What It’s For

A Sign Up! event is a schedule. You pick the days, set the hours, and HelpOut cuts them into time slots that guests claim. Use it for parent-teacher conferences, volunteer shifts, carpool schedules, tryout times, and anything else where people need to be somewhere at a specific time.

Setting One Up

1. Go to Events > Create Event.
2. Choose Sign Up! and click Next.
3. Fill in the title and description, and the location if there is one.
4. Under Dates & times, click Set dates & times to open the scheduler.
5. Build your schedule and click Done.
6. Click Finish.

A Sign Up! event has no Event Date/Time field of its own. Its dates come from the time slots you add, and the event is over once the last slot ends.

Building the Schedule

The scheduler opens full screen. On the left is a calendar and a running Totals count of time slots, days, and spots. On the right is a card for each day you pick.

1. Pick the Days

Tap each day you need on the calendar. Tap a picked day again to take it off.

2. Add a Block of Times

On a day’s card, click Add a block of times and fill in:

HelpOut cuts the window into back-to-back slots. A 1:00 to 3:00 window with 30-minute slots makes four times: 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, and 2:30. The line at the bottom of the form shows what you’re about to add. Click Add slots to add them.

The name is optional. Use it for a teacher, a room, or a job, like “Ms. Rivera, Room 12.” A slot with no name shows as Time slot.

A few more options on the same form:

• Skip a break leaves a gap in the window, such as a lunch hour. Tick it and set when the break starts and ends.
• Apply to all days (it shows the number, like Apply to all 3 days) appears once you’ve picked more than one day. Tick it to add the same block to every day at once.
• Add another block on a day’s card adds a second window to that day, so you can have a morning block and an afternoon block.

Several Slots at the Same Time

Click Add another slot at the same time to offer more than one slot at each time, each with its own name and spots. Two teachers holding conferences side by side is two slots at each time. With four times and two slots, you get eight slots.

Copying a Day

Click Copy on a day that has times, tick the days to copy it to, and confirm. Copying replaces whatever those days already had.

A day with no times yet also has a Same as button that copies the last day you filled in.

Changing a Time

Click a time on a day’s card to edit it. You can move its start, change its end, rename its slots, add or remove slots at that time, or click Delete this time. Click Save changes when you’re done. Changes apply to that time only.

To remove things faster:

• The × on a time removes that time and every slot at it.
• Clear removes every time from a day.
• The × at the top of a day’s card removes the day.

An Example

Parent-teacher conferences on Tuesday and Thursday, 20 minutes each, with two teachers:

1. Pick Tuesday and Thursday on the calendar.
2. Click Add a block of times on Tuesday.
3. Set Starts to 3:00 PM and Ends to 5:00 PM.
4. Choose Custom and enter 20.
5. Name the first slot “Ms. Rivera” with 1 spot. Click Add another slot at the same time and name it “Mr. Chen” with 1 spot.
6. Tick Apply to all 2 days and click Add slots.

That’s six times a day, each with one slot for each teacher: 24 slots in all. Every parent picks an open one, and each slot closes once it’s taken.

A Second Example

A carnival needing volunteers across two shifts on Saturday:

1. Pick Saturday and click Add a block of times.
2. Set 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and choose Custom with 120 minutes.
3. Add three slots: Ticket Booth (2 spots), Ring Toss (2 spots), and Face Painting (2 spots).
4. Click Add slots.

That makes two shifts, 10:00 and 12:00, with every station in each. To add a Setup crew to the morning shift only, click the 10:00 time, click Add another slot at this time, name it Setup, and click Save changes.

What Guests See

Guests see your header image, title, and description, the dates the event runs, and the location with a Get directions link. The top of the page also shows how many spots are still open.

How the dates are laid out depends on how many days the event runs:

Each time shows its start and end, the slot name, and how many spots are left, or Open to everyone if it has no limit. Initials beside a time show who has already claimed it. Full slots are grayed out, marked Full, and can’t be picked.

A guest checks the time they want, or several times, and clicks Sign Up. When a time has more than one spot, a − / + stepper appears so one guest can take several spots, for example a parent bringing two helpers to a shift. It stops at however many spots are left, and at 10 on a time with no limit. A box opens that asks for their name and email. They click Sign up to finish. The Sign Up button stays off until they’ve picked a time.

They get a confirmation email listing each slot with its date, time, and length, along with the location. A time with more than one spot shows the number, such as “×2.” Their confirmation page has an Edit Response button, and the email has the same link. There, they can pick a different time, change how many spots they’re taking, or uncheck a time to give it back, and click Update Response.

Once every slot is full, the page says “Looks like everything is covered for this event!” and new guests can’t sign up. Anyone who already has a slot can still use their Edit Response link to change or give it back.

Reading the Results

Click the Entries tab. Sign-ups appear as a schedule, grouped by date and time, with the name and email of everyone in each slot. If someone took more than one spot, the number shows beside their name.

Click Download for a spreadsheet with Name, Email, Item, Quantity, and Response Date. There is one row for each slot a person signed up for. The Item column has the slot’s name, date, and time.

To take someone off a slot, click the trash icon beside their name and confirm. That removes them from that slot only and frees all the spots they held there. Any other times they signed up for stay. They aren’t told, so let them know if it matters.

Running the same schedule next week? Click Duplicate beside Edit to copy the event onto a new start date, with every time shifted to match. See Events.