You've completed your application, you've had the application approved by your County FA, and you're ready to get going with some football. The next step is to create the event for it so people know it's happening!
This video walks through the process of creating an event. There is written guidance below if you prefer.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
New Event
To the left-hand side of your screen when logging in to the Events Platform are various menu options.
If you click the ‘Events’ tab, you’ll see a list of events (if any) in which you’re involved in. These events are the groups of sessions by FA programme that you have had approved with your County FA. This section also shows whether your event is upcoming, in the past, or cancelled via the the three tabs along the top.
You can see the 'Create Event' button in blue to the right of the screen which is what you would press if you needed to create your event for the first time. Be aware that if you have already created an event in the past, you do not need to create a new one again. You can instead just update the original event you have, in the same way you can do with your application should there be any changes necessary. This original event might be in your 'Past Events' tab if the end date you set on it has passed.
Once you have pressed on 'Create Event', choose the programme and the approved application for which you want to create an event. Simply fill in the details required throughout the flow to do so and make your sessions. Remember, Weetabix Wildcats and Squad has to be a minimum of 16 weeks delivery, Snickers Protein Just Play and Age UK Walking Football a minimum of 32 weeks delivery, and Snickers Protein Just Play For Students a minimum of 12 weeks delivery.
Most of the details in the creation of your event will be automatically pulled through from your original application. It's just a case of confirming, cross-referencing and double-checking most things! But, you will get to choose the days, times and the dates of sessions whilst ensuring the age range is appropriately selected to be the same as in your application.
To get as many people attending an event as possible, there is also a space to advertise your sessions to those who come across it on the England Football website - so use your words wisely and persuasively because that will be what the interested participant or parent reads!
Once you have finished inputting all the details, you will get a summary of your event at the end where you can go back and change anything again using the pencil icons down the right side. This will take you back to that specific part of the event creation where you can edit and save the amendment. Once you're satisfied that your sessions are all planned, you can confirm the event at the bottom of the summary page.
Sessions
If you click the ‘Sessions’ tab on the left-side menu, you can view all the current, past and cancelled sessions within the specific event you have created for whichever programme. They will also show any current, past or cancelled sessions that you have booked onto as a participant. Sessions will only appear if you have created your event (or extended it and added new sessions if it was in the past).
You may have people’s names displayed underneath your 'Sessions' tab too and these are individuals linked to your FAN. For example, a coach’s daughter may have been booked onto a Weetabix Wildcats session using the coach’s FAN as the parent so therefore, the daughter's name will show on this account when the coach logs in. If you click on any person’s name in the menu to the left, only that person’s sessions show up.
Key Points When Creating An Event
- Common error messages that might flag up in red text mean something needs to be edited to meet certain criteria. For example, the number of spaces for your event needs to be a minimum number of 30 or 16 and any less than those won't allow you to continue. Bear in mind that once all spaces are taken up by participants, no one else can book on unless you change this number in either your application, event or individual session.
- Also, the dates in your application need to be in sync with each other or else this brings up an error message too as you essentially create an event within your application start and end dates.
- If you’re not listed as the main organiser or lead coach on the application then you won’t get the 'Create Event' option on the landing page. If you are the organiser and you still don't get the option, or if you'd like to become the main organiser in place of someone else, just email weetabixwildcats@thefa.com, justplay@thefa.com, squad@thefa.com or faevents@thefa.com (depending on the programme) to get this updated.
- We recommend you only create session dates for how many sessions you plan on running or else they'll continue to advertise on theFA.com and people will be able to book on. By not creating masses of sessions straight away also allows flexibility to make changes later on, but there is a mass-update tool which can help with this if multiple sessions are made inadvertently.
- One-off session days can be added alongside normal weekly sessions but only on the day(s) you specified within your application. For example, if you've opted to do a Wednesday night weekly session, you can do a one-off session only on a Wednesday (perhaps if it was school holidays or a annual celebration).
- The event fee needs to be a maximum of £3 for Weetabix Wildcats and Squad but Snickers Protein Just Play and Age UK Walking Football is a maximum of £5. You are able to charge more based on a few factors including venue size, covering organisational costs and facility hire, but please speak to your County FA about doing this.
- You can add in your own notes to 'sell' the session to participants, and you can message all the booked participants with any specific details required for each session, such as: "Bring sun cream and water tomorrow as it will be hot!".
- You can add in additional venues if needed, like a summer/outdoor venue or a winter/indoor venue, but this will need to done in your application first and re-submitted to your county for re-approval. You can then add the new venue to your sessions after your application has been reapproved.
- Whatever is chosen as the provider contact information (email address/phone number) in the application and event will be what shows online via englandfootball.com next to the sessions for participants to contact should they have any queries. It can also take up to 24 hours for the event and sessions to be displayed on the England Football website after being created on the Events Platform.