Event Setup Guide

Admin UI Overview

When you first log in to your pickAtime account, you will automatically land on the Administrative User Interface, with the Event Reports displayed by default.

Profile & Sidebar Navigation

Left-Hand Navigation Menu

Checklist

To set up your event using the Normal event scheduler, follow these steps:

  1.  Create Your Account and Create Your Event Create your event and give it a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Health Screenings" or "Photo Shoot Appointments").
  2. Add a Resource Add a resource — the "holder" of your time slots. A resource can be a specific person, or a generic entity like "Nurse" or "Appointments."
  3. Create Slots for the Event Create your time slots, including dates, times, and appointment durations.
  4. Configure Settings
    • Appointment Settings — Adjust various settings specific to your event.
    • Configure Notifications (optional) — Customize the default email confirmations and reminder notices, if needed.
  5. Try It Out Test your scheduler before opening it to participants.

Event Setup

Event Setup

STEP ONE: Create Event

Create Your Organization's Account

If you haven't already created your organization's account, click here.

Steps to Create a New Event

  1. Select Events / Preview from the sidebar.
  2. Click the green Add button.
  3. Enter a name for your event — e.g., Health Screenings, Photo School 2026.
  4. Select the event type: Normal.
  5. Select your event's time zone.
  6. (Optional) Add a Date and Location.

Once saved, your event will appear as a new row in the Events list.

About the Date and Location Fields

These fields are optional and primarily used to distinguish between multiple events when more than one is listed.

Adding Event Details

Use the Event Details box to add event-specific information you'd like to display on the scheduler or include in emails.

Anything entered here becomes available as a macro: $(E_DESCRIPTION)

You can insert this macro into your CUI Messages or Notification Setup templates to automatically pull in this text.

Event Setup

STEP TWO: Add a Resource

Defining Your Resources

Every event requires at least one Resource — the "container" that holds your time slots.

Step 1: Name the Resource

Click directly into the Title Area of a new resource to edit its name.

Step 2: Choose a Descriptive Name

Use a name specific to your event type:

Event Type Example Resource Name
Health Clinics "Flu Shots" (service name)
Counseling/Advising "Sarah Jenkins" (staff member's name)
Facility Rentals "Main Gymnasium" (room or equipment name)

Step 3: Add Additional Resources

If your event involves multiple staff members, rooms, or service types, continue adding resources as needed. Each resource manages its own independent set of appointments.

Event Setup

STEP THREE: Create Slots

To get started, go to Events / Preview, select your event, then click the Appointments tab. From the left-hand calendar, select the date you want to work with. Open the Slots drop-down and choose Create Slots.

Step 1: Choose Which Resources to Create Slots For

In the slot generator, choose to create slots for selected resources or all resources. To select multiple resources, hold Ctrl while clicking names in the right-hand panel.

Step 2: Set Your Time and Duration

Field Description
From Start time of the first slot
To End time of the last slot
Duration Length of each appointment (in minutes)
Travel Break Optional gap between appointments

Example: 10-minute slots with a 5-minute travel break create slots at 8:00–8:10, 8:15–8:25, 8:30–8:40, and so on.

Note: If you need a break that doesn't align with your slot duration (e.g., 20-minute slots but a 40-minute lunch break), create slots in two batches — one before the break, one after.

Step 3: Choose Appointment Type

Type Description Indicator
In-Person Participants receive room/location info P
Virtual Participants receive a meeting link V
In-Person or Virtual Participants choose their preferred format PV

Step 4: Set Slot Visibility

Option What it does
Visible for Customer Available for online booking
Hidden from Customer Hidden from participants; visible in Admin UI only
Shown with "Call" Status Visible to participants, but they're prompted to call the school to book
Make Unavailable Visible in Admin UI but not bookable online (use for lunch breaks, meetings, etc.)

You can optionally add a custom message for unavailable slots.

Step 5: Set Maximum Appointments Per Slot (Optional)

Use this for group sessions, open labs, or any scenario where multiple participants/families can book the same time slot.

Creating Slots for Multiple Days or Resources
Scenario What to do
Same schedule across multiple days Enable Multiple Dates and select all applicable dates before saving
Different schedule per day Create slots for the first day, switch to the next date, and repeat
Different schedules per resource Select a resource (or group), create their slots, save, then repeat for the next resource/group

Tip: If you created identical slots for all resources at once, individual slots won't display until you click a specific resource's name in the right-hand pane

Updating Existing Slots

Use Update Slots to change existing slot characteristics without deleting and recreating them.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Update Slots

You can update:

Important: Update Slots does not change start times, end times, or duration. To change those, you must delete and recreate the slots (see Changing Slot Duration or Times below).

