The Genius Blog

Hollywood Casino Toledo Bets on SignUpGenius to Organize Employee Events, Interviews

With 1,000 employees and a few hundred people applying for jobs each month, the human resource department at Hollywood Casino in Toledo, Ohio, has a lot to coordinate.   

They recently bet on SignUpGenius to keep operations running smoothly, and it’s paying off.  

“We use SignUpGenius for a variety of things — trainings, volunteer sheets for almost all our events on property and group interviews for potential team members in the hiring and interviewing process,” says Abby Brown, the casino’s human resources generalist. “It is an easy way for us to keep all the sign in sheets electronically in one place for admins to access the account instead of having a paper system.” 

By using SignUpGenius Pro, the casino is able to coordinate events among multiple administrators and keep all their information in one place. Instead of having to transfer paper sign ups between many different levels and departments, Brown can simply set preferences and privileges for each administrator based on their needs, and the administrators can access sign up information from any device.  

Pictured above is a family movie night that the casino organized for employees. 

“It’s important for us to have something that benefits our people. We are a 24/7 facility and don’t have the time to call every applicant about an interview or every team member about an event we are having,” Brown says. 

Thanks to Hollywood Casino for placing their chips on SignUpGenius!

Praying Today for Charlotte, NC

SignUpGenius is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina - the city that has experienced tragedy and protests as a result of racial tensions in recent days.

Our staff and families have been safe, but like a lot of you in the rest of the nation, the chaos of the last week has further brought to light the pain and challenges we face as a nation. Our heart breaks for those who continue to face racial injustice in both small and catastrophic forms. We grieve for officers and other authorities as well as their families who are working to bring peace but deal with difficult situations and opposition. And like many of you, we look internally and ask… what can WE do?

Today at noon, our staff will be pausing to pray for our city and our nation. For those affected by the tragedy of racial injustices. For those working to bring peace and unity. And for ourselves… that we would be a force of change in our own circle of influence. Will you join us? If you would, please take five minutes today at noon, wherever you are, and pray for our nation.

While we know a five minute prayer can’t solve the depth of the issues, we feel it’s a great place to start. Beyond that, we are committed to talking and listening to people in our community as we seek to understand all of our varying life experiences. And we are committed to using our resources and influence to care for and speak up for those who are vulnerable to being mistreated.

At SignUpGenius, we have the honor to rub shoulders with millions and millions of people like you who are working to bring light to their communities. We get to hear a lot of the stories that don’t make the media, and I can tell you that gives us a lot of comfort and hope. So we felt it only fitting to invite our extended family of volunteers and organizers to join us in prayer. Thanks for considering it, and thanks for all you’re doing to make an impact in our nation.

Dan and Angel Rutledge
SignUpGenius

Genius Hack: Duplicating and Transferring Sign Ups 

Getting ready for your nonprofit’s annual 5K run or scheduling your school’s monthly cafeteria volunteers?  

Recruiting helpers is already simple when you use SignUpGenius’ online tools to create an online sign up and send invitations via email and social media to fill responsibilities. It’s even easier when you’re planning a regularly occurring or repeating event. 

You can duplicate a sign up by logging into your account, heading to your My Account page and clicking the Created tab, where you’ll see all the sign ups you’ve made. 

Find the one you’d like to recreate, and click on More Actions (it’s the little icon that looks like an ellipsis or three dots). There you will easily be able to duplicate, transfer, archive or delete the sign up. 

There’s also a duplicate button on the top right of your account page (it looks like two pieces of paper) that lets you select the sign up you would like to duplicate from a drop down menu. 

Your duplicated sign up will show up in your My Account page but won’t go live until you give it the OK. The sign up page will be a clean slate for new people to sign up to help since names aren’t transferred over.  

You will be able to adjust dates and time to reflect the new opportunity and can send invitations like you normally would. Make sure you’re sending it to the correct group of people by going to Step 1: General Details in the sign up creation wizard. 

If you know you’re handing over an annual or regular event, you can duplicate a sign up and transfer it to the new leader. That way, they won’t be working from scratch. You’ll look like a genius — and be helpful! 

Need more advice or tips? Browse our FAQs for answers to common questions or contact our award-winning customer support staff. And stay tuned for more weekly Genius Hacks this fall.

