ANNOUNCE: Simplified attendance taking

[Doug Tangren]

We at Meetup HQ realize that sometimes a yes RSVP doesn't guarantee member will actually be present at any given event. In the past we've tried to help with this by providing attendance taking tools.

http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/docs/:urlname/events/:id/attendance/#edit

http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/docs/:urlname/events/:id/attendance/#list

You may have noticed that attendance taking interfaces look a little different on Meetup.com on mobile devices. We've simplified some things to make attendance taking more straight forward.

We realize that in large events rapidly taking attendance on a member per member basics will likely lead to a rate limiting situation. Our attendance taking API ( http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/docs/:urlname/events/:id/attendance/#edit ) now accepts a comma delimited list of member ids so you can make the most of one request. The headcount and guests parameter will likely be deprecated soon.

We also realize that viewing attendance listings was non intuitive. The attendance listing API ( http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/docs/:urlname/events/:id/attendance/#list ) and the tool you'll find on the desktop version of meetup.com is designed in the reverse way you'd actually take attendance at the event. Rather then marking members attended, all RSVP'd members are implicitly marked attended and you note only the members that were absent or a no show.

We've now merged in the the notion of attendance with our RSVP listing API ( http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/docs/2/rsvps/ ). Members that are authorized to take attendance in a given group may request attendance_status using the fields parameter. This will enable you to more easily build attendance taking UI's that are a little more intuitive. You start off with an RSVP list and collect member ids to then mark as attended. 

The attendance listing API was based on the older attendance taking tool on meetup.com. This API will likely be deprecated in the future.

We think these simplifications will enable you to build you're own attendance taking tools more easily.

Let us know what you think.

Doug Tangren
Meetup Platform API Engineer

[Joseph Lippeatt]

Ah, this is cool!  Thanks guys!  

On meetup, the interface still shows them as “Went” — the status doesn’t change unless the org actually clicks “went” even though it appears as a button already depressed.  Will this be updated?

When I view a profile of someone that attended an event, it indicates “went” regardless if their “attendance_status” is null in /rsvp/ or returns “attended".  Is there a disconnect between “went” on meetup.com and “attendance_status=attended” in /rsvp/?

The Doc for POST /:id/attendance doesn’t specify that the member param can be a list.  To prevent questions on this email list about the functionality, should it be mentioned that it’s a CSV list when needed?

Thanks

Joe

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[Doug Tangren]

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 10:35 AM, Joseph Lippeatt <ext...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ah, this is cool!  Thanks guys!  

Hi Joe, Thanks for the fast feedback

 

On meetup, the interface still shows them as “Went” — the status doesn’t change unless the org actually clicks “went” even though it appears as a button already depressed.  Will this be updated?

We will eventually phase out the attendance taking tool you currently see on desktop for something more in line with the one you see on the mobile version of the site.

 

When I view a profile of someone that attended an event, it indicates “went” regardless if their “attendance_status” is null in /rsvp/ or returns “attended".  Is there a disconnect between “went” on meetup.com and “attendance_status=attended” in /rsvp/?

There is when comparing the attendance_status returned with RSVPs in the API with the attendance tool you see on the desktop version of the site. This tool will eventually be transitioned into one more in line with the one you see on the mobile version of the site. On the desktop version of the site the attendance taking flow is reversed. You are considered attended or "went" unless marked otherwise. On mobile you are not considered attended unless you are explicitly marked so. The attendance_status returned with RSVPs more closely reflects these semantics.

 

The Doc for POST /:id/attendance doesn’t specify that the member param can be a list.  To prevent questions on this email list about the functionality, should it be mentioned that it’s a CSV list when needed?

IDs is plural for the member field, but you make a good point. This could be made more clear. I'll file a ticket to update the docs.

Thanks for your feedback!

[Scott Alexander-Bown]

Hey Doug, 

I'm looking to build a check in app for meetup organsiers, as I read your comments about /attendance API likely to be deprecated, and the /RSVP is the api to use. However I'm not seeing 'attendance_status' returned from the /2/rsvps. 

Example

https://api.meetup.com/2/rsvps?&sign=true&photo-host=secure&fields=attendance_status&rsvp=yes&event_id=221972543&page=20&omit=venue,group,tallies,event

Also it's not clear how to change attendance_status with POST /RSVP  API, thanks, 

Scott