Originally written for the FND/FSGW Friday Night Dance.
Notes added on differences for other events such as the Silver Spring Contra dance.

1. Make sure the 3 FSGW iPads are charged enough. Over 80% is likely enough, except iPad 3 should be near 100%.
2. Make sure the 3 Square credit card readers are functional and charged enough. Push the button on a reader briefly, while looking at the top (the large side with no printing). 4 green lights shows fully changed. If 3 green lights, charge it for 1 hour, or longer if less than 3 green lights, until a button push shows 4 green lights.
3. Unlikely but possible: If no lights show after a Square reader button push, a first possibility is the battery is completely drained. Charge it for 5+ minutes and then if a button push shows green or non-flashing orange lights, let it finish charging.
4. If a Square reader button push still gets no lights after charging, see this webpage for guidance: Square Reader for Contactless and Chip Troubleshooting
5. The final fix for Square reader problems is to reset the reader, get it charged, make Square and Bluetooth Settings on the iPad or Android forget the reader, then pair it from scratch following instructions on the webpage above.

1. Try to arrive for Silver Spring contra by 6:30 pm, preferably a bit earlier. For FND at Glen Echo Park, arrive 10 to 15 minutes before 7 PM, best 6:45 to 6:50 PM. For other events, arrive at least 15 minutes before admission starts and 1 hour before show time.
2. Wear clothing to be comfortable sitting around for hours at the dance venue. This is especially true in the winter outside the Bumper Car Pavilion. For the Spanish Ballroom, the lobby is warmer than outside but colder than in the ballroom. I suggest bringing gloves and/or finger mittens in cold weather. The Ballroom Annex/Back Room has heat/cooling, so is usually a comfortable room temperature. For Silver Spring, assume room temperature.

1. FSGW iPad's 1 & 2 & 3.
   1. If FSGW has multiple events needing check-in at the same time, such as a dance and concert, use one iPad and its Square card reader for the smaller event. Silver Spring Contra needs at least 2 iPads, and is better with 3.
   2. If you have a Mac computer with an Apple processor (M1, M2, etc), then you can install and run the “WA admin” app for iPad/iPhone on it and use that like an iPad, except you cannot do charges because the Square app won't run there.
2. FSGW Square card readers 1 & 2 & 3. NOTE that the readers are peered with the iPad's by number, you cannot mix and match them. It takes 3+ minutes work to re-pair a Square card reader with an iPad if you know exactly the steps to do that, and much longer if you don't know the steps.
3. Blank W-9's on a clipboard. Also, some ruled or blank letter size paper, for writing lists, notes, etc.
4. 2 or more pens, 1 for you and 1 for others, for example someone filling out a W-9 or check.
5. A FSGW checkbook with enough blank checks (8 for a typical dance with a 3 person band, as many as 30 for an open band dance, and spares in case check(s) get voided). Preferably use the FSGW Dance account checkbook, not the main account checkbook.
6. A $100.00 cash Dance Kitty, normally 10 $1's and 18 $5's.
7. Your WiFi capable laptop computer, with a charger if necessary. You truly need this, both to fill out a Google Sheet that is the dance report, and to login to Square in a browser during the dance. It's also easier to run the FSGW Event Count helper on a laptop than on an iPad.
8. Chargers, with cables for iPad's (Apple “Lightning” connector) and Square credit card readers (Micro USB connector for Gen 1, USB C connector for Gen 2).
9. An extension cord, preferably 15 foot long with 3 sockets. This is very convenient to have if you need to charge something at the dance.
10. A dark blue computer bag with leather-wrapped handles is normally used to carry this stuff. It contains the chargers, cables, and extension cord listed above, in outside pockets.