Set Yourself Up for Success This Year with SignUpGenius

Children’s activities and your fall volunteer commitments can quickly take over your calendar. At SignUpGenius, we want to make your life a little simpler with our digital planning tools.  Check out some of the features we offer that can help you easily plan your schedule for the entire year. It’s genius! 

• Calendar View - Instead of organizing your sign up so that it looks like a list of dates, switch it to a calendar format — making it easy to look at the big picture! And you can switch back to list format at any time.
• Calendar Sync - Sync your personal commitments to your digital calendar with the click of a button, eliminating the need to add events each time you sign up.
• Calendar Sync (Pro) – Creators can sync an entire sign up to their personal calendar, so you always know who’s volunteering. You can also provide a subscribable calendar to participants. That way, everyone knows who has carpool duty or who is taking a work shift.
• No Accounts – Sign up participants can commit to bringing a dish to the company potluck or sign up for a volunteer shift without creating another online account. Plus, no worries about a forgotten password!
• Tabbing (Pro) - For events that span multiple months, such as shift scheduling or long-term volunteering, you can tab your sign ups so they are all accessible via tabs from one simple web page.
• Auto Hiding of Past Dates (Pro) – Creators can keep sign ups current by automatically hiding past days. This eliminates scrolling through your sign up and keeps the newest slots easily accessible for participants. See how!
• Sign Up Start/Stop Dates (Pro) - Are you on a deadline? Do you have limited spots available? Set your sign up to open at a future time that you can alert your group to, so everyone has an equal chance for a spot! You can also close your sign up at a certain time.
• Sign Up Locking by Date (Pro) - As you approach a large event, lock your sign up a few days ahead to ensure no last minute switcheroos!
• SignUpGenius Payments – Collect registration fees and donations, sell tickets and spirit wear or contribute to a group gift using our easy integration with PayPal.
• NEW! Custom Reminders and Confirmations (Pro) – Our newest addition to the fall feature list allows you to create customized text for your email communications with your group. Learn more here!

 With these genius tools, you’ll be set for simple organizing this fall and beyond.  

New Feature: Create Customized Notifications

Your event reminders and confirmations just got smarter.  

Our newest feature provides SignUpGenius Pro customers another level of customization for their messages. Pro users can now create personalized reminder and confirmation messages that communicate more information to participants.  

Create custom notifications if:

• You want to send event volunteers extra information in their reminder emails — such as where to check in or what to bring.
• You want to ensure all participants receive a confirmation email — great if they need a “proof of sign up.”
• You want to attach files to your email reminders. Helpful if participants need to bring a waiver or other document along with them.
• You need to include a phone number or website link where participants can notify someone if they need to cancel an appointment or commitment.

 Learn more about our favorite tools for organizing fall events here. Happy planning! 

Break the Ice with these Group Questions and Activities 

Fall is in full swing, and that means new groups are forming. Meeting new people can be intimidating — and even awkward — but it doesn’t have to be. From new school classes to new church small groups, SignUpGenius has all the resources you need to encourage communication and friendships within your community.  

For Any Group

• Try these 25 activities for church small groups to help your group get to know each other better.
• Break out these 30 activities for bonding among middle and high school students.
• Get back to the basics with icebreakers: These activities are perfect for any group.
• Remember, grownups need new connections, too. Try these 25 icebreakers for adults.
• Try these 30 icebreakers for youth groups to set the tone with a positive attitude.

 Keep It Quizzical

• Keep it light with these 100 funny icebreaker questions.
• Check out these 100 work-friendly icebreaker questions for a training session or staff meeting.
• Need even more workplace ideas? Incorporate these 50 questions into your next team-building event!
• Have a fun debate with these 100 would-you-rather questions.
• Encourage your group to share with these 100 getting to know you questions!

After you’ve made some new friends, why not spend more time with them? Use an online sign up, and spend less time organizing your events and more time enjoying them. 

• Create a sign up to coordinate snacks for your Bible study.
• Organize events for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts quickly and simply.
• Keep your business running smoothly with these handy online tools.
• Plan school fundraisers with with SignUpGenius. You can even collect payments on a sign up.

 With all these resources, there’s no excuse NOT to go and meet some new friends this fall.