Events & Activities

Create and manage troop meetings, campouts, and activities.

Creating Events

Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Events and click Create.

Basic Information

  • Title - Name of the event (e.g., "Summer Camp 2024")
  • Details - Full description, what to bring, schedule
  • Start Date/Time - When event begins
  • End Date/Time - When event ends
  • Type - Meeting, Campout, Service Project, Court of Honor, etc.
  • Location - Select or create a location

Pricing & Capacity

  • Price - Cost per participant (leave blank for free events)
  • Max Participants - Capacity limit (optional)

Tip: Set a price to automatically generate invoices for attendees. Payments can be processed online.

Event Achievements

When creating an event, you can configure what scouts will earn by attending. The system automatically distributes these achievements when attendance is recorded.

Configuring Achievements

In the event form, expand the Achievements section. You can attach three types:

Camping Nights

  1. Toggle This event includes camping
  2. Enter the number of camping nights (1-100)
  3. Optionally add notes about the campout

When attendance is recorded, each scout automatically receives the specified camping nights toward rank requirements.

Service Hours

  1. Toggle This event includes service hours
  2. Enter hours earned (can use decimals like 2.5)
  3. Optionally add a service project title

Scouts who attend will automatically have service hours added to their record, linked to this event.

Requirements

  1. Toggle This event completes requirements
  2. Search and select one or more requirements
  3. Selected requirements will be marked complete for all attendees

Perfect for hikes (First Class 5a), service projects (Star 3), or skill instruction. All attending scouts automatically have these requirements marked complete.

Automatic Distribution: Achievements are automatically distributed when you mark scouts as "Attended." If you later change attendance, achievements are automatically removed.

How Automatic Distribution Works

The system automatically handles achievement distribution:

  1. Create Event - Attach achievements during event creation
  2. Record Attendance - Mark scouts as "Attended" after the event
  3. Automatic Distribution - System immediately creates:
    • Camping night records
    • Service hour entries
    • Completed requirements linked to the event
  4. Prevention of Duplicates - System won't create duplicate records if already exists

Huge Time Saver: Instead of manually recording camping nights or requirements for 30 scouts after a campout, just mark attendance. The system does the rest!

Example: Weekend Campout

You're planning a weekend campout where scouts will work on cooking requirements:

  1. Create the event with dates Friday-Sunday
  2. In Achievements section:
    • Enable camping: 2 nights
    • Enable requirements: Select "Second Class 2a" and "Second Class 2b"
  3. After the campout, mark attendance for all who came
  4. System automatically records 2 camping nights and completes cooking requirements for each scout
  5. View results in each scout's advancement profile

Managing RSVPs

Members can RSVP from the calendar. You can also manage attendance manually.

Viewing Attendees

  1. Click the event in the Events list
  2. Select the Attendees tab
  3. View who's attending, not attending, or hasn't responded

Adding Attendees Manually

  1. On the Attendees tab, click Create
  2. Select members
  3. Set status (Going, Not Going, Maybe)
  4. Add notes if needed

Recording Attendance

After an event concludes, record who actually attended. This is when achievements are automatically distributed.

How to Record Attendance

  1. Open the event in Admin Dashboard → Events
  2. Click the Attendees tab
  3. For each scout who attended, edit their record and change status to Attended
  4. Or use bulk actions to mark multiple scouts as attended at once

Automatic: When you mark a scout as "Attended," any achievements configured for this event are immediately distributed to that scout.

What Attendance Records Do

  • Track Participation - Historical record of who attended what
  • Trigger Achievements - Automatically distribute camping nights, service hours, and completed requirements
  • Link Evidence - Requirements are linked to this event for proof of completion
  • Enable Reporting - Generate participation reports and advancement summaries

Correcting Attendance

If you need to change someone's attendance after recording:

  1. Edit the attendee record
  2. Change status from "Attended" to another status
  3. System automatically removes achievements that were distributed
  4. Camping nights, service hours, and requirements are reverted

Important: Record attendance promptly and accurately. Once distributed, achievements become part of scouts' official records.

Viewing the Calendar

Members see events on the calendar at Events in the main navigation.

The calendar shows:

  • All upcoming events
  • Past events (for reference)
  • Event type and location
  • RSVP status for that member

Calendar Views

  • Month View - See events across the month
  • List View - Chronological list with details
  • Filter - By event type or date range

Tracking Camping Nights

Camping nights are automatically tracked when you configure event achievements.

Automatic vs Manual Recording

Recommended: Use Event Achievements

  1. When creating a camping event, toggle "This event includes camping"
  2. Enter number of camping nights
  3. Record attendance after the event
  4. System automatically creates camping night records for all attendees

Alternative: Manual Entry

You can also manually add camping nights via Admin Dashboard → Members → [Scout] → Camping Nights, but using event achievements is much more efficient.

Viewing Camping Night Totals

  • View on member profiles under the Camping Nights tab
  • See totals in advancement tracking
  • System automatically counts toward rank requirements

Note: Different ranks require different numbers of camping nights (e.g., First Class: 10 nights, Star: 15 nights total). The system tracks totals automatically and shows progress toward each rank.

Event Payments

When you set a price for an event, attendees can pay online.

Payment Process

  1. Member RSVPs to paid event
  2. Invoice is automatically created
  3. Member receives payment notification
  4. Payment can be made via credit card or scout account funds
  5. View payments on the Payments tab of the event

See the Payments section for more details.

Managing Locations

Create reusable locations for frequent sites.

Navigate to Admin Dashboard → Addresses.

Adding Locations

  1. Click Create
  2. Enter location name and address
  3. Optionally add GPS coordinates
  4. Save and select this location when creating events

Benefits of saved locations:

  • Quick selection when creating events
  • Consistent address information
  • Maps integration for directions

Best Practices

  • Plan ahead - Create events at least 2 weeks in advance for better attendance
  • Use achievements - Configure camping, service, and requirements during event creation to automate record-keeping
  • Be complete - Include all details (what to bring, schedule, contact info, departure/return times)
  • Set deadlines - Set RSVP deadlines for events with capacity limits or that require pre-registration
  • Record promptly - Take attendance within 24-48 hours while memory is fresh
  • Verify achievements - After recording attendance, spot-check a few scouts to confirm achievements were distributed correctly
  • Process payments fast - Record and process event payments within 48 hours
  • Communicate changes - If event details change, update the event and notify all RSVPs