Sessions

Sessions are the individual occurrences within an event where attendees actually participate. While an event defines what you're offering (name, description, tickets), sessions define when and where it happens. Understanding how to manage sessions effectively is key to running successful events.

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Quick Summary
An event can have one or many sessions. Each session has its own dates, capacity, location, and booking deadline. Attendees book into specific sessions, not the event itself. Use multiple sessions for recurring events, different cohorts, or multi-day programmes.

Events vs Sessions

Understanding the relationship between events and sessions is fundamental:

Event Session
The container/course An individual occurrence
Defines what you're offering Defines when and where
Has name, description, tickets Has dates, times, capacity, venue
Can have multiple sessions Belongs to one event
Attendees browse events Attendees book sessions

Think of it like a university course: "Introduction to Python" is the event (course). The Monday 2pm section, Wednesday 4pm section, and Online section are sessions. Students enrol in a specific session, not just "the course".

When You Need Multiple Sessions

Create multiple sessions when you want to:

Single-Session Events

Many events only need one session. When you create an event, you'll be prompted to create at least one session. For a single occurrence, one session is all you need.

Creating Sessions

Adding a New Session

  1. Open your event
  2. Go to Sessions (or Schedules)
  3. Click Add Session or Create Session
  4. Enter the required details
  5. Save

Required Session Details

Field Description Example
Start Date & Time When the session begins 15 March 2025, 09:00
End Date & Time When the session finishes 15 March 2025, 17:00
Capacity Maximum number of attendees 25
Booking Deadline Latest time someone can book 14 March 2025, 18:00

Optional Session Details

Field Description
Venue/Location Physical address or room name
Meeting Link URL for online sessions (Zoom, Teams, etc.)
Online Mark as virtual/online session
Cancellation Date Latest date attendees can cancel

Session Settings

Capacity

Session capacity determines the maximum number of attendees:

When capacity is reached:

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Session vs Ticket Capacity
Sessions have their own capacity. Tickets can also have quantities. If you sell 50 "Standard" tickets and 10 "VIP" tickets, but your session capacity is 40, the session will fill at 40 regardless of ticket availability. Both limits apply.

Booking Deadline

The booking deadline is the latest time someone can complete a booking for this session.

Common deadline strategies:

Cancellation Date

The cancellation date is the latest time an attendee can request to cancel their booking.

For more on cancellation handling, see Cancellations & Refunds.

Published Status

Each session can be individually published or unpublished:

This is separate from the event's visibility settings. An event must be published for any sessions to be visible, but you can unpublish individual sessions while the event remains live.

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Selective Publishing
Unpublish sessions to temporarily hide them (e.g., an upcoming cohort not ready to announce) while keeping other sessions bookable.

Online vs In-Person

Mark sessions as online when they're virtual:

Meeting links support common platforms:

Multi-Day Sessions

Sessions can span multiple days for workshops, courses, or conferences that run over consecutive or non-consecutive dates.

Setting Up Multi-Day Sessions

When creating a session:

  1. Set the Start Date to the first day
  2. Set the End Date to the last day
  3. The system recognises this as a multi-day session

Example: A 3-day workshop from Monday 9am to Wednesday 5pm.

Multi-Day Attendance Tracking

For multi-day sessions, attendance is tracked per day:

Date Changes for Multi-Day Sessions

If you change the dates of a multi-day session:

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Communicate Changes
Always communicate date changes to attendees. While the system updates records, attendees may have made travel or scheduling arrangements based on original dates.

Timezone Handling

Medtribe handles timezones to ensure clarity for both you and your attendees.

How Times are Displayed

Setting Session Timezone

Sessions inherit the timezone from your account settings. To adjust:

  1. Go to your Account Settings
  2. Update your Timezone
  3. New sessions will use this timezone
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Attendee Experience
Attendees see the session time in the original timezone you set. If your event is at "2pm London time", attendees see "2pm GMT" (or BST during summer), not their local time. This ensures everyone arrives at the right time regardless of where they're viewing from.

Online Events and Timezones

For online events with international attendees:

Session-Level Overrides

Some settings can be overridden at the session level:

Ticket Quantities per Session

By default, ticket quantities apply across all sessions. You can override this:

See Tickets for more on ticket configuration.

Waitlist Settings

Waitlist behaviour can be configured per session:

See Waitlists for configuration details.

Duplicating Sessions

Quickly create similar sessions by duplicating an existing one:

  1. Find the session you want to copy
  2. Click Duplicate or select from the menu
  3. Adjust dates, times, and capacity as needed
  4. Save the new session

What Gets Copied

What Doesn't Get Copied

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Quick Recurring Sessions
For recurring events (e.g., weekly workshops), create the first session, then duplicate it for each occurrence. Adjust only the dates for each copy.

Managing Multiple Sessions

Session List View

The sessions list shows:

Archiving Past Sessions

Past sessions remain visible in your event for record-keeping. You can:

Deleting Sessions

You can delete a session if it has no bookings. If it has bookings:

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Deleted Data
Deleting a session permanently removes its data. For record-keeping, consider unpublishing instead of deleting.

Common Questions

Can attendees book multiple sessions of the same event?

By default, yes - an attendee can book different sessions of the same event. This is useful for recurring events where someone might attend multiple occurrences. If you want to restrict this, you would manage it manually or through application forms.

What happens if I change session dates after people have booked?

The booking remains valid, but attendees may not be automatically notified of the change. Best practice is to:

  • Use the notification features to inform attendees
  • Offer cancellation/refund if the new dates don't work for them
  • Update any materials referencing the old dates
How do I offer the same event online AND in-person?

Create two sessions: one marked as Online with a meeting link, and one In-Person with a venue address. Attendees choose which session works for them. You can give them different names like "Workshop - Online" and "Workshop - London".

Can I have different prices for different sessions?

Ticket prices are set at the event level, not per session. If you need different pricing, create separate ticket types (e.g., "Morning Session" vs "Evening Session") or use different events entirely.

What's the maximum number of sessions per event?

There's no hard limit on sessions per event. However, for very large numbers of sessions, consider whether multiple events might be more manageable for both you and attendees.

Troubleshooting

Session not appearing for attendees

Can't create a booking deadline before session end

Capacity shows wrong number

Timezone looks wrong

Related Guides

For session-related questions, contact support@medtribe.com.