This is the first and most important step. All fields except Description and Entries Close Date are required.
Fields
Competition Name (required)
- Enter the full name of your event (e.g., "Spring Dance Championship 2025")
- Must be at least 3 characters
- This name appears on all public pages, registrations, and certificates
Description (optional)
- A brief description of your competition
- Displayed on the competition registration page for studios and dancers to read
Start Date (required)
- The first day of your competition
- Cannot be set to a date in the past
- Changing this after event creation will sync ticket days and schedule days automatically
End Date (required)
- The last day of your competition
- Must be on or after the start date
- For single-day events, set this to the same date as the start date
Entries Close Date (optional)
- The deadline for studios and dancers to submit entries
- Must be set to a date before the start date
- After this date, only organisers can add or modify entries
- Tip: Set this with enough buffer time to build your schedule before the event
Visibility (optional, default: private)
- Check "Make this competition publicly visible" to allow the event to appear in search results
- Note: The event must also be published (from the Event Dashboard) to appear in studio and dancer dashboards
- Private events are only accessible via direct link
Currency (required, default: ZAR)
- Select the currency used for all fees and ticket prices throughout this event
- Options: ZAR (R), USD ($), EUR (€), GBP (£)
- This setting applies to registration fees, entry fees, and ticket prices
- If you choose anything other than ZAR and you take card payments through PayFast, also set a ZAR exchange rate for the event. PayFast settles in South African Rand, so prices are converted at that rate at checkout while your fees, ledgers and reports stay in the currency you picked
Dancer Check-In (optional, default: off)
- Toggle "Enable dancer check-in" to track when dancers arrive at the venue on competition day
- When enabled, organisers can mark dancers as arrived from the check-in interface
Require Studio Approval (optional, default: off)
- When on, studios that register are held as pending until you approve them under the Studios tab of your Event Dashboard
- A pending studio has no portal access, cannot add dancers or entries, and owes no fees
- Moved here from the Registration Fees step on 2026-08-19: it decides who may join your event, not what they pay
Validation Rules
- Name must be at least 3 characters
- Start date is required and cannot be in the past
- End date is required and must be on or after the start date
- Entries close date (if provided) must be before the start date