Week three, and half the room is new
You run a beginners' course: six Wednesday evenings. You announce it once. Then the questions start. Can I join from week two? Can I come to just this one? I missed last week, am I still in? Someone signs up for the whole course, someone else wants only the last three sessions, and one person turns up on week four because nobody told them it had started.
You end up keeping a table of who is in which session, and checking it before every class. The teaching is the part you planned. The tracking is the part that takes your evenings.
What actually goes wrong
- A course is not one event. It is several, with a start, an end and a different mix of people each time.
- People want different things. Some want every session, some want a few.
- Late joiners cannot see the shape. They do not know how many sessions are left.
- You track it yourself. One list per session, kept by hand.
How it works on Sociogram
- Create the activity as usual: a title, what it is, the first date and time, the place, the number of spots (from 2 to 50), and whether it is public or private. For a public one, choose open to all, or by request so you approve each person.
- Tap Repeat on the second screen, "Make it yours". Choose Weekly, pick Wednesday, and choose how often (every week, or every few weeks).
- Choose when it ends. Pick after a number of times and enter 6. You can choose any number from 2 to 60. Or end it on a date you pick.
- Add conditions if you want them: up to 10 short points such as "Bring a notebook", and an age range.
Each date keeps the same time of day, and dates appear up to 8 weeks ahead, so a six-week course appears in full.
How people join
- Join this date for a single session.
- Pick dates to choose several.
- Join all upcoming to take every session that still has room. If any are full, they are told.
You get one notification when somebody joins several sessions at once, for example "Sara joined 6 dates of Beginners' course".
On a by request course, people ask for each date and you approve each one. On a private course, one invitation lets a person into every date.
What you control
Each session is its own activity.
- Spots, a waiting list, a reminder and a chat for every session. A full Wednesday does not stop anyone joining next Wednesday. Everyone who is in is reminded one hour before each session.
- Edits and cancellations, session by session. Edit one session, or this one and the ones after it. If you edit this session and the ones after it and move the time, every later session moves by the same amount. People who are in get a short note saying what changed. Cancel one session, or end the series.
- A clear end. The course stops after the sixth session, so nobody wonders whether it continues.
When you teach it again
Save the course as a template (you can keep up to 20) and start from it next time. Everything except the dates is filled in.
Good to know
- Joining one session does not sign a person up for the others.
- Each session has its own chat. There is no single chat across all sessions.
- If the course shows a price, you collect it yourself: cash on site, card on site or your own payment link. Sociogram is free for everyone.
- Every activity on Sociogram is for people aged 18 and above.
- Sociogram is invite-only. A member invites your UAE mobile number, and you sign in with that number. You can look at the public activities first with Explore Sociogram.
Questions people ask
Can people join part-way through the course? Yes. They can join the sessions that still have room, one at a time, several, or all upcoming.
Can I limit the course to six sessions? Yes. Choose Repeat, then end it after 6 times.
Can I use it for more than a weekly class? Yes. Choose daily, weekly on the days you want, or pick up to 20 dates on a calendar.
What if one session is full? It shows Full, or Join the list if you left the waiting list on.
Can I run a private course for my own group? Yes. Make it private, and one invitation lets a person into every session.
Set up your next course
Sociogram is the invite-only network for real plans across the UAE. Ask a member to invite your mobile number, or look at what is on first.
