Expected Attendance and RSVPs

Overview

A check-in normally records that someone arrived at an event. Qik can also record that someone is expected to arrive, before the event happens. This is useful for RSVPs, guest lists, class enrolments and team members who are due at a session.

An expected attendee is stored as a check-in record marked Absent. It stays absent until the person actually arrives and is checked in. When they arrive, the same record becomes a normal check-in. If they never arrive, it stays absent. You don't need to do anything after the event to find out who didn't come.

How It Works

Each person has at most one check-in record per event. That record moves through these states:

When an expected person is checked in, Qik updates their existing record. It doesn't create a second one. The check-in time is set to the moment they arrive, and the session, room, security PIN and who checked them in are copied onto the record. If you mark someone as expected after they have already checked in, nothing changes. Their attendance is kept.

Ways to Mark People as Expected

1. Expected People on the event

Every event has an Expected People setting, which is a filter that describes who should attend. For example, it might match everyone in a particular group, everyone tagged as a member, or everyone enrolled in a class.

• Before the doors open, the event's attendance numbers count everyone who currently matches the filter as expected. Nothing is saved yet, so the number updates as your data changes.

• When the doors open (the event's Doors Open Date), Qik takes a snapshot. It creates an expected (absent) check-in record for every person who matches the filter at that moment.

• From then on, attendance is judged on the saved records. People who match the filter after the doors open are not added automatically.

Use this when the guest list is defined by who someone is, rather than by individual RSVPs.

2. Individual RSVPs

To mark specific people as expected, create a check-in for them with Absent turned on. You can do this from the API or an automation by posting to the event's check-in endpoint with absent: true (see Example Usage below). You can pass many people at once, and anyone who already has a record for that event is skipped.

Use this for RSVP forms, invitation responses, enrolments, or any time a person chooses to attend.

3. From an action

Actions can create expected attendees with $sdk.api.post. Common examples:

• An RSVP page: a public action receives the person and the event, and marks them as expected

• An invitation reply: a link in an email calls an action that records the RSVP

• A form automation: a form submission triggers an action that marks the submitter as expected at the event the form belongs to

Checking People In

Nothing about check-in changes. Check people in the way you normally would, from the event's check-in screen, a kiosk or the API. If the person was expected, their absent record is switched to checked in. If they weren't, a new check-in record is created as usual.

Reading Attendance

The event's attendance summary combines expectations, check-ins and tickets. Each total counts distinct people:

• Checked in: people who actually arrived

• Absent: people who were expected but have not checked in

• Expected: people who match Expected People or have an RSVP record

• Expected headcount: everyone connected to the event, whether through a ticket, an expectation, an RSVP or a check-in

• Checked out and Active (currently on site): check-ins minus check-outs

Filtering and Smart Lists

Absent records are not counted as attendance when you filter people by their check-ins. For example, a smart list of "people who attended an event in the last month" will not include people who were only expected. To find no-shows, list check-in records for the event with Absent turned on.

Expected Attendance vs Tickets

The two work together. Ticket holders count towards the expected headcount, and both feed the same attendance summary.

Tips

• Set a Doors Open Date on events that use Expected People. That is when the expected list is saved, so set it after your guest list has settled.

• Mark people as expected before the event. Marking someone after they have checked in has no effect.

• Don't delete absent records after the event. They are your record of who didn't come.

• If people can register for more than one session, include the session when you mark them as expected. Their check-in will then be recorded against the right session and room.

Examples

const eventId = input.event;
const profileId = input.profile;

const { data } = await $sdk.api.post('/event/' + eventId + '/checkin', {
  absent: true,
  checkins: [{ profile: profileId }],
});

return data;

FAQs