1. In the Spanish Ballroom, put your stuff on a folding plastic table behind the check-in tables. If no table is yet set up there, get one and set it up with 2 chairs. Try hard not to put your stuff on the check-in tables, especially the checkbook and laptop. It's fine if you end up at times sitting at a check-in table doing check-in. In other venues, you'll normally have to put your stuff on the check-in tables, in which case you need to be be more security conscious about the checkbook and any laptop.
2. Put the $100.00 Dance Kitty cash into the cash box. (The Kitty used to be $60, was increased to $100 on 6/23/2023.)
3. Make sure all iPads are are turned on, unlocked, changed enough, and on WiFi. At Glen Echo, use the secure “GEP WiFi”, which is more reliable then the open “GEP WiFi-Guest”. The “MCGUEST” open WiFi at Silver Spring is reliable, although the iPad's often will not automatically join it, so you must do that manually.
4. The battery in iPad 3 is getting weaker with age. As of May 2025, it will run for maybe 45 minutes of constant use before needing charging. A simple approach is to set up a charger at the beginning and leave it charging while using it.
5. On each iPad that has a peered Square card reader, run the “Square” app and get the corresponding Square credit card reader connected via Bluetooth (short press the button on the reader, then wait for the yellow bar at the top of the Square app screen to go away) and say “Reader connected”. If it won't connect, there is help in the “Users guide for Event Check-in iPad”. Also when you short press the button on the reader, check that at least 3 green lights flash, showing that it is charged enough.
6. On each iPad, run the “WA admin” app and bring up the current event. For help, see Users Guide: Event check-in with “Wild Apricot for admins” on iPad. Filename is: “Users guide for Event Check-in iPad” followed by the date last updated.
7. Put out at 2 or 3 iPads with Square readers at the check-in table and the latest laminated “POTENTIAL CHECK-IN PROBLEMS” page.

1. Check that the performers (sound, caller, lesson if not taught by the caller, band) are all registered as Volunteers with their role in Internal notes of their registration.
   1. If a performer has no FSGW contact, then create them a contact with at least First Name, Last Name, and mail address. Register them and get a W-9.
2. If FSGW does not have a W-9 from any of the performers, take the clipboard with W-9 forms up and ask them to fill one out. Make sure they sign and date it.
   1. If the “W-9 Signed Date” field in the performer's FSGW Contact info is set and is within the last 5 or so years, we don't need a new W-9 unless something on their W-9 has changed (for example they have moved) since the W-9 Signed Date.
   2. If someone says “You already have my W-9” and you don't see evidence of one recently enough (no “W-9 Signed Date” set and they have not performed for FSGW since January 2020), then politely ask them to fill out a W-9 anyway. Asking if their address has changed since January 2020 may help.
3. Create the Google Sheet that is the dance report, and fill in the information known ahead of time for your event.
   1. TBA: Add instructions for this…
4. Get the Event Count helper (https://fsgw2.org/eventcount.php) running in a web browser and display your event, probably with “List all registrants?” or “List all registrants & Invoice numbers?” checked.
   1. If you find it useful, get a second instance of Event Count helper running with “Re-get every 2 minutes” for your event, probably with nothing checked, and glance at that occasionally to see if any check-in problems are displayed. This will avoid you having to remember to occasionally click “Re-get counts for event” and wait for it to complete.
5. Get logged into the FSGW Square account in a web browser and display Transactions, so you can check on payments made by Square during check-in.
6. If someone other than the caller is teaching the lesson, write their check ($30.00 as of spring 2023) now so you can give it to them shortly after the lesson, in case they decide to leave before you hand out the other checks at the end of the evening.
7. For most events, double-check that yourself and the other check-in volunteers are all registered as Volunteers, and marked as checked in if present. Putting the “check-in” role in the Internal notes of their registration is optional. Weekly ECD doesn't do this.

