Since I just wrote my review of SignUpGenius, I figured I would follow it up with a post about how to use SignUpGenius. Now like before, SignUpGenius does the job although it’s a little ugly and with some annoying ads, but it is pretty easy and if it’s just you or a small team, then this could work for you so read on!
Step 1 – Creating your account
Super easy, all they need is your email, password and your name. From the home screen, just click the Login/Join button in the upper right hand corner.
Then fill out the required info as I mentioned above. Check out the image below. They do make a strong claim that they will never sell or share your data with other companies.
Step 2 – Start your first sign-up
Now that we have an account it is time to create our first sign-up. For this example, I’ll set up a parent-teacher conference sign-ups. So let’s get going.
Once you’re logged into your dashboard, you will notice that there is a button near the top right hand corner that says Create a Sign Up.
Now it will want some basic information. It wants a group and a title of the event. Later on, it will ask you to add email addresses. If you use this group again, those emails will automatically be loaded so you can inform them.
Step 3 – Themes galore!
Yep, they have a lot of themes to chose from. My own personal opinion is that they are pretty ugly though. I suggest choosing a white or light colored background. You’ll see why later. However, picking a theme is pretty easy. Just select what you want and click continue.
Step 4 – Date and time
Since this is a sign up, this is kind of important and SignUpGenius makes it pretty easy. Again, this example is for parent-teacher conferences so I’ve set a start and finish day and then set the intervals for the conferences.
Again, just click Continue to move on.
Step 5 – Slots
OK, this is really the only confusing part and it’s not that bad so don’t worry. Here is the screen for the next step.
You can add something for the Title Slot which might confuse people. I added You and your child’s name for some clarification. What is a little confusing here is that do you need to add that to each of the blanks or just the one? The good news here is just add it to one and it will replicate it. I guess this option is here in case you want different people to work on different things at different times. It is kind of clever but a little confusing at first blush.
You can also add how many people you want for each slot which is kind of nice, but unnecessary for this example.
Step 6 – Settings
This is pretty simple. You can make certain fields required and the like. Check out the image below – I think it speaks for itself.
Step 7 – Preview
The next step gives you a peak of what it will look like. Mine is ugly (see it below).
Step 8 – Invite and make it live
Now that you’ve seen your preview, it is time for the last step. Inviting people (which is optional) and making it live.
You can add the emails manually or by importing them from Microsoft’s email, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL mail or even through a CSV spreadsheet. When you are done, you can send the invites and make it live, just make it live and send no invites or continue to work on the draft.
Once it is live, SignUpGenius will provide you with a link so you can look at the actual live site – check mine out in all it’s glory.
Ahhhh – glorious.
There you have it! Those are the basics and should get you up and running.
Technology in the Classroom 