I know the package functionality is still a bit limited and there seems to be a lot more coming in the future, but is there an option for creating packages with events coming soon?
We use events to offer fitness classes and would like to offer packages of classes, like buy 5 classes (events) for a reduced price instead of individually.
I can add this to the suggestions if needed.
And do you know if WooCommerce can handle this function at this time?
Sorry for late response, we are not working on weekends.
Unfortunately packages for events are not coming soon since there are some more requested features at the moment. But this will be one of our priority features for the future updates.
Also we did not receive any feedback if this is possible with WooCommerce so I can not guarantee if this will work.
At the moment, you would be able to create an event that would contain multiple dates and times, like this:
So, if you have an event that customers can book individually (on August 2nd, on August 9th and on August 16th - 3 separate events), you can create a new event that would contain all those dates in it. It could be used as a Package workaround, but in case each individual event has capacity set to 5, adding an event like this, which would also have capacity set to 5 would expand the capacity of the actual event.
For example if 5 people book individual events, another 5 people would also be able to book the package workaround event.
Thanks for the update Aleksandar, and for the idea with multiple dates. However, that's not going to work with our situation. Let me explain how we use the events in more detail, and maybe that will help you guys understand why this particular feature is such an important one.
By the way, we are also testing 3 other events plugins for our new site because of this issue with Amelia, however, none of them are perfect, so we were really hoping to stick with Amelia since we've built so much with it so far.
For us, as personal trainers and group fitness instructors, we use Events for our virtual group fitness classes. Our team of trainers hosts between 30-50 classes per week, and we are adding more trainers daily that will continue to increase that number of classes.
Each trainer can use the Employee panel to add their own classes as needed, as we have it connected to our master Zoom account and the trainer's google calendar, giving them full flexibility to create their own classes around their own schedule. That part works great.
However, the challenge comes into play with how Members access the website (or virtual gym) and pay for classes and/or services. We work on a membership base...meaning, the member pays for access in a few different ways. They can purchase a 3 day membership to access all the classes, they can purchase a monthly membership or an annual membership where we give them access to all the classes. The classes (events) are then displayed on our "Classes" page where the details are hidden behind membership shortcodes based on the type of membership the member has. Because they pay for "access" and not per class, the cost of the classes are set to $0.00 so there is no need to pay for them individually. When a membership expires, the class info is hidden and a message for them to purchase a new membership appears.
On our new site, we will be offering these same membership levels, but were also hoping to have the ability for someone to purchase a single class as needed. Therefore, having packages of classes (events) is essential in how our site works. Basically, buy a 3 day pass and all classes are free for those days, buy a monthly subscription and have full access to all classes for the duration of your subscription (which we will handle through WooCommerce) but also if someone wants to buy a single class for full price, they would also have that option.
Does this make sense? Again, we are testing 3 other events plugins, and all three of them do these things with their event packages. Honestly, all 3 of the other plugins work much better than Amelia, and also give us multiple options for displaying/viewing events in sliders, list forms, calendars, full page displays, etc., The only reason we haven't yet switched is Amelia is the only one that has figured out how Zoom integrates and syncs with the Employee panel correctly. The others require creating zoom rooms in Zoom, then importing the info and hand placing the zoom link on each event...this would be a nightmare for us!
So, I know that was a long detailed explanation, but hopefully you can see why this is extremely important to us for our new site. We will have thousands of users on the new site, so we are taking this next step very seriously in how we build and offer classes/events so we don't have to change things in the near future.
I've looked into the customization service you suggest, but with a cost of over $2500 to customize this, it doesn't make sense to pay them if you intend to offer this in a future update.
Any other suggestions are welcome, and if there's any reason you'd like to speak to make in person to discuss this option for future development I'd be glad to talk. I've actually spoken to many of the competing software companies about fixing their zoom integration and have us move away from Amelia, but I'd rather stay with you guys and work through these issues together.
Unfortunately, adding events to packages is a difficult task because they don't work the same as appointments. With appointments, customers can choose time slots that depend on the service duration and employee availability.
Events can be created without staff (employees), and they have defined times, so people would only be able to book existing days and times when the event is being hosted.
The only limitation I see here is the capacity. Creating "package" type events (with multiple dates and times inside a single event) would duplicate the capacity of the intended (physical) event.
You're using a membership plugin that blocks access to a page where certain (or all) events are offered for non-logged-in users. So, when someone purchases a subscription, they have access to these pages for a limited amount of time. They also have access to certain events based on the type of membership access.