"Keep existing slot type on slots being updated" — useful when resources have already blocked parts of their schedule, since it lets you change appointment type without affecting slot type.

Blocking Slots

Blocking is the preferred way to temporarily remove availability without permanently deleting a slot.

  1. Go to the Appointments page and click the X in the corner of the slot.
  2. The slot turns red and displays "Blocked." You can enter a custom message (e.g., "Lunch Break" or "Staff Meeting").
  3. To unblock, click the X again to restore availability.

Blocked slots appear on reports when Show All Slots is enabled.

Deleting Slots

Use Delete Time Slots to permanently remove slots.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Delete Time Slots

If appointments already exist on those slots, you'll be prompted to choose:

Tip: Consider whether participants need a cancellation notification before confirming any deletion.

Moving Slots

Use Move Slots to transfer an entire day's slots — and any existing appointments — to a new date. Useful for snow closures, rescheduled days, or resource availability changes.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Move Slots

In the dialog, select the destination date, choose whether to move slots for all resources or selected resources, and confirm.

Existing appointments transfer with all participant information intact, and appointment times remain the same.

Important: Calendar notification emails are not sent automatically — advise participants to update any calendar entries they've saved. You can send a custom notification email explaining the change.

Copying Slots

Use Copy Slots to duplicate a day's slot structure to another date or resource — without copying existing appointments.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Copy Slots

Select the destination date and/or resource(s) and confirm. Slot visibility, appointment type, and availability settings are all preserved.

If you also need appointments to transfer, use Move Slots instead.

Changing Slot Duration or Times

Slot start times, end times, and duration cannot be edited in place. To change any of these:

  1. Delete the slots you want to change (or all slots for that day).
  2. Recreate them with the correct settings.

Example: If you have 10-minute slots from 8:00 AM–2:00 PM but want 9:00 AM–1:00 PM instead, delete the 8:00–9:00 AM and 1:00–2:00 PM slots (or delete all and start fresh), then create the new schedule.

Quick Reference: Which Tool to Use?

Situation Use
Temporarily remove availability Block Slots
Permanently remove slots Delete Time Slots
Change appointment type or visibility Update Slots
Reschedule an entire day Move Slots
Duplicate a schedule to another day or resource Copy Slots
Change slot duration or times Delete + Recreate

Slot Color Guide

Color Meaning
🔵 Blue Available
🔴 Red Blocked
⚪ Grey Resource is booked elsewhere (team meeting or personal appointment)
image.png Yellow Time has passed

FAQ on Creating Slots

I created slots on the wrong date

On the Appointments page, select the Slots drop-down and then select the Move Slots option. This will allow you to move all slots (and any appointments) to a new date. You will have the option to send an email to any appointment holder whose appointment was moved. 

My slots are 20 minutes in duration, but I wanted a 30-minute break for lunch

If your break will not have the same duration as your slots or is not a multiple of your slots (e.g., you have time slots of 20 minutes, and you want a 40-minute break), you will need to create your slots in sections. First, create the slots BEFORE your break time, and then create your slots AFTER your break time. 

Why are my time slots yellow? 

Yellow indicates that the time has passed.

I created time slots with the wrong duration, but my customers have already booked appointments.

Time slots can not be changed from one duration to another. If you need a different duration than what you originally created, you will need to delete your time slots with the incorrect duration and create new time slots with the correct duration. When you delete the time slots, the system will ask you what you want to do with the appointments. You can cancel them and send an email to each customer requesting that they rebook their appointment. Or you can put the appointments "on hold" and then cancel and manually rebook each appointment. 

After selecting the Delete Time Slots option, you will see a new dialog box telling you the number of appointments on your soon-to-be-deleted slots:

The default option is set to move the appointments to a holding area on the Appointments List page. If you choose this option, you will have a list of the appointments that you need to either cancel or cancel and rebook.

Event Setup

STEP FOUR: Adjust Settings

Online Scheduler Settings (Event Scheduling)

Booking Settings

Booking Window

Booking Opens

Select the date and time you would like the scheduler to open for participants.

Booking Closes

Select the date and time the scheduler should close and no longer accept bookings.

Admins can access the scheduler at any time

Check this to ensure Administrators can access the scheduler even when it is closed to the public.

