Event Lifecycle

Follow The Record Over Time

Use this guide when event setup, attendee operations, staff work, payment-adjacent tasks, public pages, or closeout records need a controlled path. In this guide, Event Lifecycle narrows that work to how an event moves from draft to setup, publication, live operations, and closeout. Because this is a lifecycles page, read it as part of the Event Management learning path rather than as an isolated checklist.

Event records become real-world instructions: what attendees see, what staff do, what money or inventory must reconcile, and what future organizers inherit. Read the page for the decision it helps a person make, then use the steps and checks as a steady path from context to action to proof.

What Changes Across The Lifecycle

This page follows a record from one state to another. Read it as a timeline so handoffs, reversals, and closeout work stay understandable. The intended readers are Event leads and Partner admins. If the guide names a dashboard route, service area, export, or record type, treat that name as a pointer to real operational responsibility.

• Primary surface or service: /rego/events/new and /rego/events/manage?id=:eventId.
• Records or contracts involved: Events and Public pages.
• Main care point: Watch for changing one part of the event without checking attendees, staff, finance, communications, public information, and closeout records.
• Proof worth keeping: event ID, dashboard state, public page, attendee record, payment or refund state, check-in count, roster note, export, and reviewer signoff.

Track Each State Change

1. Find the current state: Begin by naming the Event Management situation, the owner, and the exact item involved in Event Lifecycle.
2. Read what must be true before the next state: Use /rego/events/new and /rego/events/manage?id=:eventId to connect the words on the page to the screen, file, service route, or record that people actually use.
3. Watch for side effects when the state changes: Keep Events and Public pages in view so the work stays tied to the records or contracts it can affect.
4. Keep the history clear for the next reviewer: Before handing off, save proof such as event ID, dashboard state, public page, attendee record, payment or refund state, check-in count, roster note, export, and reviewer signoff so the next operator can see what changed and why it was safe to continue.

The Lifecycle Is Clear When

You are ready to use the rest of this page when the purpose, owner, affected information, and proof are all clear enough for a second person to review.

1. Scope is named: The work is tied to the correct page, event, report, route, file, person, or record.
2. Impact is understood: The operator can explain the effect on attendees, staff, money, public pages, communications, and post-event records.
3. Proof is findable: The handoff points to evidence that the next operator can see what changed and why it was safe to continue.

End-to-end operator runbook

Use this numbered runbook when you need to operate this area without getting stuck. Read the purpose of each step, do the action in order, and use the final sentence as the checkpoint before continuing.

1. Step 1 - Anchor the work to one event. Start with planning: assign event owner, finance owner, policy owner, and operations owner. This anchors the work to the correct scope before any record changes.
2. Step 2 - Read the operational context first. Create the event hidden, then complete details, registration, payment, Conditions of Entry, communications, staff, and public pages. Pause here and confirm the attendee, staff, money, and public-page impact still matches the event plan.
3. Step 3 - Change only the intended event setting or record. Review and publish only when public information and dashboard configuration match. This keeps the event state understandable before another setting changes.
4. Step 4 - Check attendee, money, staff, and public impact. Operate registration, check-in, staffing, activities, vendors, inventory, POS, and communications during the live period. The next operator should be able to see why this step was taken.
5. Step 5 - Verify the dashboard and public result. Close the event by reconciling attendance, money, refunds, records, staff hours, and exports. Check the related event records before continuing.
6. Step 6 - Leave a clear event handoff. Reopen only for a documented correction, then re-close with a note. This leaves a handoff trail another operator can understand.

Lifecycle overview

Stage	Entry condition	Responsible role	Completion check
Draft	Event is created but not public.	Event lead.	Basic details saved.
Setup	Config, payments, policies, and staff are being prepared.	Event lead and admins.	Review checklist complete.
Published	Attendee-facing registration is visible.	Partner admin.	Public page and registration path verified.
Live operations	Event is actively running or near event day.	Operations leads.	Check-in, comms, and staff tools ready.
Closeout	Event has ended.	Event lead and finance.	Payments, refunds, inventory, and records reviewed.
Archived	Records are preserved for future reference.	Partner admin.	No open obligations remain.

Reopen or correct

Reopen operational work when payments, refunds, attendee disputes, inventory issues, or safety follow-up remain after the event.