer, cheque or cash, it is important to mark the booking as paid and send new booking confirmation, so that the booker has a mechanism for printing their tickets.  This is done as follows...

  1. Visit the event's main page
  2. Click the Manage Tickets link at the top of the page
  3. Click the List tab
  4. Locate the booking in the list, either by booker name, booking ID, date or amount
  5. Click the booking ID for that booking
  6. On the booking page, click the Update button
  7. Change the Status to Fully Paid
  8. Scroll to the bottom and tick the box called Resend email containing details of this...
  9. Click the Save button

 

AVAILABILITY AND ATTENDANCE TRACKING

How is attendance and availability tracked in Making Music Platform?

Making Music Platform has a very comprehensive and powerful system for tracking attendance of members at events, and for tracking which members are available for those events.  It works like this...

  1. Attendance/availability tracking is enabled for an event
  2. A notice about the event is emailed out to all members.  The email contains all details about the event and contains options that member can use to indicate their availability for the event.  The members indicate their availability by clicking one of the availability options (links) in the email.
  3. If knowing each member's availablity for that event is important to the event's organisers, then an adjustment can be made to the event, and the email that is sent out will have a big red message alerting the members about this, strongly urging them to respond.  A similar message will be shown on the main Members page every time a member logs in, and in various other places around the website.  Reports are available to help the event organisers know numbers.
  4. At the event, someone makes a note of the actual attendance of each member. Making Music Platform has an "attendance sheet" (paper) that can be printed out before the event and used for this exact purpose.
  5. After the event, the record of each member's attendance is entered into Making Music Platform.  This is a fast process, usually only taking a couple of minutes.
  6. An attendance report is available for the event, and attendance graphs are also available for all members and all events.
Setting Up Attendance/Availability Tracking for an Event

Enabling the Attendance/Availability Module

This step is likely not necessary, and the Attendance/Availability Module is enabled by default in your Making Music Platform.  But just in case it's not...

  1. Log in to the Members Area and click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
  2. Scroll down to the Website Config/Info heading, and click on the Website Setup and Configuration link to the right of this in the Admin Pages column
  3. Click the "cog" icon next to Making Music Platform
  4. Click the Configuration tab
  5. At the top of the tab, you'll see a list of modules.  Ensure that Attendance/Availability is ticked
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save

Enabling Attendance/Availability Tracking for a specific event

When adding/updating an event, look on the Members tab for the Attendance/Availability Tracking section...

By default, the tracking will be set to Do not track attendance/availability. Choose one of the other 4 options to enable attendance/availability tracking:

  • all active participants of selected ensembles:  The members who are actively part of the ensembles you selected on the General tab of the event.  This would likely be the most common option you would choose.
  • rostered members:  Tracking is only enabled for the members that are ticked in theRoster/Members on Duty box, just above the Attendance/Availability Tracking section.  If you didn't tick any members in that box, then don't select this option.
  • members of selected committees/teams:  Tracking is only enabled for the members of the committees/teams selected in the Committee(s)/Team(s) box at the top of the tab.  This would typically be used to track the attendance at Executive Committee or Board of Directors meetings.
  • members of system-wide member grouping:  This option used to be the only option, in an earlier version of Making Music Platform, but is now not used so much.  It refers to the following member grouping:


    It still works fine, but it's not as flexible as the other options.

If it's important that all members indicate their availability for an event as soon as possible, then you should also tick the box called Request members to indicate availability ASAP. This will show large red notices in various places around the website, and in event notification emails to members until a member indicates their availability.

If availability changes are so important that someone needs to be notified of them by email and/or SMS every time a member changes their availability, then there's an option for that too.

How do members indicate their availability for an event?

There are several places that members can indicate their availability for an event...

1. On the event's page

Visit the event's page, and then look at the section called Attendance/Availability:

2. On the Upcoming Events page

Note that after selecting any options on that page, the member must click the Update Attendancesbutton at the bottom of the list.
Upcoming Events

3. On the main Members page
main Members page

4. From an Event Notification Email

This is probably the most useful option, as all members are notified about the event via an email, and can indicate their availability with one click.

