There are three main reasons we use a check-in.
- One is to have control over who checks in. For next generation events we must know which children or students are there so we can be responsible in caring for them, and we need to be sure that any adult around them is vetted and background checked. For a paid event we want to be sure that the people who are checking in have paid the registration for the event.
- The second reason is to have an accounting of who attended. If the groups department has a training session for group leaders, they want to be able to look back after the event and know which leaders have been trained so they know which leaders still need training. As a church, we want to know which people are volunteering, attending Growth Track, going to a special event so we can tell when our people are getting connected and involved at Bayside and when they are not.
- The third reason is to provide a name tag, so that everyone can be addressed by name.
So, if you are having a special event or planning a meeting or training, you may want to check people in for any one of these reasons. If your event/meeting is during the week, there is already a Weekdays check-in that is active each weekday from 8 am 8:30pm; it has a 8 am option available until 5 pm and an 6:30 pm option available from 5 pm to 8:30 pm. So if you just want to be able to get name tags and record the activity on the person's profile, the weekday event is available Monday through Friday.
You need a special check-in specifically for your event if:
- you need to check people in during the weekend for your event. We do not ever add extra events on to the Weekend event check-ins. They are specifically for regular weekend services only.
- you need to be able to report on, record a date on the profile, or otherwise follow-up with attendees from an event during the week. The Weekday - <campus> check-ins are great for providing name tags and showing general activity on a profile, but they can't separate your attendees from other weekday attendees very well.
If you need a special check-in event created, please speak to a PCO Champion at your campus or from Ministry Resourcing for your ministry area. If a champion is not available or unable to help, submit a support request on the staff portal with the details of what you need. For this request choose Planning Center as the type of request. Please be sure to give the PCO Champion or IT some advance notice so they have reasonable time to process your request; champions have all their own job responsibilities and IT is serving all the staff and church.
NOTE: If attendees registered to attend your event, a checkistration can be created from the registration. You will still need a PCO Champion or IT to initiate.