Creating sessions
Put outings, ergs and races on the calendar - as one-offs or recurring templates - with RSVP, attendance, lineups and signup rules.
Sessions, races and socials are all events in Rowbot - the same form builds a Tuesday morning outing, a head-race entry and a club barbecue. What changes is the type and the toggles you switch on.
You'll need permission to manage sessions for the relevant squad. Club-wide coaches can schedule anywhere; a squad captain can usually only schedule for their own group.
Create a one-off session
Open the schedule and start a new event. Give it a title, pick a type (Training, Race or Social - your club defines the list), and set the date and time.
Add a location (the water, the gym, the boathouse) and an optional meeting point so the crew knows exactly where to gather.
Link the session to one or more groups. Linked groups decide who sees the session and who you can seat in a lineup. Set a maximum number of participants if places are capped.
Switch on the options you need (below), add any notes, and save.
Session options
- RSVP - members say whether they're coming. Useful for knowing numbers ahead of time.
- Lineups - enables the crew builder so you can seat boats for this session. See Building lineups.
- Attendance tracking - lets you take a register afterwards. See Recording attendance.
- Counts towards attendance - include this session in a member's attendance stats. Turn it off for optional or social sessions.
- Journal, photos, weather - let members add reflections and photos, and show conditions on the day.
- Requires signup - members must opt in to take a place.
- Allow self-signup - members can add themselves; otherwise only coaches place people.
- Signup deadline - close signups a set number of hours before the start (e.g. 12 hours), so you can finalise crews.
- Signup reminder and event reminder - nudge members to sign up, and remind those attending shortly before the off.
Attach one or more certification requirements - for example a capsize drill, a sculling sign-off or a cox qualification.
- Hard requirement - members without the cert can't sign up or be seated.
- Warning only - they can still take part, but you'll see a flag when seating them.
Requirements also surface as conflicts in the lineup editor, so you spot a missing qualification before launch.
- Coach notes are private to coaches - use them for crew intentions, focus points or things to watch.
- Public notes are visible to everyone on the session - kit, warm-up, the plan for the outing.
Recurring sessions (templates)
Most squads row to a fixed weekly rhythm. Rather than recreate each outing, build a recurring template once and let Rowbot generate the sessions ahead.
Create a template instead of a single event. Set the same details - title, type, location, meeting point, linked groups and all the toggles above.
Choose the recurrence: which days of the week (and how often) the session runs - for example every Tuesday and Thursday at 06:30.
Save. Rowbot rolls out the upcoming sessions automatically and keeps generating future ones, so the calendar stays populated without manual effort.
Editing a template changes future generated sessions, not ones that have already happened. To tweak a single outing - a different meeting point this week, say - edit that individual session rather than the template.
You can also attach a lineup template to a recurring session so a standard crew is pre-seated each time, ready for you to adjust. Next: Building lineups.