Events & ticketing

Events & ticketing

Events are one of the busiest parts of a chamber of commerce on ChamberBuilder. This guide walks you click-by-click through creating an event, opening registration for free or paid tickets, managing the people who sign up, promoting the event on your public site and by email, and cancelling if plans change. No technical knowledge needed — every button and field name below matches exactly what you'll see on screen.

• Create an event
• Set up registration and ticketing
• Manage attendees
• Promote your event
• Cancel an event

Create an event

The new-event form is a short three-step wizard. The step names appear as numbered bubbles across the top of the form — 1 Basics, 2 Schedule & location, 3 Description & registration — and you move through them with the Next button. You can also click any bubble to jump straight to that step. Nothing saves until you press Save event on the final step, so you can move back and forth freely.

Before you start

1. In the admin sidebar, open Events. You land on the events list, which shows every event you've created with its date and status.
2. Click the New event button (top right of the list). The three-step form opens on Step 1 — Basics.

Screenshot needed: The Events list with the New event button highlighted. Save at public/help-images/events/events-list.png.

Step 1 — Basics

This step captures the essentials. The fields, in order:

1. Name — The event title (required). This is the headline visitors see everywhere the event appears.
2. Status — A dropdown. New events default to Draft. Leave it on Draft while you're still setting things up; switch to Published only when you're ready for the event to appear on your public site. (You can also publish later from the Edit screen.)
3. Type — A dropdown: General, Networking, Ribbon cutting, Educational, or Fundraiser. This is used for labelling and filtering. Choosing Ribbon cutting reveals an extra "Ambassadors needed" field later on Step 3.
4. Visibility — A dropdown with three choices: Public (anyone can see the event page), Members only (visitors must sign in first), or Hidden (not listed publicly at all).
5. Price ($) — A number field. Leave it at 0 for a free event. Enter any amount (for example 25.00) to charge for tickets — this is what turns registration into paid, Stripe-checkout ticketing. There's a helper note under the field that reads "Leave 0 for free."
6. Banner image — Click Choose file to upload the image shown at the top of the event page. Once uploaded, a small preview appears directly beneath the field so you can confirm it's the right image.

What happens next: Click Next to move to Step 2. Your entries are held in the form — still not saved to the site yet.

Gotcha: Setting a price here is the only thing that makes an event paid. If you forget to set it, registration will be free even if you intended to charge. Double-check the Price field before publishing.

Step 2 — Schedule & location

1. Starts at (required) — Click the field to pick the date and time the event begins.
2. Ends at — Optional. Pick the end date and time if you want it shown.
3. Create as a recurring series — A checkbox. Leave it unchecked for a one-off event. If you check it, a Recurrence settings panel slides open where you set:
   • Frequency — Weekly, Bi-weekly (every 2 weeks), Monthly, or Specific days of week.
   • Number of occurrences — How many events to generate (up to 52).
   • Days of week — Day buttons (Sun–Sat) you click to pick specific days.
   • A live "Dates to be created" preview lists exactly which dates will be generated once you fill in the start date.
4. Host business (optional) — A dropdown of your member businesses. Pick one to attribute the event to that business; its saved address auto-fills the location fields below. Leave it on "— Organization-hosted —" for an event your chamber of commerce runs directly.
5. Website or online link — A URL field. For an in-person event, this shows on the page as the event website. Below it is a "This is an online event" toggle — flip it on for a virtual event so the link shows as a Join Online button instead. There's a helper note explaining exactly this.
6. Venue name — The name of the physical location (e.g. "Downtown Community Hall").
7. Address fields — Address line 1, line 2, city, state, and postal code for in-person events.

What happens next: Click Next for Step 3.

Gotcha: For recurring series, the individual occurrence dates are generated in the background after you save. The list may take a moment to populate — that's normal.

