Working With Parent-Child Events

PRESENTERS Some businesses deal with long-term contracts that include many individual speaking engagements over a period of weeks, months or even years. EventCX provides a way to group events together using a “parent-child” metaphor, where a “parent” event has one or more “child” events. The “parent” event is often dateless (has no stage time) and contains attached documents and other information about the contract as a whole. Each of the “child” events associated with the “parent” is an individual engagement and contains attached documents, contacts, travel plans, etc. related to just that engagement. For instance:

1. Parent event: 1 year contract for 3 consulting visits
   1. Child 1: on-site engagement on January 15
   2. Child 2: 60 minute video call with the team on March 11
   3. Child 3: on-site visit on June 22

Events in a “family” relationship behave in all other ways like a normal event, and you can do anything with them that you can do with any other event.

How Do I Enable the Parent-Child Feature? #

The parent-child feature is not on by default. To turn on the parent-child feature:

1. Sign in to EventCX
2. From the USER menu (upper-right, with your username), choose SETTINGS
3. Choose PREFERENCES
4. On the preferences screen, turn ON the checkbox labeled ENABLE PARENT-CHILD EVENT RELATIONSHIPS
5. Click SAVE to commit

NOTE : This preference is saved per user; other users in your organization will need to go through the same procedure so that everyone in the organization has the feature.

How Do I Make a Parent-Child Relationship Between Events? #

A “parent” event can have 1 or more “child” events related to it. Technically, a “child” event can have “children” of its own, but this is not recommended and is not supported. To create a new “child” event for a “parent” event:

1. In EventCX, select the event that is to be the “parent” event so that it is the active event.
2. On the DETAILS tab, click the CIRCLED DOWN ARROW icon (near the top of that tab) and choose CREATE A NEW CHILD EVENT.
3. Fill out the new event form as normal. When complete the new event will have a “child” relationship with the “parent”.

If both the “parent” and “child” events already exist and you want to make the relationship:

1. In EventCX, select the event that is to be the “child”.
2. Locate and note the “child” event’s id number (in the upper-right of the event information panel).
3. Now, select the event that is to be the “parent” event so that it is the active event.
4. On the DETAILS tab, click the CIRCLED DOWN ARROW icon (near the top of that tab) and choose ATTACH EXISTING EVENT AS CHILD.
5. Enter the EVENT ID number of the existing “child” event and click ATTACH to complete the relationship.

How Can I Tell if an Event Is in a “Parent-Child” Relationship? #

EventCX gives several visual cues that make it easy to tell when an event is in a “family” relationship.

1. On “parent” events, the status icon (colored circle in the event information panel top of screen) will have a small DOWN ARROW displayed on the edge of the circle, indicating there is at least one “child” event related to it. This special icon is also displayed in search results.
2. On “child” events, the status icon will have a small UP ARROW displayed on the edge of the circle, indicating it has a “parent” event. This special icon is also displayed in search results.
3. On “child” events, the CIRCLED UP ARROW icon near the top of the DETAILS tab will be a solid color and will be clickable, giving you options related to the event’s “family”.
4. “Child” events automatically display all of the contacts from the “parent” event. These contacts are identified with an a CIRCLED UP ARROW above the contact group code. These contacts cannot be changed from the “child” — to make a change, make the “parent” event active and edit the contact there.

How Can I Easily Move Between Parent and Child Events? #

It is common to want to work with several events in a “family”, and EventCX makes it easy to move between parents, children, and siblings. On a “parent” event:

1. With the “parent” event active in EventCX, move to the DETAILS tab.
2. On the details tab, click the CIRCLED DOWN ARROW icon (near the top of the tab) and choose from the pop-up menu:
   1. Choose SEARCH THE FAMILY to display the “parent” and all “children” in the event search window, where it is easy to switch between them by clicking
   2. All of the “child” events are displayed in the menu; click on any one of them to make that the active event

On a “child” event:

1. With the “child” event active in EventCX, move to the DETAILS tab
2. On the details tab, click the CIRCLED UP ARROW icon (near the top of the tab) and choose from the pop-up menu:
   1. Choose OPEN PARENT EVENT to make the “parent” event the active event
   2. Choose SEARCH THE FAMILY to display the “parent” and all “children” in the event search window, where it is easy to switch between them by clicking

How Can I Detach a “Child” Event From Its “Parent”? #

To take a “child” out of the “family”:

1. With the “child” event active in EventCX, move to the DETAILS tab.
2. On the details tab, click the CIRCLED UP ARROW icon (near the top of the tab) and choose DETACH FROM THE PARENT EVENT from the pop-up menu.

Once a “parent” has no “children”, it automatically stops being a “parent” event; there’s nothing more to do.