Using the Events feature for School Photos and Sporting Events – Zenfolio

Please note: the Events feature is only available for Advanced plan subscribers.

What is an Event?

An Event is a unique Group on Zenfolio that can be created for a specific job - like a race, a sporting event, or a class photo day at a school. Often referred to as a “mini-site”, the Event functions as a landing page for visitors looking for specific images within that particular job. How does it work? We’ll take a deeper dive into the various facets of the Event, but a high level overview is: photographers simply keyword the images, and provide clients the appropriate keywords to pull up the images quickly and easily on the Event page.

Click here to view and download a PDF including detailed steps for setting up an Event.

When might I use an event?

When you have multiple clients/subjects for one job (i.e. a marathon with 250 runners), and you want to provide a quick and easy way for people to find their own photos within the set.
When you want a standalone landing page for an event, where you choose specifically which Groups and Galleries to show to visitors.
When you want to send clients links to view only the photos they're tagged in out of a larger set of photos.

What can I do with events?

Create “mini-sites” (i.e. a unique landing page) for each event
Create an Open Event, where visitors find their photos within the Event by keyword search (Example: a marathon photographer keywords photos with runners’ bib numbers. Visitors enter their bib number on the event page to see only their photos.)
Create a Restricted Event for additional privacy between participants. Visitors enter their individual passcode to see only their photos. (Example: a school photographer taking photos of students at a school event. Instead of allowing students to search for each other's images, the students are required to enter a secret passcode to view just their own images. The students cannot see other students' photos.)

How does it work?

The Events feature serves as an efficient tool for people who wish to locate keyworded photos and videos (from potentially multiple galleries) in one place. In other words, for an Open Event to function correctly, each image must contain a keyword.

Need a little more privacy? With the Restricted Event, photographers can supply each customer with a special passcode needed to access their images; this prevents participants from seeing each other’s photos. This is highly recommended for student images for school events. In order for the Restricted Event to function, a Unique Identifier must be referenced to a photo keyword.

For Events where the participants can search the Event using any keywords (like bib numbers or names), and if it is okay if the participants see each other's images, an open event is recommended.

Click here < for a demo of an open event.
Click here < for a demo of a restricted event.

What does your Account look like?

Click on the image that matches your view for instructions specific to your interface.

Original Photos Page: Using the Events feature for School Photos and Sporting Events

If you’re more of a visual learner, check out this video which provides an overview of how a restricted event works:

Steps Needed to Set up an Open Event

First you will need to create the open Event or convert an existing group to an open Event.
Create a gallery in the Event and upload photos to the event.

Don’t forget: you will need to make sure that the photos contain keywords that the event participants can use to search for their photos in the event.

Steps Needed to Set up a Restricted Event

First you will need to create the restricted Event or convert an existing group to a restricted Event.
Then upload a participants list to the Event
Then create a gallery in the event and upload the photos to the event.

Don’t forget: you will need to make sure that the images contain the relevant participant's' unique IDs in their keywords.

Ready to get started? Great! You can create a “new Event” from the “New” menu in the Organizer, or you can convert an existing Group to an Event. Note: you can convert a Group into an Event, or remove the Event at any time.

If you’d like to Create an Event...

From the main menu within your account, go to Photos.
Under the Organizer click on New then select Event from the menu that appears.
Provide a name for your new Event.
Click on the Event Settings tab.
Select the radial button for Open to allow all the photos to be keyword searchable. Select Restrict by passcode if you would prefer a special passcode be used to access a set photos.
If Restrict by passcode is selected, you may also choose Skip password entry when it is identical to the passcode so visitors will not have to enter the same code twice.
Click Save to apply your changes.

If you have Restricted by Passcode you will also need to upload a Participant CSV file in order to add a passcode.

If you’d like to Convert an existing Group to an Event...

You can convert an existing Group into an Event, or remove the Event at any time by following these steps:

On the Photos page and within the Organizer, scroll over the Group you would like to convert to an Event.
Click the downward-point arrow beside the Group to open its dropdown menu.
From the dropdown menu, select Convert to Event. A pop-up window will appear.
Select the radial button for Open to allow all of the photos to be keyword searchable. Select Restrict by passcode if you would prefer a special passcode be used to access a set photos.
If Restrict by passcode is selected, you may also choose Skip password entry when it is identical to the passcode so visitors will not have to enter the same code twice.
Click Save to apply your changes.

