Getting started
From a blank workspace to a published event people can register for — six screens, one button at the end.
The first time you sign in, EntryWick does not show you an empty dashboard. It opens a short wizard whose only goal is a published event with an open registration form. Everything you do in it is ordinary EntryWick: the same events, groups, branding and domains you can edit later, one screen at a time. The wizard just puts them in order.
You can stop at any point. Progress is saved to your organization, not to your browser tab — close the laptop, finish on your phone, or hand it to a colleague. Nothing is half-made: each step either completed or has not run.
Step by step
- 1
Pick a starting point
Choose one of six event templates. Each is a whole event in a file — its days, kinds of attendee, check-in points, forms, emails and checklists — written for one kind of organization. Pick the one whose shape is closest to yours; you will edit names, not build from zero.
- Community Celebration — families from many congregations, pre-checked locally and counted again at the venue.
- School Field Trip — guardians register students; permission slip is the gate; three head counts.
- Volunteer Day — shifts with capacity, sign-in and sign-out scans give hours.
- Conference, Sports Tournament, Corporate Offsite.
Not sure? Community Celebration is the one EntryWick was built running. If people arrive as families from places you also run, start there.
Step 1 of the wizard: six event templates, each card says who comes and how they are counted. - 2
Fill in the blanks
The template declares what it needs: the event's name, dates, venue and a few fields of its own (a bus departure time, a waiver deadline). Dates are entered in the event's own time zone and shown back to you in it everywhere — reports and exports included.
Days come from the template. A two-day celebration has two; a field trip has one. You can add, rename or remove days as soon as the event exists.
Name, venue, dates and time zone. Days arrive from the template and stay editable. - 3
Your groups
Most organizations already have structure — regions, congregations, schools, teams, departments. The template offers an example group tree. You can:
- Match its groups to ones you already have;
- Create the tree as offered and rename later;
- Ignore it and run the event flat.
Groups matter later: a group can have its own pre-check point, its own lead, and its own view of only its people.
How deep a tree can go depends on the plan (pricing). Free is one level; Starter two; Growth and above are unlimited.
Match the example tree to groups you have, create it, or skip it. - 4
Make it yours (optional)
Upload two files — an icon and a logo — and type the name people should see. EntryWick reads your brand colours from the icon and applies them to the public event page, emails, tickets and the scanner header.
If a file will not save, the wizard says so and carries on. Branding never blocks an event.
Two files and a name. Colours are picked up automatically. - 5
Your own address (optional)
Registration can live under your domain —
events.yourorg.orginstead ofyourorg.entrywick.com. The wizard claims the name and shows you two DNS records to copy into wherever your domain is managed. The certificate is issued automatically once they resolve; until then the EntryWick address keeps working.Custom domains are included from the Growth plan; you can set this up any time later under Settings → Domains.
Two records. The EntryWick address keeps working while they propagate. - 6
Publish
One button. Publishing opens the public event page and its registration form, starts the email schedules the template brought (confirmation, ticket delivery, a reminder the day before), and gives you the link to send.
If publishing is refused — a plan limit, for example — nothing is lost: the event and everything in it is kept as a draft, and the screen says exactly why and where to fix it.
The wizard is only "done" when an event is actually published.
When you are done
What should be true now
- An event page is live at your address and the register button works.
- The registration form opens and you have sent the link to yourself.
- Confirmation, ticket and reminder schedules show on the event — switched on, with dates you agree with.
- Your groups look right in the Groups panel (or you chose to run flat).