Planning the Event - Adding Milestones & Tasks

• What are Milestones and Tasks
• How to add a Milestone
• How to add a Task
• How to add a Workflow
• Academy Guide Video [New]
• Next Steps

What are Milestones and Tasks

Milestones and tasks are a useful tool in the planning process of the event. They are both used in the planning stages around the event, rather than for the day itself (see the itinerary for the actual event day plan).

You will find Milestones on the landing page of the event dashboard, and then tasks are in a separate tab on the same view

The key points to be aware of for both are:

• Milestones - Are view only. They are used to guide the planning process and give yourself and your customer (if shared with them) information on key time points in the event planning process.
• Tasks - Are assignable to different users. A task is a specific reminder for a specific task due on the day it is created for. Tasks can be assigned to team members, or your customer. They also send an email reminder to the person assigned the task on the day it is due, prompting them to login to Hostology. Tasks are also able to be marked as completed.

Overall Milestones and tasks appear on your planning timeline and can be used together to make sure you & your customers know what to expect (using milestones) and also you & your customers can tick off and complete the key tasks in the planning process of the event.

NB - You can also have them assigned for after the event too, if you want to remind on final invoices, damage deposits or to sign up to future events!

How to add a Milestone to an event

To add a milestone to an event, you will first need to go to the event page. From here on the event dashboard, you will be able to add a milestone by selecting the "Add to Timeline" button.

Once you select the button, a menu will pop-up, requiring you to fill in the following information:

The information required is:

• Title - This is the name of the milestone. It can be long/short. Examples include "Initial Planning meeting", "Show round date", "Start finalising Guest numbers", "Ensure you have confirmed your caterer for the day"... or also a friendly "Welcome and congrats on booking the event!"
• Date - This is the date that the milestone is due
• Time - The time in the day that the milestone will take place
• Location - Where this will happen (this is free text so you can put whatever makes most sense)
• Visibility - Internal vs All - Internal means that only your venue team will see this. "All" means that this will also appear on your customers page when they login to see the event
• Notes - Any notes or further information associated with the milestone.

Complete this information and then press the "Save and add to timeline" option. This will then be added to your timeline and show in the dashboard view. 

You can add as many or as few milestones to the event - whatever you find most useful. A top tip from Hostology - if you are inviting customers for events further in the future, this is a really useful tool to help guide your customers to key points when they should expect to hear from you or confirm parts of the event. We have seen great success for our venues, having a milestone item that says when they will first get in touch to start planning. (As it can put your customers mind at ease!).

How to add a Task to an event

To add a task to an event, you will need to select the "Task List" tab in the dashboard view and then select the "+ Add Task" button there:

This will then open up a pop-up window allowing you to input information and create the new task.

The information you need to add will be:

• Title - Is the name of the task e.g. "Finalise guest numbers", "Pay invoice" or "Chase room payments"
• Date - This is the date that the task is due for. This will be the day that the email reminder is also sent
• Due - This is the time in the day the task is due by.
• Assign to - "Customer" vs "Venue User". "Customer" will populate any customers/hosts you have added to this event. If you assign them a task they will be able to see it in their portal and also mark it as done. It will also send them an email reminder. "Venue User" will show the list of your venue team, where you can assign the task to anyone within the team. If you do not assign it to anyone - everyone in your venue team will be reminded on the day it is due.

Once you have inputted the data into the new task, select "Save and add Task" this task will now be added to your task list for the event. Please note you can see your customers tasks that are due, but they will not be able to see your internal tasks. Also, they cannot assign tasks to you on their portal, but can create them for themselves to complete.

Lastly, when you assign a task to a customer, they will receive an email then as well, informing them that they have been assigned a new task. Just to ensure they are aware.

How to add a Workflow to an event

One of Hostology's most popular time saving features is our workflows tool. Workflows is a smart dynamic way to add in pre-set Milestones and tasks to an event. Check out this article here on how to create a workflow.

Workflows add a pre-made list of milestones and tasks to the event. These will then be created at dates based of the event date / the date the booking was confirmed. So if you created a task due 3 months before the event, it will then show at this point based on the event date for the event you have created.

To add a workflow, simply go to the event dashboard and select the button that says "+ Add Workflow"

This will then cause a pop-up, allowing you to select the workflow you would like to add to the event from a dropdown list. Choose the workflow and then select "+ Add workflow". This will then add all milestones & Tasks in the workflow template to the event.

You can add as many workflows as you like to an event, you can also add them at any time throughout the planning process. TOP TIP! Some venues have created "Planning workflows" and "Finance workflows" that different team members add, when they are ready for the event.

NB - If you try and add a workflow that has tasks assigned to a customer, to an event that does not yet have a customer added. You will see a warning Pop-up. This explains that the tasks cannot be assigned as there is no customer. What happens, is these tasks will be added to the event, but not assigned to anyone. We advise if you are doing this, make sure you add the customer first!

Academy Video Guide

Next Steps

Check out this article on Adding your customers to the event

Check out this article on Adding Accommodation to the event

Check out this article on Adding Event Suppliers

Check out this article on Adding Food & Drink to the event