If you have Restricted by Passcode you will also need to upload a Participant CSV file in order to add a passcode.

Upload Participant CSV File

If you’d like to be able to email clients a link to their photos, or add a passcode to view specific images, you will need to upload a CSV file containing information about Event participants. A CSV file may be created in a text editor, or in an application like Microsoft Excel. Each participant will have a dedicated row within the CSV file, with the first row indicating the column name or heading.

The CSV file must include at least two columns, with one of the columns having a unique identifier for each participant. This unique identifier should be included as a keyword in all photos and videos for that participant.

Each row must be reserved only for one unique participant. In other words, a single participant with the same unique identifier must not appear in more than one row.

The first few rows of a CSV file for an Event might look like this:

First Name	Last Name	Email	ID
Matt	Hutchins	matt.hutchins87@yamoo.com	1001
Kelly	Blakemore	Kellyb234@hotrail.com	1002
Brian	Mitchell	brianmc932@gfail.com	1003

In this case, the 'ID' column contains the Unique Identifier for this Event.

As an example, Matt Hutchins' Unique Identifier is “1001”.
For Matt to be able to find his images on the Event landing page, all of his photos must contain the Unique Identifier “1001” as keywords
If Matt appears in a group photo, his unique identifier “1001” must be listed as a keyword in that image (in conjunction with the Unique Identifiers of other participants who are in the same photo). This will ensure that the group image that Matt is in will come up when he searches using “1001”.

Note that the Unique Identifier is mandatory when creating a Restricted Event, so a CSV file must be uploaded in order for participants to be able to view their photos. Passcodes used to access the photo sets may either come from a column of the CSV file, or they can be automatically generated during import.

1. In the Organizer, select the Event requiring you to upload a Participant CSV file.

2. In the Details column, under Event Settings, click Upload participant CSV file.

3. In the pop-up window, select Choose File to upload your CSV file. Once your file has been selected and you are ready to upload, click Upload CSV.

4. Use the Unique ID column dropdown window to select a Unique ID. This Unique ID will be the same as the keyword used by the photos to create a photo set.
If you are applying a Participant CSV file to a Restricted event, you will need to create passcodes. Select the radial button to use a Unique ID as the passcode, or to use separate passcodes created during import.

5. Click on Next to complete.

6. A confirmation panel will display. Click View Participants on this page to view the Participants List.

Once the participants CSV file is uploaded, you will be able to view participants.

If the CSV file is not accepted, we have this guide HERE to help troubleshoot what may be wrong with the file.

View List of Participants

An actual participant list for an Event can be viewed within your Event Settings if you’d like to see more detailed information - including URLs for each participant’s photos, and the photos themselves. In this list view, you also have the option to send emails to multiple participants, or update or export the CSV file.

On the Photos Page, in the Organizer, select the Event whose Participant CSV file you wish to see.
From the Details column, under Event Settings, click View list of participants.
The Participants List will be displayed.

Email Participants

Event Participants may be emailed through your Client Communications page. Emails containing unique information based on columns from the participant list can go to individuals or groups, depending on your preference. To get started, view the Event's Participants List .

Select the checkboxes of the individuals you wish to email or use the top checkbox to select all.
Click Send Email.

Once you’ve determined who in your group you’d like to email, Zenfolio will send a separate message to each recipient on your behalf. The recipient list is not disclosed. To make sure your message arrives in recipients' inboxes, they should have your email address in their address book.

If necessary modify the From Name.
If necessary modify the From Email.
If necessary modify the Subject.
Make changes to the email content. You may have placeholders for content specific to the participant.
Continue to Preview.

The email preview will display a photo and the data for the first participant of the group you are emailing, and the placeholders will show the available substitutions found in the Participants List.

Pro Tip: Copying and pasting an Available substitution into the body of the message will pull information from a corresponding cell of the participant CSV directly into the message.

Want more helpful information on our Events feature for photographers?

Click HERE to view and download a PDF including detailed steps for setting up an Event.
See this guide HERE for how to customize the look of your Events.
Click HERE for more information on how Zenfolio can help with your school photography business.
You may also be interested in our Zenfolio guide for School Photographers.