If I understood that part correctly, you can have daily recurring events that could be booked per day. So, if someone purchases a 3-day membership, they are able to see the events for the next 3 days. You can also create events that fulfil the whole 3 days by adding 3 consecutive dates and times in one event and have them repeat daily as well. The same goes for Annual or Monthly subscriptions.
So, in the back-end, you would have regular events that have a fixed capacity, along with these package-type events that also have a capacity. So, this looks to me like the only limitation because you can include tags for each event in order to show only certain events based on the type of membership.
I understand what you're planning to do, and as you said - Amelia can't be used in that way yet. I spoke with our developers, and they said they don't see events included in packages any time soon. That means that it won't be included in the plugin for at least another 3 months, but most likely a lot more.
The plugin was initially developed to serve only as an appointment booking plugin, and events were added later on. Amelia wasn't developed around events, but they were included afterwards, that's why it's now a lot more difficult to implement the same functionalities you see in Services.
Thank you so much for your kind words! Aleksandar is not in the office today and I was going through his tickets and just couldn't resist replying to this one.
I just wanted you to know that even though it can be hard working with people sometimes, just a single person like you can light up the entire week and it's not even that hard, software offers so many possibilities these days, so we can imagine what it feels like getting to know something for the first time and we are happy to answer all your questions.
It might be the same questions over and over again but it's a different person every time so you get to make a lot of people a bit happier each day by resolving their little problems that can sometimes cause the most stress
Please don't hesitate to contact us if there is anything else we can assist you with, really, we are always happy to help!
I will make sure to forward your reply to Aleksandar, I am sure it will bring a smile on his face too
I know the package functionality is still a bit limited and there seems to be a lot more coming in the future, but is there an option for creating packages with events coming soon?
We use events to offer fitness classes and would like to offer packages of classes, like buy 5 classes (events) for a reduced price instead of individually.
I can add this to the suggestions if needed.
And do you know if WooCommerce can handle this function at this time?
Hi Jason,
Thank you for your purchase.
Sorry for late response, we are not working on weekends.
Unfortunately packages for events are not coming soon since there are some more requested features at the moment. But this will be one of our priority features for the future updates.
Also we did not receive any feedback if this is possible with WooCommerce so I can not guarantee if this will work.
Best regards.
Kind Regards,
Miloš Jovanović
[email protected]
Rate my support
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Any update on Events Packages?
Hello Jason
Including events in Packages is still far ahead.
At the moment, you would be able to create an event that would contain multiple dates and times, like this:
So, if you have an event that customers can book individually (on August 2nd, on August 9th and on August 16th - 3 separate events), you can create a new event that would contain all those dates in it. It could be used as a Package workaround, but in case each individual event has capacity set to 5, adding an event like this, which would also have capacity set to 5 would expand the capacity of the actual event.
For example if 5 people book individual events, another 5 people would also be able to book the package workaround event.
Kind Regards,
Aleksandar Vuković
[email protected]
Rate my support
wpDataTables: FAQ | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Front-end and back-end demo | Docs
Amelia: FAQ | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amelia demo sites | Docs | Discord Community
You can try wpDataTables add-ons before purchasing on these sandbox sites:
Powerful Filters | Gravity Forms Integration for wpDataTables | Formidable Forms Integration for wpDataTables | Master-Detail Tables
Thanks for the update Aleksandar, and for the idea with multiple dates. However, that's not going to work with our situation. Let me explain how we use the events in more detail, and maybe that will help you guys understand why this particular feature is such an important one.
By the way, we are also testing 3 other events plugins for our new site because of this issue with Amelia, however, none of them are perfect, so we were really hoping to stick with Amelia since we've built so much with it so far.
For us, as personal trainers and group fitness instructors, we use Events for our virtual group fitness classes. Our team of trainers hosts between 30-50 classes per week, and we are adding more trainers daily that will continue to increase that number of classes.
Each trainer can use the Employee panel to add their own classes as needed, as we have it connected to our master Zoom account and the trainer's google calendar, giving them full flexibility to create their own classes around their own schedule. That part works great.
However, the challenge comes into play with how Members access the website (or virtual gym) and pay for classes and/or services. We work on a membership base...meaning, the member pays for access in a few different ways. They can purchase a 3 day membership to access all the classes, they can purchase a monthly membership or an annual membership where we give them access to all the classes. The classes (events) are then displayed on our "Classes" page where the details are hidden behind membership shortcodes based on the type of membership the member has. Because they pay for "access" and not per class, the cost of the classes are set to $0.00 so there is no need to pay for them individually. When a membership expires, the class info is hidden and a message for them to purchase a new membership appears.