For schedulers with multiple booking dates, close booking:

Close booking at a specific time of day, XX days before the appointment.

Close booking XX hours/days/weeks/months before the appointment

Close booking XX hours before the first appointment of the day.

Booking Limits:

Maximum per Event 

Sets a total limit on the number of appointments allowed for the entire event. Set to 0 for no limits.

Maximum Per Child 

Sets a cap on the number of appointments allowed for each individual student. Set to 0 for no limits.

Duration between appointments 

Enter a duration to prevent customers from booking too frequently. If a customer attempts to book within this window, they will see your custom "Cannot Book" message. 

per resource 

Restricts the frequency of bookings with a specific staff member or room. Select this to allow customers to book again quickly as long as they choose a different resource. 

Cancellation Policy

Customer may cancel their appointment up to XX hours/days/weeks. 

Use this setting to prevent participants from cancelling their appointments within a specific timeframe (hours, days, or weeks) before the scheduled start time. Set this value to 0 if you wish to allow cancellations up until the last minute. Conversely, a very high value effectively disables the cancellation option for participants. 

Note: Closing the scheduler only prevents new bookings; it does not stop participants from cancelling existing appointments unless this lock-out period is active.

Share Your Scheduler

Account Scheduling Link

Displays all available events on the scheduler.

If you have only one open event on the vendor account, we recommend that you use the Scheduling link for the account.

Event Scheduling Link

Displays the scheduler of the selected event with the ability to select other available events on this account.

Customize the event link

Allows you to customise the scheduling link for the selected event parameter.

Scheduling link for the category

Displays the scheduler with the list of event(s) of the selected category. 

Display Settings

Scheduler Display

Display Scheduler in a: date, text, list, vertical, table format 

There are five ways you can display your slots. 

  1. Table * This is the only option for PTA events. 

  2. Text

  3. List

  4. Vertical

  5. Date

Display calendar to navigate over dates

Displays a calendar interface to help users browse different dates easily.

Display paginator to navigate over dates

Allows to display of multiple dates with slots on one page. 

Shows end times

Displays the end time of the slot. 

Show Number of Available Openings 

Show the number of appointment slots for the appointment time. 

Display X weeks/days of slots on the scheduling page with a max capacity of  XXX slots per day  

Determines the volume of days or weeks visible to the customer at one time.

Display X days of time slots 

Enter a value here if you would like to display only a certain number of days/weeks/months to your customer. 

Limit visible openings to x per slot and reveal the next available slot when xx% of slots are booked 

This will allow you to initially display only part of the available appointments per slot on the online scheduler. You can set the number of slots you would like initially to show up on the scheduler. The default is set to 100%, but can be adjusted. Once your selected % of slots is booked, the rest will open up.  

Resource Display 

Note: different options will appear depending on the selected scheduler display format

Hide resources on the Scheduling Page

When using the Text, Vertical, or List displays, these options appear to allow you to show or hide the resources for your participants. 

Resource selection format (only active if the resources are NOT hidden): 

When using the Text, Vertical, or List displays, you can opt to show the resources in a drop-down, vertically or as buttons. 

Custom label for Resource 

Create a custom label for Resource

Display resource description 

When using the Table or Date display, you can add the description to the resource’s legend on the CUI. 

Display room  

When using the Table or Date display, the scheduler will show the Room value on the scheduler in the list of resources, next to the resource’s name. 

ADVANCED SETTINGS

Online Meeting Provider 

Select the integrated video conferencing tool (Zoom, Google, MS Teams) to be used for virtual appointments. 
Multiple Appointment Booking 

Allow customers to take multiple slots 

This allows your customer to book more than one slot per appointment time. 

Allow overlapping appointments 

Enables customers to book multiple appointments that occur at the same time. 
Appointment Changes 

Allow customers to see and cancel past appointments 

Permits users to view their history and manage appointments that have already passed. 

Don't allow customers to change appointment time 

Removes the ability for participants to reschedule their existing appointment times. 
Appointment Limit for Resources: A resource is whoever or whatever holds the slots - staff, a room, or any entity you choose. 

Maximum appointments per resource per day 

Limits how many appointments a single resource (e.g., a teacher) can accept daily, regardless of total available slots. Set to 0 for no limits. 

Student Selection 

Require parents to select their student's name from a dropdown menu. (Note: This requires student data to be imported first.) 

Allow customers to select a timezone from the list of allowed timezones 

 Check if you want to display a drop-down of time zones to your customers so that they can change the timezone they can view and book their slots in. 

