Creating an event

An event in SERVOS is a date, a capacity, and one or more ticket types. You create it from Events in the sidebar, it starts as a draft, and nothing is for sale until you publish both the event and at least one ticket type. Creating, editing or deleting events and their ticket types needs the Member role or above.

Creating the event

Press Create Event on the events list. The "New event" dialog walks through three steps:

1. Details: "Name" (the slug under "Slug" is generated from it and becomes part of the event's address), "Short Description", "Event Category", and the full "Description" shown on the public page.
2. Configuration: "Event Start" and "Event End", or switch on All Day Event to use dates only. "Event Capacity" is the total number of attendees across all ticket types and is required (the default is 100).
3. Tickets: optionally create the first ticket type here with a name, price, and validity window. You can skip this and add ticket types on the event afterwards.

Press Create Event on the last step. You land on the event page, which confirms "Event created."

The event page

Each event has its own sidebar:

• Event Setup: the details, media, and ticket types.
• Tickets: the ticket types, with prices and availability.
• Sales: issued tickets, revenue, and check-in rate. The badge shows how many tickets are sold.
• Scanner: the check-in scanner link, see Checking in at the door.

Next to the event name on Event Setup are three buttons: the external-link icon ("Preview event") opens the public event page, the copy icon ("Copy link to event") copies its address, and the pencil ("Edit event details") opens the editor. The editor covers category, publication status, name, descriptions, the all-day switch, start and end times, capacity, and the cancellation policy ("Organization default" unless you pick one, see Cancellations and refunds).

Under Media, press Add Media to upload images; the first one is the hero image on the public page. Drag to reorder.

Ticket types

Every event needs at least one ticket type to sell anything. On the event page under "Tickets", press Create:

• "Ticket Name": for example "General Admission", "VIP", or "Early Bird".
• "Publication Status": Public ticket types are sold on the public event page and in the POS, Private ones in the POS only, and Drafts nowhere. New ticket types made here start as Public.
• "Description": shown to customers when selecting this ticket.
• "Price": can be zero for free tickets.
• "Tax Group": "Use organization default" unless this ticket type is taxed differently. See Taxes.
• "Ticket is valid for the entire event": on by default. Switch it off to set "Valid From" and "Valid Until" inside the event's own start and end, for example a day pass on a multi-day event.
• "Capacity": the most tickets of this type that can be sold. Leave it empty for unlimited; the event capacity still caps the total.
• "Position": display order, lower numbers first.
• "Sales periods": when customers can buy this ticket type. Leave it empty to sell until the event ends, or press Add First Period and set "Start Selling On" and "Stop Selling On", with more periods via Add Period.

Press Create Ticket Variant. The list on the event page shows each ticket type's visibility, price, validity, and capacity as "available/total", or "Unlimited".

A ticket type that has sold tickets can't be deleted ("Cannot delete ticket variant because it has sold tickets."). Set it to Draft to stop selling it instead. Lowering a capacity below what is already sold or sitting in open carts is refused as well.

Capacity and "sold out"

Two limits apply at once: the ticket type's own capacity, if set, and the event capacity shared by all ticket types. Tickets in a customer's open cart count against both while the cart is active, so a ticket type can read as sold out for a few minutes even though no order has completed.

A ticket type shows as "Sold Out" when nothing is left. On the booking site it shows "Not on sale yet" before its sales period and "Sales closed" after it, and a Draft ticket type is hidden. One cart can't hold more tickets than the event capacity allows, across all ticket types. Once the event has ended, its page says so and nothing can be sold.

Publishing the event

Publication status controls where the event is visible:

• Public: on the public event page and in the POS.
• Draft: hidden everywhere. New events start here.
• Private: in the POS, and not listed on your booking site, but guests with the event's direct link can open its page and buy tickets; search engines don't index it. Use it for invite-only events you share the link to. For desk-only sales, such as staff allocations, use Private ticket types: they sell in the POS only.

Set it under "Publication Status" in the event editor, and check that the ticket types you want to sell are Public too.

The public event page

Each event has one public address, the one "Copy link to event" gives you. There is no public list of all your events; share the link on your website, in newsletters, or on social media. The page shows the hero image, category, start and end, the organization's name and address under "Venue" and "Location" (events take place at your organization's address), the description, and the Public ticket types with quantity steppers. Sold-out ticket types are marked and can't be selected; the remaining count isn't shown. Customers add tickets to a cart and check out online, and their tickets arrive by email. See Selling tickets.

Deleting and archiving

Delete in the events list's row menu archives an event that has no tickets, which removes it from the list. An event with sold tickets can't be deleted; set it to Draft to take it off sale and keep its sales history.

Common questions

I published the event but the page says no tickets are available. The ticket types are still Drafts. Open Tickets and set the ones you sell to Public. A ticket type whose tax group has been deactivated is hidden too; pick an active tax group.

Can I sell tickets before the event details are final? Yes. Publish the event with the ticket types you're sure of and edit the description, times, or media later. Customers who already bought keep their tickets.

Can the event take place somewhere other than our address? Not as a separate field. The public page shows your organization's address. Put the venue in the description and the short description so it appears on the page and in link previews.

Does an event repeat? No. Create one event per date. For a long event, use the "Valid From" and "Valid Until" on ticket types to sell day passes.

How do I stop selling one ticket type but keep the others? Set that ticket type to Draft, or give it a sales period that has already ended. Tickets already sold stay valid.

How do I give someone a ticket for free? Create a Private ticket type with a price of zero; it shows up in the POS but not on the public page. Or sell the regular ticket type at the POS and apply a discount at checkout.