Building Dynamic Lists from Class / Event Registrations

Activity Messenger lets you build recipient lists directly from class and event registrations, turning real participation data into automatically updating audiences.

This list type is one of the most powerful because it automatically stays in sync as participants register, cancel, or move between activities. It is ideal for reminders, operational communications, follow-ups, and highly targeted messaging tied directly to participation.

This guide explains how to create a list from class or event registrations, how filtering works, and how to control recipient grouping to avoid duplicate sends.

Covered in this guide

Use this section to quickly find the Class/Event Participant List setting or workflow you need. 

1. When to use Class/Event Participant Lists

2. Creating a Class/Event Participant List

3. Configuration Panel Overview

4. Building Your Class/Event Participant List

5. Next Steps
   
   

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1. When to use Class/Event participant Lists

Use this list type when your messaging needs to be tied directly to class or event participation.

This is ideal when you want to:

• Message participants registered for specific classes or events

• Automatically include new registrants without manually updating lists

• Send reminders, cancellations, or follow-ups related to attendance

• Combine participants from multiple classes into a single, targeted audience
  (for example: all Spring 2026 classes, or all Ballet programs)

• Segment participants by activity, date, age, or other participation-based criteria

• Power automations that depend on live registration data

Because these lists are connected directly to registrations, they stay accurate as participants register, cancel, or move between activities.

Well-targeted lists lead to:

• More effective automations

• Clearer operational communication

• Higher engagement and response rates

• Fewer unsubscribe requests

• More professional and compliant messaging

Class-based lists provide built-in context—who is attending, what they’re attending, and why they’re receiving the message—which is far more powerful than generic contact lists.

 

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2. Creating a Class/Event Participant List

To create a list from registrations:

1. Go to Lists

2. Click + Create

3. Enter a List name

4. Optionally, click Show to add an internal list description

5. Select Class/Event Participants

6. Click Create

The Class/event participant list type configuration panel will open up.

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3. Configuration Panel overview - Class/Event Participant List Type

Once you create an Class/event list, you are taken to the list’s management screen. This panel is used to build and manage dynamically updating lists based on class and event registrations.

Each numbered element below corresponds to a control or area in the interface.

Interface Legend
Click any title below to jump to its description.

1. List Tags
Allows you to assign tags to this list.
Tags help organize lists by season, program, or purpose and make them easier to find later from the Lists screen. List tags are covered in Communications 102.

2. Back to Lists
Returns you to the main Lists overview screen.

3. New Message
Opens the message creation workflow with this list preselected as the audience.
This is the fastest way to send an email or SMS to all (or part of) this list.

4. List Actions Menu ( ⋮ )

Opens additional list-level actions such as:

• Modify (list name and description)

• Pin

• Archive

5. Share
Allows you to share this list and its recipients with another organization in your network.

This is commonly used in federation-level workflows, where contacts need to be shared across multiple organizations within the same federation, while maintaining centralized control of the list.

The receiving organization can view and message recipients, but cannot modify the list or its contents. 

6. Download to Excel
Exports the current list of recipients to an Excel file.

Useful for:

• Audits and reporting

• Offline review

• Sharing data externally

The export reflects the list as currently configured.

7. Class/Event Participants Panel (Import & Filter)
This is the control panel where you define who belongs in the list.

It contains two tabs:

• 1. Import – Select which classes or events populate the list

  • Choose individual classes or classes by tag

  • Include or exclude archived classes

  • Add (+) or exclude (–) participant segments

  • Configure combine options and current-participant rules

  • Enable or disable Only include current participants

• 2. Filter – Refine participants further

  • Age (children, adults, range)

  • Birthday month

  • Gender

  • Recipient type (account owner vs participant)

All filters stack on top of the import rules and update dynamically over time.

8. Recipients (Participants) Preview Table
Displays a live preview of the participants included in the list.

Columns typically include:

• Participant name

• Email

• Mobile

• Account owner

• Class

This table updates automatically as:

• Registrations change

• Filters are adjusted

• Participants move between classes

Pagination controls appear below when the list contains many recipients.

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4. Building Your Class/Event Participant List

Class/Event Participant lists are built in two steps:

1. Select which classes or events to pull participants from

2. Refine the audience using participant-level filters (optional)

This list type stays dynamically updated as registrations change.

Step 1: Import — Select Classes or Events

Use the 1. Import tab to define which classes or events populate the list.

Choose How to Select Classes

You have two ways to select classes:

A. In classes
Manually select one or more individual classes or events from the dropdown.

B. In classes with tags
Automatically include all classes that share a specific class tag.
This is ideal when you want the list to stay up to date as new tagged classes are created (for example, “Winter 2026” or “Ballet”).

C. Include Archived Classes (Optional)
Enable Include archived classes to add participants from classes or events that have been archived in the class/event management area.

By default, archived classes are excluded to keep lists focused on active programs. Turning this option on allows you to target participants from past or completed activities.

D. Adding and Excluding Class Segments

Below the class selector, you’ll see + and – icons.

➕ Add segment
Adds another class selection rule.
Use this when you want to combine participants from multiple unrelated classes or tag groups into a single list.

➖ Exclude segment
Removes participants from a specific class or set of classes.
Use this to fine-tune your audience (for example, “All ballet classes except Intro Ballet”).

All import selections are evaluated together before filters are applied.

E. Combine Options

When building a list from registrations, you must decide how participants are grouped.

Click Modify to make changes to the default setting.

Activity Messenger offers three Combine options, each serving a different use case.

One class per participant (Default)

• Use this option when each participant should receive the message only once, even if they are registered in more than one selected activity.

  When this option is selected, Activity Messenger keeps one activity association per participant for the send. This prevents the same participant from receiving duplicate messages because they appear in multiple selected Classes/Events.

Allow participants to have multiple classes 

• A participant appears once per activity

• The same person may appear multiple times

• Useful for automations or per-activity processing

Combine People with the same email address

• Groups participants by email address

• Typically used to group families

• Ensures one message per household

• This option is especially useful for marketing campaigns, where sending multiple messages to the same parent would be undesirable.

F. Only include current participants

The Only include current participants option limits the list to participants who are actively attending today or in upcoming classes or events.

When enabled, this filter is dynamic and is evaluated at the moment an email or SMS is sent, not when the list is created or saved.

Step 2 (optional): Filter — Refine the Audience

Once classes or events are selected, use the 2. Filter tab to refine who within those classes is included.

Filters stack on top of the Import selections.

Available Filters

Age

• Children

• Adults

• Custom age range

Birthday

• Filter by birth month
  (commonly used for birthday campaigns)

Gender

• Male

• Female

• Not specified

Recipient

• Account owner (typically the parent or guardian)

• Participant (the enrolled individual)

Saving the List

At the bottom of the panel, the recipient count updates in real time as selections and filters are applied.

Click Save to finalize the list.

Once saved, the list:

• Updates automatically as registrations change

• Can be reused across messages, automations, and campaigns

• Can be combined with other lists using Master Lists
  
  

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5. Next Steps

Once your Class/Event Participant list is set up, you can:

• Send messages directly to the list

• Use it in automations

• Combine it with other lists using Master Lists

• Apply tags for organization

➡️ Continue to Communications 103: Creating and Sending Messages to start messaging your participants.

 

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Related guides

• Communications 102: Building and Managing Lists

• Communications 103: Creating and Sending Messages

• Communications 105: Automating Email and SMS Messages

• Class Reminder Automation

• Activity Start and Activity End Automation

• Form Response Automation

• Managing Unsubscribes in Activity Messenger