Bring Partners Onto an Event
After reading this, you can invite external partners like a photographer, DJ, or tent rental company to an event by email and know what they can see and do in their own portal area.
External service providers — a photographer, DJ, tent rental company, and so on — can now take part in an event directly, without needing their own Univents account. You invite them by email, they accept or decline the job through a personal link, and afterward they work in their own, tailored area with tasks, on-site status, and files. This article is for anyone who regularly works with external partners.
Inviting a partner
- Open the event and switch to the Members tab.
- Click Invite partner in the top right.
- In the dialog, choose Existing contact if the partner is already saved as a contact with an email address, or New email to invite someone completely new.
- For Existing contact: select the contact in the Contact field.
- For New email: fill in Email, and optionally Name (optional).
- Click Invite. Univents automatically sends an invitation email with the personal portal link.
If the contact is new, you'll see the Partner invited toast. If you invite the same person a second time, Univents shows Partner is already invited and leaves an already confirmed or declined status untouched.
What happens on the partner's end
The partner opens the link from the email and lands on "You've been invited to collaborate". There they confirm with Confirm assignment or click Decline — when declining, they can optionally add a reason. You're notified of their decision right away. The partner area is technically part of the EventHub Customer Portal, just with partner-specific content instead of customer documents.
Once the partner has confirmed, they see the following in their portal area:
| Area | What the partner can do |
|---|---|
| Report status | Report their on-site status as On the way, On site, Setup done, or Teardown done, optionally with a note |
| Tasks | View tasks assigned to them, filter by All / Open / Done, and mark them as done |
| Files | Download documents you shared and upload their own files (images, PDF, max. 10 MB) |
| Function sheet | Open their function sheet without prices — only visible if you've shared one with them |
| Messages | Chat with you directly; every message is also sent by email |
The partner doesn't need a full Univents account for any of this — access runs exclusively through the personal link.
Keeping an eye on your partners
In the Members tab, the Partners & collaborators (external) section brings all invited partners together in one place:
- A status badge shows Confirmed, Pending, or Declined — if declined, you see the given reason right there.
- Once a partner reports an on-site status, an extra badge like On site or Setup done appears along with the time it was reported.
- For confirmed partners with assigned tasks, you see their progress, e.g. "Tasks 2/5 done".
- Last opened shows when the partner last used their link — or Never opened if they haven't clicked the email yet.
Frequently asked questions
Does the partner need their own Univents account? No. Access is provided exclusively through the personal link from the invitation email, with no registration required.
Can the partner see prices? No. The function sheet they can open in their portal area always hides prices.
What's the difference to a supplier? A supplier gets a Supplier order with line items, quantities, and a delivery date to confirm. An invited partner (photographer, DJ, tent rental company) instead gets access to tasks, on-site status, files, and a function sheet — with no order line items.
Can I resend the invitation? Just invite the contact again through Invite partner. If they're already invited, their current status stays unchanged — Univents never resets a confirmed or declined invitation.
Where do I set up who else is involved in an event? Internal staff and other external contacts without their own portal access are still grouped through Managing Contributors in Events.