Group events are a great way to get your customers together for classes or other get-togethers you may host for your business. Maybe your business is welding, and you want to host a class for people to learn how to weld. Or, maybe you are running an art studio, and you host regular painting classes. With Thryv, you can easily put these events together and provide these services to your clientele.

Group Events are a type of service that you can set to host or multiple clients. This article will focus on creating a Group Event. Once a Group Event is created it can be scheduled for internal use or for your clients to register for online.

Create a Group Event

To set up your new group event, go to Settings on the left navigation bar., then My Services. 
Select the New Service button and select Group Event from the drop-down menu.

You will then see the service configuration page. 

You are able to configure the following options on a per-service (event) basis:

Service Name - Set a name for your service/event. For example: "Weekly Webinar" or "Drop-in Yoga class."

Max attendees - The maximum number of clients that can register for the event.
You have an option to edit this when you set up a time for the event later on, or while editing the event.

Location - Here you will set how or where the service will take place. 
Your available choices are: Face to Face, Over the Phone,  or Online

• Face to Face options: you will be able to specify if the event is at the business location which will populate the business address, or Other Address, which will allow you to enter an address for the event.
• Over the Phone option: Enter the phone number for registered clients to call at the time of the event.
• Online options: Skype link or Other to enter URL to your preferred video conference/webinar platform.

Duration - This controls the length of the event. 

Price - You may choose if you'd like to display an associated fee for a service (or not). If you decide to set a fee, you may also request payment up-front for a service. 
Note: To successfully request payment up-front, you will need to also configure your payment gateway under Settings > Payments. Click here to learn more about getting started with online payments.

Select Create to add this Event to your services or select Advanced to continue adding more details to the event.

Advanced Details for an Event

Service Details - Add any additional information about the service so your clients will know what to expect and what the event includes. The service details will display directly below the service/event name on your online service menu.

Image - Upload a photo to represent the service on the service menu.

Show on Menu: Enabling this option will add the event to your service menu, and your clients will be able to schedule it themselves from the online service menu.

 In other cases, you may have a service that you would like to offer to individual clients, but you don't want it to be publicly available on your menu. Deselect this option for the service to be displayed on your Client Portal service menu. 
For each of your events, including those that are not displayed on your service menu, a unique invitation link will be created, for you to share with your clients. 

Preparation Time- This allows you to add a certain amount of time before each service to allow for preparation. This feature is also known as "padding"; the time you set here will be added before the event starts.

Please note: The preparation time is not calculated for the first available time of the day.

Price Options - choose from the following options for service with or without a fee.

• Free - Display a Fee- Selecting this option will display the service as "Free" in the service menu.
• Free - Don't display a fee- No fees will be mentioned when selecting this option. 
• Paid - Suggest to pay at booking - The fee will be displayed to your clients, and they will be asked to pay online during booking. If the client decides not to pay online, the service will still be booked but marked as "not paid" on your calendar.
• Paid - Require to pay at booking - The fee will be displayed to your clients, and they will have to pay online during booking. The booking process will not be completed unless the payment is made. The payment will automatically be marked as confirmed once it is processed.
• Paid - Display fee only (no upfront payment) - When selecting this option, the price will be displayed to clients, and the booking will be completed without asking the client to make an online payment. Once the scheduling request is confirmed, you can issue an invoice for the service and offer the client to pay online or record a payment if you collect your fees offline.
• Price varies - Display as "For a fee" - If the price for your service can vary and you don't want to state a fixed fee, use this option. The service will be displayed "For a fee" when the client books it. The fees can be discussed with the client, and you can issue an invoice or record the payment at a later date.

Staff - You may select which staff member should provide the service by default. You may change this on a per-occurrence basis.

Client scheduling form - Customize the form clients are either asked or required to complete while scheduling the specific service. Each service can have its own customized form:

Under Fields available in all scheduling request forms section, you will see all the fields you have defined under Settings> Client Card. These fields will be displayed for every new scheduling request. (Returning clients will be recognized automatically based on their email address and will not be required to provide client card information again.)

Under Additional fields for this service, you can add fields that you would like clients to complete every time they schedule a specific service. 
When is this useful? You can add different fields in the scheduling request form and use them to collect information regarding the client or the client's preferences for the selected service or any additional information that will help you to provide them with a better service.

Note - The service-specific fields will be displayed for both returning and new clients.

Adding a field

If you wish to add more fields to the scheduling form request, click on Add/Edit followed by Add Field then choose from the drop-down menu the field type that should be added. These are the options:

Single Line Field - The text box with the client's answer can contain one line of text.
Multi-Line Field - The text box displayed to the client will allow for more room to contain the number of lines of text you will set.
Drop Down Field - The client will be shown a drop-down menu from which they'll have to choose from.

Checkbox - Ability to set up a field which is filled as a checkbox and whether the checkbox defaults as selected

Datepicker - Used for adding date fields where the client is to pick a date out of a calendar. 

Once you selected the field type you can set it with:

Label - Title of the field as it will be displayed to the clients.
Required - Check this box if the field must be filled by the clients to send the schedule request.

Select Save in the top menu. Congratulations! You have successfully added a new event to your services!

Your new Group Event is now ready to schedule! The next step is to add group event occurrences to your calendar.

Note - Clients will be able to see the event on your Client Portal service menu if you allowed it, but available times will be offered to the client only after you have added the event to your calendar.