On our new site, we will be offering these same membership levels, but were also hoping to have the ability for someone to purchase a single class as needed. Therefore, having packages of classes (events) is essential in how our site works. Basically, buy a 3 day pass and all classes are free for those days, buy a monthly subscription and have full access to all classes for the duration of your subscription (which we will handle through WooCommerce) but also if someone wants to buy a single class for full price, they would also have that option.
Does this make sense? Again, we are testing 3 other events plugins, and all three of them do these things with their event packages. Honestly, all 3 of the other plugins work much better than Amelia, and also give us multiple options for displaying/viewing events in sliders, list forms, calendars, full page displays, etc., The only reason we haven't yet switched is Amelia is the only one that has figured out how Zoom integrates and syncs with the Employee panel correctly. The others require creating zoom rooms in Zoom, then importing the info and hand placing the zoom link on each event...this would be a nightmare for us!
So, I know that was a long detailed explanation, but hopefully you can see why this is extremely important to us for our new site. We will have thousands of users on the new site, so we are taking this next step very seriously in how we build and offer classes/events so we don't have to change things in the near future.
I've looked into the customization service you suggest, but with a cost of over $2500 to customize this, it doesn't make sense to pay them if you intend to offer this in a future update.
Any other suggestions are welcome, and if there's any reason you'd like to speak to make in person to discuss this option for future development I'd be glad to talk. I've actually spoken to many of the competing software companies about fixing their zoom integration and have us move away from Amelia, but I'd rather stay with you guys and work through these issues together.
Thanks for all your help!
Hi again Jason
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Unfortunately, adding events to packages is a difficult task because they don't work the same as appointments. With appointments, customers can choose time slots that depend on the service duration and employee availability.
Events can be created without staff (employees), and they have defined times, so people would only be able to book existing days and times when the event is being hosted.
The only limitation I see here is the capacity. Creating "package" type events (with multiple dates and times inside a single event) would duplicate the capacity of the intended (physical) event.
You're using a membership plugin that blocks access to a page where certain (or all) events are offered for non-logged-in users. So, when someone purchases a subscription, they have access to these pages for a limited amount of time. They also have access to certain events based on the type of membership access.
If I understood that part correctly, you can have daily recurring events that could be booked per day. So, if someone purchases a 3-day membership, they are able to see the events for the next 3 days. You can also create events that fulfil the whole 3 days by adding 3 consecutive dates and times in one event and have them repeat daily as well. The same goes for Annual or Monthly subscriptions.
So, in the back-end, you would have regular events that have a fixed capacity, along with these package-type events that also have a capacity. So, this looks to me like the only limitation because you can include tags for each event in order to show only certain events based on the type of membership.
I understand what you're planning to do, and as you said - Amelia can't be used in that way yet. I spoke with our developers, and they said they don't see events included in packages any time soon. That means that it won't be included in the plugin for at least another 3 months, but most likely a lot more.
The plugin was initially developed to serve only as an appointment booking plugin, and events were added later on. Amelia wasn't developed around events, but they were included afterwards, that's why it's now a lot more difficult to implement the same functionalities you see in Services.
Kind Regards,
Aleksandar Vuković
[email protected]
Rate my support
wpDataTables: FAQ | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Front-end and back-end demo | Docs
Amelia: FAQ | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amelia demo sites | Docs | Discord Community
You can try wpDataTables add-ons before purchasing on these sandbox sites:
Powerful Filters | Gravity Forms Integration for wpDataTables | Formidable Forms Integration for wpDataTables | Master-Detail Tables
Hi Jason
Thank you so much for your kind words! Aleksandar is not in the office today and I was going through his tickets and just couldn't resist replying to this one.
I just wanted you to know that even though it can be hard working with people sometimes, just a single person like you can light up the entire week
and it's not even that hard, software offers so many possibilities these days, so we can imagine what it feels like getting to know something for the first time and we are happy to answer all your questions.
It might be the same questions over and over again but it's a different person every time so you get to make a lot of people a bit happier each day by resolving their little problems that can sometimes cause the most stress
Please don't hesitate to contact us if there is anything else we can assist you with, really, we are always happy to help!
I will make sure to forward your reply to Aleksandar, I am sure it will bring a smile on his face too