Geofence event check-in
If attendance counts for anything in your club - points toward membership, eligibility for a formal, a chapter requirement - somebody will eventually check in from their apartment. A geofence draws a radius around the meeting location and only lets people inside it check themselves in.
Turn on attendance first
Geofencing sits underneath Track Attendance. If check-in isn't enabled for the event there's nothing to restrict, so switch that on first and Enable Geofencing becomes available beneath it.
Who can do this
Setting a geofence is part of creating or editing an event, so it needs the Manage Events permission.
On the iOS app
1. Start an event
Open your club, tap Events, then the + button. You can also edit an event you already created.
2. Enable geofencing
On Settings, make sure Track Attendance is on, then switch on Enable Geofencing. The little i beside each explains what it does.
3. Pin the check-in region
Check-In Region opens a map. Search for the building or drag the map, then use the slider at the bottom to size the circle - iOS shows the radius in feet. Tap the checkmark when the circle covers your room.
4. What your members will see
When they check in, they get Verify Location - "this event requires you to verify you are within the event's region" - with the area drawn on a map and a Verify & Check In button.
On a web browser
The map is much easier to work with on a big screen - worth setting your recurring meeting location up here once.
1. Create an event
At app.epichire.com, open your club, click Events, then Create Event.
2. Switch on attendance and geofencing
The last step of the wizard is Recurrence & Attendance. Turn on Track Attendance, then Enable Geofencing - "members must be physically near the event to check in" - and click Set location & radius.
3. Find the location
Set Check-In Radius opens with a search box. Type the building or address and pick it from the results - much faster than panning the map. The radius starts at 100 m.
4. Size the circle
Drag the Check-in radius slider. The ring on the map resizes as you go, so you can see whether you've covered the whole building or just one room. Then click Confirm Location & Radius.
5. Create the event
You land back on the wizard, which now shows the radius and the place name it resolved - so you can confirm at a glance you pinned the right building. Click Create Event.
Choosing a radius
Too tight and you'll spend the meeting checking people in by hand. Too loose and it stops meaning anything. Some rules of thumb:
- A lecture hall or classroom
- The default 100 m - a bit over 300 ft - is usually right. It covers the room and the corridor outside without reaching the next building.
- A large venue or outdoor event
- Go wider. A tailgate or a quad event needs enough radius that somebody at the far edge still counts as present.
- Somewhere with neighbors
- Be careful in dense areas - a large radius in an apartment district can reach the bedrooms of exactly the people you were trying to make show up.
- GPS indoors is imperfect
- Phones lose accuracy inside large buildings. If you're meeting in a basement, err generous - or expect to check a few people in yourself.
How it behaves
- The two apps use different units
- The web dialog is labeled in meters and the iOS map in feet. It is the same setting either way - 100 m is roughly 330 ft - so don't be alarmed if a radius you set on your laptop reads as a different number on your phone.
- There's a small margin
- Check-ins are accepted a short distance past the radius you set - about 30 m, or 100 ft. This absorbs ordinary GPS drift so members standing just outside a doorway aren't rejected. Factor it in when you pick a number.
- Members see their distance before they try
- The check-in button reports live status - locating, how far away they are, or ready - and only enables itself once they're in range. Nobody has to guess.
- Location permission is required
- A member who has denied location access can't self check in to a geofenced event. The button tells them there's a location problem rather than silently failing.
- Nobody's location is stored or tracked
- EpicHire never stores member locations and never asks for location outside of a geofenced check-in. It's used in the moment to answer one question - are they inside the area - and then it's gone. You see who checked in, not where anybody is. Worth saying out loud the first time you geofence an event, because "the club app wants my location" is a fair thing for a member to hesitate over.
- You can still check people in
- Check In Users Manually on the event still works, and so does removing a check-in. The geofence constrains self check-in, not you - which is the escape hatch for dead phones and bad GPS.
- Export the attendance
- Attendance Records on the Events screen collects check-ins across your events, and you can download RSVP and check-in data for a single event as a CSV - usually what a chapter attendance requirement actually needs.
Still need help?
Tell your members what to expect the first time you geofence an event - most check-in problems are a location permission prompt someone dismissed. If something still isn't working, email support@epichire.com.