Step 3 — Description & registration

1. Description — A rich-text editor with formatting, headings, and links. This is the body copy visitors read on the event page. Keep it scannable: what, when, where, and why to come.
   • If you're editing an already-saved event, an AI recap button appears beneath the editor. Click it to have ChamberBuilder draft a recap paragraph you can keep or tweak. (It only shows on saved events, not while creating a brand-new one.)
2. Do you require registration? — A Yes / No button pair. This is covered in detail in the next section.
3. Ribbon-cutting extras — Only appears if you chose the Ribbon cutting type on Step 1; lets you set Ambassadors needed.
4. Featured placement (admin only) — A Featured until date. Set it to sort this event to the top of your public calendar until that date passes.

Finally, click Save event (the green button at the bottom right, which appears once you reach the last step). ChamberBuilder saves the event and takes you to its detail page.

Screenshot needed: Step 1 of the new-event form with the main fields filled in. Save at public/help-images/events/new-event.png.

Tips

• Leave the Status on Draft until the date, location, and registration settings are final — a draft never appears on your public site.
• Use Members only visibility for exclusive events; non-members are prompted to sign in before they can view or register.
• Set Featured until on your flagship event so it stays at the top of the public calendar.

Set up registration and ticketing

Registration is optional. A simple "save the date" event can stay purely informational, or you can collect sign-ups and, if you set a price, take payment automatically.

Turn registration on

1. On Step 3 — Description & registration (or open your event and click Edit, then go to Step 3), find "Do you require registration?"
2. Click the Yes button. A block of registration settings appears immediately below.
3. Fill in the settings that apply:
   • Capacity — An optional cap on confirmed attendees. When the cap is reached the event shows as sold out and no further sign-ups are accepted. Leave it blank for unlimited.
   • Registration opens — The date/time sign-ups begin. Leave blank to open immediately.
   • Registration closes — The date/time sign-ups end. Outside the open/close window, registration is closed.
   • Reminder schedule — When automatic reminders go out, in the format 48h:email,1h:sms (a reminder 48 hours before by email and 1 hour before by SMS). The channel is optional and defaults to email; valid channels are email, sms, or both.
4. Click Save event.

Screenshot needed: The registration settings block (capacity, open/close, reminder schedule) after clicking Yes. Save at public/help-images/events/registration-settings.png.

Free events (price is 0)

For a free event, registration is instant. Here's what a visitor experiences:

1. They open the event page and click the registration button.
2. They fill in first name, last name, email, and optionally phone.
3. Their registration is confirmed immediately — no payment step.
4. They receive a confirmation email with a calendar invite attached.
5. Any reminders you scheduled are queued automatically.

Paid events (price is above 0)

When the event has a price, ChamberBuilder collects payment through Stripe checkout:

1. The visitor fills in the same registration form.
2. Their spot is reserved (held, not yet confirmed) and an invoice is created for the ticket price.
3. They're sent to Stripe checkout to pay.
4. Once payment succeeds, the registration flips to confirmed, the invoice is marked paid, and the confirmation email goes out.

A reserved registration that's never paid does not count as a confirmed attendee and doesn't take a seat against capacity in the long run.

Gotcha: Paid events need your Stripe payments connected before you publish, or visitors will hit a dead end at checkout. Confirm your payment setup first.

Cancellations and refunds by attendees

Attendees can request to cancel up to a cutoff before the event — 24 hours by default, shown on the event page as "Attendees may self-cancel until N hrs before start." When someone requests a cancellation, it appears in your Registrations list flagged for review (see the next section), where you Approve or Reject it. For paid events, approving a cancellation processes the Stripe refund automatically. Both the attendee and your admin contact are emailed as the request moves along.

Tips

• Set a Capacity for space-limited events so registration closes itself when you fill up.
• Use Registration opens / closes to run early-bird or last-minute windows.

Manage attendees

Open any event from the Events list to reach its detail page. Across the top you'll see three summary cards — Registrations (count vs. capacity), Checked in, and Reminders sent — followed by three tabs: Details, Registrations, and Reminders. Everything for managing attendees lives on the Registrations tab.

Click the Registrations tab. It lists everyone who signed up with their name, email, status, and whether they've checked in. If any cancellation requests are pending, a yellow banner appears at the top and the relevant rows are highlighted yellow.

