As you create a new event, one of the decisions you’ll make is how you want registration to open and close. There are a few different options available, so let’s walk through what you can expect.

Using the System Automations to Open and Close Your Event

In your event details, you’ll see a toggle that allows you to enable a registration window. This lets the system automatically open and close registration for you based on the dates you choose.

For example, let’s say your event is happening in January, but you’re setting everything up several months ahead of time. You may already have your venue booked and your speaker confirmed, and you just want to get the event created now so it’s off your to-do list.

In that case, you can fully set up the event today while scheduling registration to open later — maybe in October or November. Let’s say you choose October 12th as your registration open date.

Once you set that date, the system will automatically wait until October 12th before accepting registrations. That means you don’t have to remember to come back and manually open registration yourself.

The same applies to your registration close date. By default, registration will close when your event begins. But if you’d like to give yourself extra time to prepare, you can set an earlier close date.

For instance, if you’ve had challenges with last-minute registrations in the past, you may decide this year to close registration a week or two before the event. You can simply schedule that date in advance.

So if your event starts on the first of the month and you want registration to close two weeks earlier, you can set that here. When that date arrives, the system will automatically close registration for you.

This helps reduce manual work and gives you one less thing to remember.

Key Takeaway: If you set an automated registration window in your event setup, then you will not need to manually open or close your event—the system will take care of that for you!

Manually Opening or Closing Your Event

If you did not schedule an automatic registration window (in other words, you left this toggle off),

then you will need to manually open public registration from your event dashboard before you can accept any registrations. In that case, registration won’t open automatically. Instead, you can manually manage it anytime from your dashboard.

Simply go to Public Registration Status, where you can change the status to Not Yet Open, Open, or Closed, and the system will immediately respect those settings.

This manual option is also helpful if registration is already open but you temporarily need to pause it. For example, if you need to make quick changes, you can close registration, make your updates, and reopen it whenever you’re ready.

You can do that by clicking on the dashboard icon and finding the “Public Registration Status” section.

Pick the status “Open,” and you’re good to go!