We have partnered with OpenActive to make your scheduled events available to a larger audience.
This article covers:
How does it work?
The OpenActive feature is for anyone organising fitness and well-being activities in the UK.
They collect data about fitness activities from various sources - Bookwhen being one of them. OpenActive partners then display this information to their audiences.
Partners range from local authorities to sizeable national class finder sites. These partners allow your classes to be discovered and booked by a much larger audience.
Why should I join?
It's completely free, and you can opt out at any time.
Make physical activity sessions and facilities easier to find: get more people through the door 🕺
Promote quieter sessions to new audiences.
Improve data skills and understanding by attending training sessions (optional).
Collaborate on the future of OpenActive, and the data standards (optional).
💡 Please visit the OpenActive website for more details if you have any queries.
How do I publish my data?
Select Settings, then Integrations from within your account. From here, select View Integration on the OpenActive section to opt-in.
You will also need to confirm that you have the appropriate insurance, licensing and safeguarding in place before your data is published:
💡 If the OpenActive integration isn't showing on the Integrations page, you may not have the correct sector label attached to your account.
This integration is only available to the following sectors:
Activities & Experiences
Children's Activities
Fitness & Sports and
Yoga & Pilates
You can check what sector label you have on your Account Details page by selecting Account from the left-hand menu, then Account Details. From here, select Edit next to Business/organisation name:
Scroll down to the Business or Organisation sector drop-down menu. You will need to change your sector label to one of the above to enable the OpenActive integration:
✨ Remember to save your changes!
💡 Please note: Once you have integrated your account with OpenActive, you will need to tag your events to ensure that they are picked up by OpenActive partners. Learn more below.
Unpublishing your data
You can unpublish your data from within the OpenActive integration page by unticking the checkboxes, then Update preference:
The status of your feed should then show as UNPUBLISHED:
How do I share my events with OpenActive?
To share an event with OpenActive, select the entry, then Edit entry:
From here, select the Information tab, and scroll down to the Class search data section:
Tick the Share this event with Class Search Portals checkbox and then tag your event with an Activity Type that best describes your event or class:
The other options are optional, but it may be handy to provide further information to ensure that you feel is important for the public to know about your event.
💡 Important notes
OpenActive is responsible for the tags available in Activity Types. If a relevant Activity Type doesn't exist for your class, please contact us. We can submit a proposal to OpenActive on your behalf. OpenActive reviews Activity Types quarterly, with new additions being added to the list within one month following approval. We, unfortunately, cannot guarantee that OpenActive will add your proposed tag, but we are more than happy to try 🙏
Sometimes there is a delay in classes appearing on OpenActive partner sites such as Classfinder. As long as the feed is LIVE on the OpenActive integration page and there are entries that are valid (green "Yes" under "Include?" and green "Valid" under "Validation"), then the account's data will appear in OpenActive partner sites. E.g:
Checking your OpenActive Integration
You can check to see if your events are "valid" and discoverable by checking the status of the feed on your OpenActive settings page.
Validity is based on:
If you've added an activity type and
Have a correct location (i.e. recognised by Google Maps).
Entries that are valid will have a green "Yes" under "Include?" and a green "Valid" tick under "Validation".
Valid
Entries that are invalid will have a red "No" under "Include?" and a red warning icon under "Validation"). This means that there is an issue you will need to resolve to ensure that OpenActive can read your event.
Invalid
You will be advised on the issue you will need to resolve, for example, "Activity type not defined". This highlights that you haven't selected a relevant tag and will need to go back and add this. If you need assistance, please contact us.
💬 Any questions or feedback? There are two ways to get in touch:
For a quicker response, please contact us via live chat on our homepage or your account.
Or send us an email
Thank you! 🕺
Tags: EMD, EMDUK, open, active, classfinder, class, finder