Check people in at the door

1. On the Registrations tab, find the attendee (use the Search attendees… box to filter by name or email).
2. Click the blue Check in button on their row. The button flips to Undo and their check-in is recorded.
3. Made a mistake? Click Undo to reverse it. Check-in is a simple toggle, so an accidental click or double-scan is always recoverable.

Scanning tickets: Click Scan QR to use your device camera to check people in from the QR code in their confirmation. If a scan won't read, click into the "Or paste token…" field and paste the check-in code manually, then press Enter.

Resend a confirmation

On any attendee's row, click Resend. ChamberBuilder re-sends their confirmation email (with the calendar invite) to the address on file, and you'll see a "Confirmation resent to…" message.

Approve or reject a cancellation request

When a row shows the status Cancellation requested (highlighted yellow), two buttons appear on that row:

1. Click Approve to accept the cancellation. You'll be asked to confirm. For a paid ticket, this triggers the Stripe refund automatically and emails the attendee.
2. Click Reject to decline it — the registration is restored to Confirmed and the attendee is notified.

Note: Refunds happen as part of approving a cancellation. There isn't a separate stand-alone "refund" button on the attendee row — approving the cancellation is how a paid attendee gets their money back.

Export the roster

On the Registrations tab, click Export CSV (top right of the list). A spreadsheet downloads named after your event (e.g. your-event-roster.csv) containing each attendee's first name, last name, email, phone, amount paid, status, when they registered, and when they checked in.

Screenshot needed: The Registrations tab with statuses, the Search/Scan QR/Export CSV controls, and Check in / Resend buttons. Save at public/help-images/events/attendee-list.png.

Tips

• Export the roster the morning of the event as a printable backup for check-in.
• Watch the Registrations card (count vs. capacity) as the date approaches.
• Reminder delivery runs automatically every 10 minutes in the background — check the Reminders tab to see the offsets you've set.

Promote your event

On your public site

Published events appear automatically on your public events page at chamberbuilder.com/events, which offers grid, list, and calendar views plus filters for today, this week, and this month.

To feature events elsewhere on your site, add the Upcoming events block in the page editor:

1. Open the page you want (for example your home page) in the page editor.
2. Add the Upcoming events block.
3. In its settings, set:
   • Limit — How many events to show (3 by default).
   • Style — Cards or a compact list.
   • Categories — Optionally restrict the block to specific categories.

The block pulls in your next few published events. Drop it on your home page or a landing page to keep upcoming events in front of visitors.

Screenshot needed: The Upcoming events block on a live page. Save at public/help-images/events/upcoming-events-block.png.

By email

Registrants are emailed automatically at the key moments — a confirmation when they sign up, scheduled reminders before the event, and cancellation notices when relevant. To promote an event more broadly to your members before it fills up, send an email campaign: see the Email campaigns & SMS guide, add a Button block linking to your event's page (chamberbuilder.com/events), and target the members most likely to attend.

Tips

• Pair the Upcoming events block with a button linking to chamberbuilder.com/events.
• Send a campaign about a week out and a reminder a day or two before to lift attendance.

Cancel an event

1. Open the event from the Events list.
2. Click Cancel event (top right, next to Edit). A confirmation window opens titled "Cancel event?"
3. Optionally type a Reason for cancellation — it's shared with attendees in the notification email.
4. Click Cancel event in the window and confirm the prompt (it tells you how many attendees will be notified).

What happens: Every registered attendee is emailed, and for paid events their tickets are refunded through Stripe automatically. Afterward you'll see a summary like "Notified 12 attendees; refunded 8." If any refund fails, the message says so and points you to check Stripe.

For a recurring series, opening any event in the series shows a banner linking to "View all events in series." From there you can cancel a single instance, or cancel the whole series at once.

Gotcha: Cancelling can't be undone. Attendees are notified and paid tickets refunded immediately, so make sure before you confirm.

If you have questions about running an event, reach out at [email protected].