⚠️ NOTE!
This is a temporary version of this article. A more comprehensive article with guides, screenshots, and further details will follow in due course.
Public events is a beta feature and is currently only available to selected groups. The functionality grows regularly, and at present only free events are supported. Paid events are coming soon.
Public events let your group open an event to everyone, regardless of whether they are already members. People sign up via a simple web page, without needing a Spond account or the app, and you can invite them to join your group afterwards.
How do I create a public event?
Create an event as normal from your group (events only for now, not matches).
Turn on the public event toggle in the creation form.
Choose who the event is for: adults, under 18s, or mixed.
Set capacity, add an image, and publish.
The event works like any other Spond event for your members. When you turn on Public, a public sign-up page and a listing on spond.com/discover are added.
Events for children
If the event is for under 18s or mixed, a parent or guardian fills in the sign-up form with their own contact details, the child's name and date of birth, and gives consent as part of the form. Sign-ups should always come from a parent or guardian, not from the child themselves.
How to share your event
Once the event is published, you get a public link you can share anywhere: social media, WhatsApp, your website, or posters. Anyone with the link can view the event and sign up. The event also appears on spond.com/discover, where people searching for local activities can find it. Your group's name is shown publicly as the organiser.
Managing sign-ups
Public sign-ups appear in the event's sign-up overview, in a dedicated Guests tab alongside the responses from your members. From there you can:
See who has signed up
Invite a guest to join your group with a single tap. They receive an email invitation and become a regular member if they accept
Remove a sign-up if necessary. The person does not receive an email when you remove them
Emails guests receive
Guests are kept updated automatically and receive:
A confirmation email when they sign up
An update email if you change the event's date, time, or location
A cancellation email if you cancel the event
Changes to the event's title or description also trigger an email.
Editing, cancelling, and deleting
Editing works as normal. Changes are reflected on the public page, and guests receive an email about changes to the date, time, or location
Cancelling removes the event from Discover and automatically sends an email to all guests. This is the best option if people have already signed up
Deleting works as normal. If you have created a test event, you should delete it straight away, as public events are visible to real people who can actually sign up
Current limitations
Worth knowing while the beta grows:
Events starting less than 2 hours after you create them do not appear on Discover. For visibility on Discover, publish at least a few hours in advance, ideally days
Only free events are supported. A sign-up fee is coming soon
There is no waiting list yet. When an event reaches its capacity limit, sign-ups close
Guest information is limited in the app. A full detail view for each guest is on its way. For now, the Guests tab shows the most important information
Not supported on desktop. Public events cannot be created or managed from the Spond desktop web version. You will see the event listed there with a note, but management takes place in the app
Not yet included
Coming soon: paid events with a sign-up fee, a detail view for each guest, display of the child's name when signing up via a guardian, comments for guests, and public club profiles on Discover.
Feedback
Public events are shaped by feedback from the beta testing. If something is missing, confusing, or not working, let us know through your usual Spond contact or the feedback option in the app.