How best to create an event with multiple sessions

Geoffrey Goodfellow
Geoffrey Goodfellow
Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

I'm new to RE NXT Events, and I would like to set up a single event where registrants will be able to choose one of two sessions to attend.

How do I best manage the two session times? I've seen some resources advocate for creating two different fee types under the same event record. (In our case both times are free.) I've seen some other resources advocating for creating two different online registration forms nested under the same event record. I've seen some other resources advocating the creation of participant options on the event record that allow the participant to select the event times.

Could someone perhaps give me some feedback about advantages/disadvantages to the different recommendations above and which one you think is best?

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  • Lucy Ruiz
    Lucy Ruiz
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 3 Name Dropper Participant

    @Geoffrey Goodfellow – @Aldera Chisholm – do you have any suggestions you can offer. I know you are my go to Events expert. ?

  • Aldera Chisholm
    Aldera Chisholm Community All-Star
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 5 Raiser's Edge NXT Fall 2025 Product Update Briefing Badge First Reply

    @Geoffrey Goodfellow Any of those options would technically work, so it's about making sure you find the combination of easy for the registrant, and easy for you to report on.

    1. Adding the time to a participant option is functional, but it does mean you have to dig one layer deeper when looking at your registrants. Not my favourite choice for that reason, as I like to keep it simple.
    2. Using two free ticket types means you are only dealing with one form, making it very easy to embed in a web page, and for the registrant to make a choice. On the Event participants screen, there is a column for ticket price ("Fees") so you can sort by your two ticket prices/times to see your registrants for each on one screen.
    3. Edit for wording: Using two forms feeding into one event has the downside of managing two forms, and potential confusion for registrants. However, I would go this route if I wanted to invite people specifically to one time vs the other rather than giving them a choice.

    Happy to answer any questions you may have! This is one of those situations where you may ask ten people and get ten answers, so think about your internal workflows and what makes sense for you.

    Cheers

    Aldera

  • Geoffrey Goodfellow
    Geoffrey Goodfellow
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant

    Many thanks for your wisdom, @Aldera Chisholm, and thank you, @Lucy Ruiz, for making the introduction!

  • Geoffrey Goodfellow
    Geoffrey Goodfellow
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant

    @Aldera Chisholm, I wanted to ask more about your option #3. When you say “using two events” were you meaning still using one event record but having multiple registration forms (one for each time slot) for that single event? I just wanted to be sure I wasn't confusing that with the idea of creating two separate event records.

  • Aldera Chisholm
    Aldera Chisholm Community All-Star
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 5 Raiser's Edge NXT Fall 2025 Product Update Briefing Badge First Reply

    @Geoffrey Goodfellow Sorry for the confusing phrasing. You can create two forms that feed into one event, each with their own time - but this doesn't offer an advantage over just having one form with two ticket types. I would go that route if I wanted to send Time A option to one group of invitees, and Time B option to a different group of invitees.

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