Multi-session events allow you to create a series with multiple sessions that employees can register for in one click.

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Simplify creating sessions, sending comms and surveys, and tracking registrations and attendance all on one page.

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Learn how to set up a multi-session event for offsites, onboarding, L&D programs, and more.

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What is a multi-session event?

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A multi-session event has different sessions within it related to a similar topic. Some examples include a team offsite, a week-long onboarding program for new hires, or set of mandatory training sessions. 

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The benefit of creating a multi-session event is that your guests can easily RSVP to the entire series with just one click on Slack or the Epoch event page. They will also receive calendar invitations for each session all at once. Data from all sessions will be aggregated on the same insights page.

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RSVPing to a multi-session event

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An employee can interact with multi-session events on Slack, the Epoch web app, or calendar. 

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Slack

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An employee can RSVP in one click to all sessions in any Slack message with a multi-session event.

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Epoch web app

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An employee can see multi-session events on the Discover page. Multi-session events have a unique badge on the thumbnail photo, and employees can see how many sessions there are.

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An employee can RSVP in one click to all sessions on the event page.

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In the “Sessions” section under the series description, employees can click into each one to see session details, such as title, description, date and time, and location. After confirming to all sessions, employees can choose to cancel individual sessions if they can’t make it. 

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Calendar

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If an admin chooses to create calendar events for the sessions, guests will be added to each one. If the employee hasn’t RSVPed on other platforms yet, they will need to respond to each one separately.

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Employees can choose to decline individual sessions if they can’t make it. 

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Creating a multi-session event

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1. Go to the Dashboard.
2. Create a new event.
3. Give the series a title and description. 
4. Select Multi-session under "Event type”.
5. Click Add session.
6. Give the session a title, description, start time, end time, and location. 
7. Create as many sessions as needed for your event.

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Note that all settings after these steps apply to the entire series. This means that all guests will be invited to all sessions, there is only one event questionnaire, and feedback forms will be sent after the series has ended.

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The exception is in-person check-in, which will apply only to sessions that are in-person or hybrid. Check-in notifications will be sent prior to each applicable session.

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Editing a multi-session event

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There are 2 important things to note when editing a multi-session event:

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1. Once an event is published, it is not possible to change the event type between single and multi-session events. If you need to do this, please archive the event and create a new one.

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2. Once sessions have passed, the details cannot be edited. This is similar to single events that have passed.

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If the series hasn’t ended yet, you can always add more sessions. Guests will automatically be added to new sessions and automatically RSVPed based on their existing RSVP for the series.

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Sending an announcement for a multi-session event

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1. Go to the Dashboard.
2. Go to Communications in the side bar.
3. Select the multi-session event you’d like to send the announcement for.
4. Select one or more Slack channels.
5. Write the message for your announcement.
6. Schedule the message for now or a specified date and time. 
7. Click Send. The announcement will send a single event block for all sessions.

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Viewing insights for a multi-session event

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Sessions 

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You will see a new section at the top of the insights page showing a breakdown of upcoming and past sessions. You will see how many guests are confirmed to each session, as guests may decline specific sessions if they have conflicts. 

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If the event is using the Zoom integration or in-person check-in, you will also see how many guests were marked as attended for each session.

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Guest list

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Scroll through each session to see the guest list details. RSVPs can be different across sessions as guests may have conflicts. 

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Note that questionnaire responses will be the same across all sessions for a guest.

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The CSV now includes a new column for sessions. If the event has 3 sessions and a guest has RSVPed to the event, they will appear 3 times in the CSV with their RSVP for each session.  

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Frequently asked questions

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Why isn’t the Zoom meeting showing up for my session? 

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When clicking on Make it a Zoom meeting for a session, the meeting link won’t be generated right away. Click Save or Publish and refresh the page to generate the Zoom meeting.

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We’re working on making this experience smoother in the future.

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What happens when I change the start time for one or more sessions?

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When the start time is changed for an event or session, we will match calendar behaviour which resets guests’ statuses to a “pending” state. If any sessions’ start time is changed, all guests’ statuses will be changed to pending.

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If an admin chooses to send event update notifications, guests will receive:

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• Slack notification
• Calendar emails corresponding with the number of sessions changed 

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How does the waitlist work for multi-session events?

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The waitlist applies to the event series.

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Since guests are expected to confirm into the entire series, as long as the guest is confirmed to at least one session, they will take up a spot in the event.

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What happens if I invite guests when a multi-session event is in progress?

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If a guest is invited or RSVPing while an event is in progress, they will only be added to upcoming sessions. 

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What happens when I archive a multi-session event?

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The series will be removed from Epoch. All calendar events will be deleted.

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How does the address appear for a series if it’s different across sessions?

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If sessions have different addresses, “Multiple locations” will appear for the series on the Discover page and Slack.

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If the address is the same for all sessions, the address will be displayed.

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How is a guest’s status for the series determined if they have different RSVPs across sessions?

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In some places, you will see a guest’s RSVP to the event rather than individual sessions. This is how the status is determined:

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• Confirmed: Guest is confirmed to at least 1 session. 
• Incomplete: Guest is confirmed through calendar to at least 1 session, but did not fill out a required questionnaire.
• Waitlisted: Guest is waitlisted for at least 1 session.
• Maybe: Guest is maybe for at least 1 session and confirmed to no sessions.
• Pending: The start time was changed for at least 1 session.
• Invited: Guest was invited to the event by an admin and hasn’t responded yet.
• Cancelled: Guest is cancelled for all sessions.
• Attended: Guest was marked as attended for at least 1 session.

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How does registration cutoff work for a multi-session event?

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The registration cutoff date and time applies to the event series. This means a guest can’t confirm to any sessions after the date and time has passed.

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If a guest is already confirmed to the series and cancelled for one session, they can confirm back into that session even after the registration cutoff time. This is because they are already considered part of the event as a whole.

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Coming soon

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We’re always looking to improve on our product features. Here is a preview on things we’re working on soon to enhance multi-session events:

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• Session optionality: Employees can choose which sessions they’d like to attend before confirming their spot. 
• Relative scheduling: Option to set a start date and time, and then schedule subsequent sessions based on that time. This makes duplicating a program faster without needing to change the date and time on each session.
• Unique guest lists: Invite different guests to different sessions. This makes it easier to add guests like facilitators to only the sessions they need to be a part of.

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If you have any other feedback you’d like to share with the product team, please reach out to support@epochapp.com.