We just purchased the Events module and although I attended the Event Essentials training, I am still confused about a few things (I must not have been paying attention in class).  I am looking for whatever guidance you can provide particularly in understanding the difference between a registrant and a guest.  When a corparation sponsors the event by purchasing a table, do you enter their attendees as guests or registrants?   I am going back and forth trying to decide.  Would you enter the event attendees who are paid for by their company as guests and attendees who pay their own way as registrants?  Any help you could give would be appreciated. 

Another question I have is that we need a place to track the way the sponsor wants to be listed in the program.  Would you use attribute for this or is there a better way of doing this?  I will need to print this out in a report and also be able to query on which listings have been confirmed and which sponsors we still need to follow up on.

I know that many of you guys have been using this module for a while and probably have some great procedures in place.  I welcome all of your tips.

Registrants who pay for someone else are paying for guests.  Sponsors who pay for someone else are paying for registrants.  (i.e. guests can only be linked to registrants and only registrants can linked to sponsors).  So the choice of which to use has been made for you.  I think it is kinda silly since I believe anyone not paying should be in the guest category and anyone paying should be either a sponsor or a registrant.

I would create an attribute to hold the sponsorship listing.  Attributes are for these types of extra information you need that does not already have a place in RE.

Oh and this is why I probably will not be using sponsors for my next event.  I will make them all registrants (companies will be coded do not register) with guests and not use the sponsor category at all.  I used to do it this way and tried using sponsor for the first time and now wish I hadn't.

Thanks this is very helpful.

Hi Melissa,  Do you have a post where you've expanded on why you are deciding to add your sponsors as registrants in Events mdule?  I am new to events and am thinking the same way you are deciding to go but colleagues are quick to disagree.

The sponsor functionality in the RE events module is really for 'athons' in my opinion. I make them all registrants and use the Participation field to indicate sponsors, etc. (Sponsor, Renewal, Prospect, Speaker, etc.) I use the comment field next to the registration fee unit to list how they want to be published for that event if it is different than the standard company name on the constituent record. Attributes would likely be a better place to store this, but we like to see this on the participant screen

I've been using the Events module for several years now, and fairly effectively.

We do NOT use the Sponsor option, only Registrants and Guests.  We add corporations as Registrants and mark them "Do Not Register".  We add their attendees as Guests and mark them "Registered."  (As a helpful hint to anyone new to Events, I think of "Registered" as "butt in seat."  lol)

We add event program listings under Event Attributes.

Julie's response is the best answer I have seen yet, and I have been asking lots of people, thanks Julie!

 I have been wondering this too since it is not obvious to a new Events Module user.  I also like how someone mentioned that sponsors are good for "athon" events - not sure why, but that makes me feel better why I feel that it doesnt work well with our Gala events, even though we do call our corporate sponsors "sponsors".  In the early stages of our event record for this september event, I am temped to remove the sponsor records and redo them as registrants marked "do not register" in order to more easily assign guests.  That also makes it easier when the person who is an individual sponsor, but not a corporate sponsor and they themselves will be sitting at a table (ie: John Smith is a $25k sponsor, but John Smith also be attending the gala" Putting them as a "sponsor" in RE, I found it awkward to not be able to put guests on his record.)

 If anyone has advice why I shouldnt change the sponsors to registrants in order to apply guests to them, please speak up and let me know your advice?

The trick is (and this is annoying) you can't change someone from a Sponsor to Registrant, Registrant to Guest, or vice versa, without deleting their participant record entirely and re-entering it.  This is especially annoying when someone makes a personal non-registration gift to an event (so we add them as a Registrant, marked "do no register"), but then later we find out that they are attending as someone's guest.  I have to delete their "Registrant" record and re-enter it as a "Guest" record.

Just some more general information that might be helpful to anyone new to the module:

1) We use the Participation field to mark what level to list them in the program (Patron, Benefactor, Silver, etc), as this is sometimes different than their registration fee level. 

2) We use the Status field to mark their payment status (Paid, Pledge-Written, Pledge-Verbal, In-Kind) or to track complimentary guests (Comp-Media, Comp-Staff, Comp-Other). 

3) We use the Response field to mark their reply card response. This is important to us, because we send out Patron letters six months or more before the event, and just because they pay the Patron amount then doesn't necessarily mean that they are in fact attending. So we leave the Response field blank until we send out the actual event invitation and get their firm replies back.  We mark "Attending" or "Regrets".  If the field is blank, that's how we know who to call in the weeks before the event!  (Note: I generally only populate the Response field on Registrant records only, not the Guest records.)

4) I already explained how we use the Registration field. "Registered" = butt in seat, and this translates to the "No.Registered" on the event screen.  That's the number we watch carefully for the purposes of seating, catering, etc.

5) I add the Price Units (Patron, Benefactor, Silver, etc.) and load the benefits for each (4 seats, 8 seats, etc) on the event record.  These Price Units translate to the Registration Fees tab on the participant records. So I'll enter someone with a registration fee of Patron ($2,000), and when I enter their gift and link it back to their event registration, the gift receipt amount ($1,700) auto-populates on the gift record.  Very handy.  Also, populating the registration fees and linking your gifts correctly to the participant record allows you to run a Registration Fees Due Report (under Reports/Event Management Reports).

6) I'd be curious to see if/how other organizations record auction item wins on the participant record.