Event Types
An event type is a thing somebody can book. A calendar with no event types has nothing to offer.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Layout & Pages:
- Booking Calendars — the calendar, then its row actions for everything else
What an event type carries
- Name and description — what the person is booking.
- Slot time — how long it takes.
- Colour — how it appears on the calendar.
- Maximum bookings — capacity for that event.
- Type — how it behaves.
Duration per event type is the point
A calendar can offer a fifteen-minute follow-up and a ninety-minute assessment side by side, each consuming the right amount of time. That is what makes one calendar workable for a real service rather than needing one per appointment length.
Capacity distinguishes appointments from classes
A maximum of one is an appointment. A maximum of twelve is a class, a session or a group. The same calendar can hold both.
Be realistic about capacity — it is the number that decides whether people are turned away or a room is overcrowded.
Colour is not decoration
On a busy calendar it is how staff read the day at a glance. Use it consistently and few enough that the meaning is learnable — three or four colours, not one per event type when you have twelve.
Form fields collect what you need
Each event type can have its own fields, added as a row action. That is where you ask what the appointment is about, whether the person has particular requirements, or a reference number.
Ask at booking, not afterwards
Information asked at the point of booking gets answered. Information chased afterwards mostly does not, and the chasing is somebody’s job.
But ask only what changes what you do. Every field is a reason to abandon a booking.
Keep the list short
A person choosing from four event types chooses. A person choosing from fifteen guesses, and the guess is somebody else’s problem to correct later.
If you genuinely have many, consider separate calendars for distinct audiences instead.
Review durations against reality
Appointments that consistently overrun mean the slot time is wrong, and the calendar is quietly promising more than the day can hold. That shows up as a schedule that runs late every afternoon.
Worked example
A clinic offers four event types — new assessment at ninety minutes, follow-up at thirty, review at fifteen, and a group session with capacity twelve. Each asks one question at booking. Durations were revised after three months when follow-ups were consistently running over.
Recommendations
- Set real durations and revisit them against what happens.
- Capacity distinguishes appointments from group sessions.
- Ask at booking, and only what changes your actions.
- Four or five event types, not fifteen.