Host FAQs

Creating and Managing Events on Action Network

Swing Left events are all organized through Action Network. It is a third party tool (i.e. Swing Left didn’t build it), but we want to help you navigate how to use it so that you can successfully organize your events.

If you have other questions about using Action Network that you don’t see here, let us know! Email us at [email protected] to let us know what other FAQs you would find helpful to have us answer here.

Table of Contents

I need to make a change to my event. How do I do that?

I need to delete my event. How do I do that?

How can I communicate with the people attending my event?

I’d like to make my address a bit less public. Is that possible?

I want to keep my event small. How can I limit how many people can sign up?

I’m confused about the RSVP numbers for my event. What’s the story?

Can you put me in touch with other hosts?

I need to make a change to my event. How do I do that?

If you want to change your event location, time, or RSVP count, click the "edit event" button on the top of your event management page. All of your guests will automatically be emailed if there are changes to your event.

I need to delete my event. How do I do that?

If you need to, click the "manage event" button. At the top of the page you should see name of your event in big white letters and five buttons underneath. Press the last button labeled "cancel event".

How can I communicate with the people attending my event?

There are a few ways that you can communicate with your guests before the event:

  • Post on the Action Network discussion board. You can find it by clicking on the "Discussion" tab of your event management page. Anything you post on this board will be emailed to everyone who signed up for your event.
  • Download RSVPs off Action Network and send a personal email. Even though Action Network will email attendees to remind them when the event is coming up, it is always good to send a personal reminder yourself. Sending a personal email or making a call yourself will increase the chances that your guests will show up for the event. Emails from Action Network sometimes get stuck in spam boxes, so your guests might miss the message if it is only sent that way. You should see the "Download RSVPs" button when you log into Action Network, under “Manage Event”. When you click “Download RSVP”, you will get an email with a .CSV file (or .XLSX) that has a list of all the registered guests.

I’d like to make my address a bit less public. Is that possible?

If you’d like to allow Swing Left volunteers to sign up for your event but don’t want to share your address, list only your street and zip code in the event details (Main St vs 123 Main St). You can give your precise address to people who RSVP by posting it to the discussion board a day or two before your event by listing it in your "Instructions for Attendees" page (second page when you’re setting up your event), or by emailing all your guests.

You can make your event private by clicking the box at the bottom of the event creation page, but that will mean other Swing Left volunteers won’t be able to search for or sign up for your event.

You can make all of these changes by editing your event.

I want to keep my event small. How can I limit how many people can sign up?

If you want to keep your event small, set an RSVP limit at the bottom of the event creation page. If you click the box that says "allow attendees to bring guests" you may surpass the number you put as your RSVP limit.

I’m confused about the RSVP numbers for my event. What’s the story?

This can be a bit confusing! With Action Network, your RSVP count is people who actually RSVP + the number of guests they say they'll bring + you (the host).

If you use the "Download RSVPs" feature you’ll get a list of all the registered RSVPs, plus how many guests they’re bringing. You could see one row in the file with one person’s contact info and an indication that they said they’d bring 2 guests. Action Network counts that as 3 RSVPs against the cap you set for your event.

Relatedly, some of you may actually see you have even more guests than your RSVP limit. That’s likely because the last person to sign up for your event said they’d bring some guests. So, if they said they’d bring 3 guests, you’d end up at 3 over your limit.

Can you put me in touch with other hosts?

The best way to connect with other local volunteers is to join local groups and send out an email letting people know about your event. Click here to join a group