Cancel an event

If you need to cancel an event at any time, how you proceed with its cancellation will greatly depend on whether there are any attendees registered to it or not and any payments processed.

If you unpublish the event, it is no longer accessible publicly. You can still register attendees to it manually yourself but no new attendees will be able to register themselves to it.
If you archive the event, the event becomes unpublished and is no longer accessible to the public. Any attendees registered to this event will also be archived. Please read the help doc on how to Archive an event.
If you delete an event, this will remove the event completely from your account records but it can only be done if there are no payment transactions associated with it. Any attendees registered to this event will also be deleted. Please read the help doc on how to Delete an event.

Note: If you unpublish, archive, or delete the event, the attendees are not notified about any of these changes. If you have any attendees registered to an event that you want to cancel in any of these ways, you must inform them directly about the cancellation and process any refunds required accordingly.

Reasons for canceling events

Here are the most common reasons why you may need to cancel an event:

You are not able to offer the event. This can be due to inclement weather, travel advisories, health advisories, health problems, venue cancellations, or similar extenuating circumstances.
No one registered for the event.
Not enough people registered for the event.

Alternatives to canceling events

Here are other options that you can consider to avoid canceling an event:

Reschedule the event. Before you cancel the event, consider if you can reschedule it instead. If you choose to change the event date(s), be sure to communicate this update with any registered attendees using a memo and any other means that may be required.
Change the event location. Before you cancel the event, consider if you can host it at another location instead. If you choose to change the event location, be sure to communicate this update with any registered attendees using a memo and any other means that may be required.
Host the event virtually. Before you cancel the event, consider if you can host the event using a video conferencing platform online instead of physically in person. Refer to the help doc Virtual events and classes and be sure to communicate this update with any registered attendees using a memo and any other means that may be required.

Cancel an event with NO registered attendees

If you have no attendees registered to the event, the process to cancel is very simple. You just need to unpublish, archive, or delete the event.

An event can be unpublished directly from its Event Details page or via the Actions menu on that page.

Whether you proceed to fully delete the event is completely up to you. Some users like to keep the event for future reference, or take advantage of its already populated information fields and run the event again at some future time simply by changing the date and re-publishing the event or cloning it.

Cancel an event with registered attendees

If you have attendees registered to the event, there are a few important steps in order to cancel the event, as follows:

Step 1: Unpublish the class

Unpublish the event directly from its Event Details page or via the Actions menu on that page, as shown in the screenshot above.

Step 2: Cancel or transfer registered attendees

Since attendees are registered, you must now decide what to do with the registered attendees. From the Actions menu, you can either transfer them to another event or cancel each individual registration.

When you cancel or transfer a registration, you also have the option of having an automatic email sent to the attendee immediately that informs them of the changes to their registration. If their registration to the event is cancelled, no further reminders about the event will be sent out to them.

You can also communicate with the registered attendees to inform them about any event changes, like transfers or cancellations using the memos feature.

Step 3: Issue refunds if needed

When you cancel a registration, this is not equivalent to a refund. If any payments have been processed for any attendees in this canceled event, you need to process a refund for each attendee accordingly. If a registration transfer results in a price difference, the attendee will either have a balance owing or require a partial refund. Full or partial refunds can be issued from the Payment tab on the registration panel.

When you refund a payment, you also have the option of having an automatic email sent to the attendee immediately that confirms the refund and displays the refund details.