To send out the event notification emails, click the Email event now link at the top of the event's page:

Follow the prompts, and a personalised email will be sent to each member.  When they receive the email, they simply click the appropriate link in the email to indicate their availability:
Email availability options

The Availability Report

At any time before the event, you can view the event's Availability Report. Do that by clicking the link called View Availability Report on the event's page. Here is a sample:

Note that it's possible to send an email to any subset of people on that report - perhaps to remind them that they have not yet indicated their availability.  Do this by clicking the Send email now link next to the set of people in question (e.g. the Nothing recorded people).

The Attendance Report

The Attendance Report is actually almost identical to the Availability Report - it just shows attendance, not availability.

It can be accessed from the event's page, or from the Attendance & Availability page.

One other difference is that at the bottom of the page, it shows the Members At Risk report, which simply shows members that have not attended the last few events.  It's there to alert you to their sustained absence so that you can perhaps follow up with them about why they've been absent so much.

Attendance Charts

Making Music Platform can also graph all your attendance data.  The data can be analysed...

  • By event - see what your best-attended events were
  • By member - see who are your best - and worst - attenders

You can show  the graphs by...

  • The percentage attendance (e.g. 60 out of 80 attendances = 75%)
  • The actual number of attendances (e.g. 60 out of 80 attendances = 75%)
  • The total possible number of attendances (e.g. 60 out of 80 attendances = 75%)

An example is below, showing the members, sorted by percentage attendance (best attenders at the top)...

Attendance Chart

 

 

On the Day - Tracking Actual Attendance

On the day, at the event, someone needs to record the actual attendance of every member. This can be done in several ways, but it usually boils down to a piece of paper with everyone's names on it, and whether they attended or not.

To aid in that process, Making Music Platform allows you to print out a pre-formatted sheet, with everyone's names on it, that you can use to track attendance. It also shows the recent attendance of each member, over the last few events...

The Attendance Sheet

To print out an event's Attendance Sheet, simply visit the event's page, and click the link in the Attendance/Availability section called Print attendance sheet. It looks like this...

Attendance Sheet

The column in bold is the current event. You are required to either tick the box if the member attended the event, or write a letter (A, S, H, etc) in the box, indicating the type of non-attendance.

The columns before (to the left of) the current event show letters (P = present, etc) that indicate the actual attendance of the members at that event, while the coloured squares to the right of the current event indicate the stated availability of the members at those events.

Changing the event from Availability Tracking to Attendance Tracking

The completed Attendance Sheet is then taken home by someone (the person recording the attendance), and the details of everyone's actual attendance is entered into the website.  This is done on the main Attendance & Availability page, reached via the icon on the main Members page. Once on that page, select the event from the drop-down list at the top of the page.

Before attendance details can be entered, the event must be switched from Availability Tracking to Attendance Tracking. This is a simple, one-click process. Simply click the Enable Attendance Trackingbutton, as shown below...

Switch Availability to Attendance

Entering Actual Attendance

Now it's time to enter the actual attendance of every member.  This might sound like a daunting, time-consuming task, but it can actually be done very quickly.  The list of members in Step 2B on this page is identical to the list of members on the printed Attendance Sheet, and the members are even listed in the same order.

First, click with your mouse on the first drop-down list called No attendance recorded, as shown in the screenshot below... 
Entering Attendance
 

Then, using your keyboard, type in the letter that corresponds to their actual attendance (P = present, A = apologies, etc).  Then simply use the TAB key to move down to the next attendance drop-down, and again type the first letter. Then repeat for the remaining members.

So your typing sequence will look like this (for example): TAB-p-TAB-p-TAB-a-TAB-p etc. You should not have to use the mouse at all!  In this way, you can do one member's attendance every second or two, so 30 people can be done in less than a minute.

Note

For record-keeping purposes, and attendance statistics, there's a big difference between No attendance recorded and absent.  If you mark someone as absent, it counts against them (and the event) for statistical purposes.  But if you simply don't record any attendance at all (leave their drop-down list reading No attendance recorded), then no statistics are recorded for that person at that event.  So if the person's attendance at that event was optional (perhaps they are a part-time coach, or perhaps they're on leave-of-absence), and they didn't attend, then it's best to not record any attendance at all for them, rather than record them as being absent.