1. The check-in busy period is 7:10 to 7:50 pm at Silver Spring Contra dance, was 7:30 to 8:15 pm at FND.
2. Every few minutes, check the instance of Event Count helper running with “Re-get every 2 minutes” for your event, for any orange or red messages that get displayed. Or else manually “Re-get counts for event” and check for orange or red messages. These messages show check-in problems that probably need to be fixed, and will provide a button to fix some problems.
   1. Someone paid at the door, so by Cash or Square POS, but incorrectly did not get marked as checked-in. For those with EventAdmin rights, a button to check them in will be displayed in Event Count
   2. Check-in marked someone paid, but did not set the Tender, so it is blank or “Unknown”. It should very likely be set to Cash, and for those with EventAdmin rights, a button to do that will be displayed in Event Count, also a button to set tender to Check, although check payments almost never happen, maybe once every 3 to 6 months.
   3. Someone got marked checked-in, but not marked paid. This most often happens if they paid Cash and a hurried or confused check-in person skipped marking them paid. Ask the check-in people who checked that person in, and if they recall how the person paid. They can be marked paid in WA admin.
   4. Someone got marked paid with a tender of “Square POS”, but they did not actually pay via Square. This takes significant confusion by a check-in person to achieve, but it does very occasionally happen. The way to investigate this is by checking for a matching payment in Square:
      1. Login to squareup.com in a web browser and select to view Transactions for the day of the event, normally the current day.
      2. In eventcount, view the event with “List all registrants & Invoice numbers?” checked. Find the line for the person, and note their short (5 digit) invoice number, the rightmost of the 2 invoice numbers displayed.
      3. Look for that short invoice number in the Square Transactions display. If it is not found, then they did not pay by Square, and should be changed to a different tender, most likely Cash.
3. The check-in people will ask you questions or send people to you for assistance. Here are some typical issues:
   1. They want to pay the registration fee with a credit.
      1. Use this tool to do this: https://fsgw2.org/apply_credit.php No, you cannot have the check-in people use this tool themselves.
   2. Want to change a paid registration to a Volunteer, usually for the person to get free admission as a sweeper.
      1. Yes, the check-in people could do this themselves in many cases, but it's fairly complex to educate them about the cases involved, so unless them are savvy long-time check-in people, don't try.
      2. This can be changed in “WA admin”. Display their registration, tap the circular 3 dots icon in the upper right, tap Edit, tap the Ticket type on the top line, tap Volunteer, tap OK, tap Save (if it asks whether to update the Invoice, say Yes). If they have already paid, their payment will be turned into a credit on their account in Wild Apricot. If they will accept the credit to use later, all done, otherwise see “To refund a Cash payment” or “To refund a Credit Card payment” below.
   3. Someone wants to cancel their registration, and may want to get a refund to their credit card, or refund of a cash payment.
      1. Cancelling can be done in WA browser “Admin view”, NOT in the “WA for admins” app, which can only delete a registration. Display their registration, tap the circular 3 dots icon in the upper right, tap Delete, and confirm deleting. If they have already paid, their payment will be turned into a credit on their account in Wild Apricot. If they will accept the credit to use later, all done, otherwise see the next 2 paragraphs.
      2. Either cancelling or deleting will normally work, but deleting loses all record of their event registration, leaving only the limited evidence that exists in their payment record.
      3. To refund a Cash payment, giving them the cash is easy, but Wild Apricot still thinks they have a credit, so you need to go un-settle the invoice payment (if the invoice still exists, which usually it does not) and then delete or refund the record of the Cash payment in WA. I prefer to delete cash payments in this case, but either way works.
      4. To refund a Credit Card payment, you need to go un-settle the invoice payment (if the invoice still exists, which usually it does not) and then mark as refunded (not delete) the record of the Credit Card payment in WA, then separately refund the actual Credit Card payment in Affinipay or Square. Yes, it complex, but that's how it works.

1. This was written for FND, differs for other events.
2. Around the break, or earlier you want, plug the paid attendance and income numbers from Event Count helper into the Google Sheet that is the dance report, to see if it looks like the dance will have a surplus (vs a deficit). If the dance has a surplus, then a check for FND is needed, otherwise not.
3. Start writing the checks, for GEPPAC, sound, caller, lesson (if not taught by the caller), musicians, and for FND (Friday Night Dancers) unless it looks like the dance will have a deficit (not break even). If there is a separate check for the lesson, complete it ASAP and give it to the lesson teacher right after the lesson, because they might leave at any time.<br />

1. Count the cash in the cash box. Remember to check under the plastic drawer for large bills or checks. Remove and subtract out $100.00 to put back in the Kitty, trying to keep all the $5 bills possible and at least 5 $1 bils. Compare the cash box count with how much cash the Event Count helper says there should be. If not equal, look for what could have caused that.
2. Finish filling out the Google Sheet that is the dance report, which gives you the amounts for the checks.
3. Finish writing the checks, by filling in the amounts.<br />

1. Hand out the checks, to sound, caller, and band, and to an FND person if the dance has a surplus (which most dances do).
2. Fill out the GEPPAC Social Dance Report, and put the GEPPAC check in the envelope the Social Dance Report page is taped to.
   1. In the Notes field (below ATTENDANCE), report these counts (until GEPPAC eventually adds them to their form):
      • Band/caller/sound: #
      • Paid/Did not attend: #
      • Free Dance Coupons: #
   2. In the blank space on the left side of the “TICKETING” heading box, print “Electronic registration so no tickets”. Most current GEPPAC people know that, but this is for clarity in the future or to outside personnel.
3. Take a photograph of the GEPPAC Social Dance Report for FSGW/FND records. The Microsoft Lens app (iPhone or Android) works well for this, much better than a regular camera photo. It fairly automatically trims the photo down to just the report page, fixes any keystone-ing from taking it at an angle to avoid shadows, flattens the color space to reduce size, and can output a PDF file. The Adobe Scan app works similarly.
4. Give the GEPPAC Social Dance Report envelope with the GEPPAC check inside to whoever GEPPAC's Hall Manager is. Their name and phone number should be pre-written near the top of the report.