The South Essex Centre
Where the enjoyment begins...
South Essex Centre Online Bookings – A Marshal’s Guide
Latest issue : 15 January 2011
Please Note: This is the first draft and this page will be updated as we gain more experience with online booking of South Essex rallies
Is online booking suitable for me?
You will need to consider the following, are you happy with slips coming in from an additional place? How will you put them into order of receipt? One method would be to open the online booking e-mails as the same time you get your post.
Online booking is not suitable if deposits are required with the booking slip.
If online booking is suitable and you want to use this facility for your rally, please let the rally marshal know that you want to accept online bookings and the e-mail address you want to have the bookings sent to.
What happens prior to the booking date?
If you have let the marshal know before the rally book then it will be recorded in the rally book that you will accept online bookings. When the list of rallies goes on the web site, it will also indicate there that online bookings will be accepted after the booking date.
A couple of days before the booking date, you will get an automated e-mail checking that the e-mail address on the website (but not visible on the website so that you do not get any spam) is working OK. This e-mail will also give you a link that you can use later to get a complete list of the people who have used the website to book onto your rally. More about this link later. Please reply to this e-mail as it confirms to the webmaster that the e-mail address is correct and that there are no problems, this is really important as it saves a lot of worry for the webmaster.
What happens once the booking date has arrived?
Once the booking date has been reached the online booking option automatically becomes live and you will receive e-mails giving the same details as a booking slip from those who have booked online. Many ralliers expressed a desire that they get a reply to their e-mail so that they know it got through. This is up to you, the marshal, but it would be appreciated by them if you just sent them a quick reply such as ‘booking received, thanks’ or some such message.
If you get a lot of bookings, you probably will not want to printout each e-mail as this could use a lot of paper. This is where the link given in the automated e-mail you received prior to the booking date comes in. If you click that link, you will be able to print out the rally slips in a format that allows you to print out the e-mail and cut it into strips similar to your normal slips you receive in the post. These come out to 4 strips per A4 page. If it helps you can print out the pages of 4 as you go along as the system allows you to skip any pages you have already printed.
What happens when the rally is full?
Just e-mail the rally secretary and the webmaster to let them know. (Note: the webmaster will only accept a notice that the rally is full either from the rally marshal or the rally secretary/ assistant rally secretary). The rally will then appear as full on the website and the online booking option disabled. This would also apply for cancelled rallies.