Extra Attendees

Sometimes people turn up to events when they're not in the set of members for which we're tracking attendance.  You can still record these people as having attended the event.  Do this in Step 2A on the Attendance & Availability page.

If you do so, they will appear as "extras" in all attendance reports.

Creating name badges and QR tracking

The Making Music Platform allows you to create and print name badges for each person attending your events. These name badges can also include a barcode (QR code) which you are able to scan and this will update that individuals attendance record for a particular event. 

This is how it works:

  1. Member name badges are printed for everyone (and worn to events)
  2. At an event, someone with a mobile phone (or other device with an internet connection and a camera capable of scanning QR codes) scans the name-badge of each attendee. This person would need to be logged into your Making Music Platform in their devices browser (they would need admin permissions over the attendance database or webmaster access).
  3. Scanning the QR code on the phone will open a new Platform page in your phone's browser, where that member will be marked as having attended whichever event is happening that day. Or an error will be shown if:
    • There are no events that day
    • There are no events that day that have attendance-tracking turned on
    • If there is more than one event that day with attendance-tracking turned on, the person will need to select the correct event, by clicking on one of the event links on the page
    • If the selected event has not yet been switched from availability-tracking to attendance-tracking, the person will be presented with a button to do so (when the first badge is scanned)

How to get everyone's name badges printed?

You have two options to get everyone's name badges printed:

  1. Each badge can be printed one-by-one, perhaps by the members themselves, by clicking a new button on the member's profile page. The new button is at the top of the tab on the profile page called Member of Group name. Clicking that button will take you to a page where the badge is previewed. If you have admin permissions over the member database you will also be shown some options to customise the data that's printed on the badge. If you have webmaster access there will also be a link on that page to change the actual badge template/design

  2. You can print badges for the whole group (or a subset) by going to the admin dashboard and clicking the link under the members section called Print name badges.

Customising the badge design/template is easy enough. A basic badge layout has been pre-programmed into your Making Music Platform. Feel free to change it. You can change colours, add new fields (such as Occupation, Member ID, Spouse/Partner, etc - basically any field from the member database), add a logo or other graphical components. This process may require some knowledge of HTML for fine-tuning.

Note: If you set background colours or images in your badge design, you will likely also need to enable the Print background colours and images option in your web browser's print settings - for every browser that's going to print a badge. The settings on each browser is different so you may need to do an internet search to advise how this works for the particular browser you are using.

 

EVENTS FAQS

Can the event booking page be made open to non-members?

Yes, events booking and ticket purchase pages are visible to the public by default. You can restrict them to members only if you want. 

See also our guidance on Creating an Event and Event access levels.

How do we get all of the events to show on the events summary page?

If you want every single event to show up on the Events Summary Page, you will need to make a slight change to the event list filters. To do this:

  1. Click on Admin in the top-right
  2. In the Website Content section click on Website Pages:

  1. In the search bar, type in ‘eventsumm’
  2. Click the Update icon next to ‘Upcoming Events Summary Sheet’:

  1. Click the Data tab
  2. In the Filter options box, delete the entire line beginning ‘Category’:

  1. Remember to click Save at the bottom of the page when you are done.

 

How to add performances to the "Past Performances" page

If one of your events was a success and you want to include it on your Past Performances page...

  1. Ensure you're logged in as an administrator
  2. (If applicable)  Create a photo album with all the photos from the event
  3. Visit the event's page
  4. Click the Update link at the top of the event's page to update the event's details in the normal way
  5. Click on the Past tab
  6. Tick the box at the top of the tab to make the event show on the Past Performances page
  7. Write some text in the big Description box, describing what a success the event was
  8. (If applicable)  Select the photo album that you created earlier
  9. Click Save at the bottom

If you would like to include one or more videos of the performance, then do the following for each video...

  1. First, ensure that the video is uploaded to YouTube.  You can make the video "private" or "unlisted" on the YouTube website if required.
  2. Back on your Making Music Platform, visit the event's page
  3. Click on the Add new file/resource link at the top of the page
  4. Complete all the details - the name of the video, the access level, and (most importantly) copy-and-paste the URL (web address) of the YouTube video page into the box called YouTube Video URL in the File/resource section
  5. In the set of tickboxes called Also show on, tick the box next to Past Performances page
  6. Click Save at the bottom

We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.

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