Notification Setup

The Notifications tab lets you configure: Confirmation Email, Cancellation Email, Reminder Email, Custom Email, Follow-up Email, Resource Notification Email, and Calendar Event Notification.

Confirmation Email

Field What it controls
Subject Email subject line
Header Text shown above the email body
Body Main email text
Send Confirmation and Cancellation Emails Sends a confirmation after booking (typically left unchecked for schools)
Support Email Address that receives replies to confirmation/reminder/cancellation emails. If left blank, replies get an automated response directing them to contact your organisation.

Reminder Emails

Send Reminder Emails: Click Add and enter the number of hours before an appointment that a reminder should go out. You can add multiple reminder times — duplicates are automatically removed.

Field What it controls
Footer Text shown below the email body
Subject for combined email Subject line used when a combined email is sent (e.g., a cancel + immediate reschedule)

Configure CUI (Customer User Interface)

You can customise most of the text and labels participants see when booking appointments.

To edit CUI messages:

  1. From the Admin UI, go to Events / Preview, select your event, and click Go To.
  2. Select Settings / CUI Messages.
  3. On the left, choose a label to edit — the corresponding text appears on the right for editing.

Common customisations:

Event Setup

STEP FIVE: Try it out

  1. 1. Open the Scheduler

    1. From the Admin UI, go to Events / Preview, select your event, and click Go To Event.
    2. Select Settings / Online Scheduler Settings/Booking Window.
    3. Set "Open scheduler to customers on" and "Close scheduler to customers on" to define the window during which participants can book appointments.

    2. View the Scheduler

    1. Go to Global Setup / Business / Account Level Settings / Account URL, and find your Account URL at the bottom of the page.
    2. Click the URL, or copy it into another browser window to test the scheduler as a participant would experience it.

    You can customize this URL by checking "Set Custom URL" and entering your preferred name. The updated URL will be live in approximately 5–10 minutes.

Previous Users of pickAtime

Setting up a new event

If you've used pickAtime before, you don't need to create a new account — simply create a new event under your existing account (e.g., "Health and Wellness 2026").

Recommended order:
  1. Create the new event first.
  2. Delete the old event afterward, if you're not reusing its data.

Creating the new event before deleting the old one preserves your settings — Online Scheduler Settings, Notification Setup, and CUI Messages — by carrying them over.

⚠️ Deleting an event deletes its resources and data. Don't delete an old event if you plan to reuse that data.

Administrator Information

At the beginning of each year you should plan to remove any old admins and add new admins.

To add an Admin

  1. Navigate to Contacts: In the Admin UI, go to the Contacts page.

  2. Add New Admin: Select the Add > Admin... button.

  3. Enter Details: Fill in the user information on the Add New Contact form.

  4. Set Access Level: In the Admin Level pull-down menu, select Appointment Viewer.

  5. Save: Click to finish.

Note: If you see a red message stating "Vendor already has a contact with this email," do not panic. Click the blue Go back button and use the Search tool to find the existing contact by name.

Assigning Specific Access

Once the contact is created or located:

  • Go to the Vendor Access tab.

  • Locate the specific Event and Resource this person needs to monitor.

  • Click the checkbox next to the name to grant report access.

First-Time Login Instructions

You can provide these steps to the new admin to help them get started:

To remove an old Admin
  1. Navigate to Contacts: In the Admin UI, go to the Contacts page.
  2. Locate the Contact: do a search for the contact by first or last name or by email.
  3. Delete the Contact: Click on the Contact's name and click the DELETE button.

Contact Information

What happens to contact data between events

Contact information — including login credentials — is retained across events and is not deleted when you delete an event. This means:

If you'd prefer participants create fresh accounts each time (e.g., for annual conferences), you can manually clear old contact data.

How to remove all previous contact information

  1. Go to Global Setup / Contacts.
  2. Click Show Advanced Options.
  3. Click Remove All Customers.
  4. Select the access level to delete from the pull-down.
Access levels (from broadest to narrowest):
Level Who it includes
Customer access Participants
Appointment Viewer Admins who only need to see event reports
Appointment Maker Admins with Appointment Maker access
Resource Administrator Admins with access to a select group of Resource
Event Administrator Admins with access to one or more events

Important: Deleting a given level also deletes every level below it on this list. For example, deleting Resource Administrator also deletes Appointment Maker, Appointment Viewer, and Customer access (Participants).

Exceptions — what won't be deleted