Visibility Settings

Medtribe provides several visibility controls that determine who can see your events, where they appear, and how they're discovered. Understanding these settings helps you manage access appropriately for different types of events.

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Quick Summary

Events have four visibility controls: Published (live vs draft), Private (hidden from search), Show in Embed (appears on your website), and Promoted (featured listing). These work together to give you fine-grained control over event discovery.

Understanding Visibility Controls

Each event has four independent visibility settings that work together:

Setting	What it controls	Default
Published	Whether the event is live and can accept bookings	Unpublished
Private	Whether the event appears in public listings and search engines	Not private
Show in Embed	Whether the event appears in embedded event listings	Shown
Promoted	Whether the event is featured prominently in listings	Not promoted

Published vs Unpublished

The Published setting controls whether your event is live and accepting bookings.

Unpublished Events (Draft Mode)

When an event is unpublished:

It does not appear in any public listings
Attendees cannot book tickets
The event page shows a "Coming Soon" or restricted access message
Only specific people can view the event details

Who can see unpublished events:

The event owner (person who created it)
Admin users
Collaborators added as Event Managers

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Use Unpublished for Setup

Keep events unpublished while you're configuring tickets, forms, and session details. This lets you finalise everything before going live.

Publishing an Event

To publish your event:

Open your event
Go to Settings
Toggle Published to on
Save your changes

Once published:

The event becomes bookable (if sessions are also published)
It appears in listings based on your other visibility settings
Direct links to the event page work for all visitors

Unpublishing an Event

You can unpublish a live event at any time. When you unpublish:

New bookings are blocked
Existing bookings remain valid
The event disappears from public listings
Direct links redirect to a restricted access page

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Existing Bookings

Unpublishing does not cancel existing bookings. Attendees who already booked will still see the event in their bookings and can attend as planned.

Private Events

The Private setting hides your event from public discovery while still allowing bookings via direct link or reservations.

What Private Does

When an event is marked as private:

Hidden from Medtribe search - The event won't appear in the public event directory
No-index for search engines - Google and other search engines are told not to index the page
Direct links still work - Anyone with the URL can view and book
Reservations work normally - You can still invite specific people

Making an Event Private

Open your event
Go to Settings
Toggle Private to on
Save your changes

When to Use Private Events

Private events are ideal for:

Internal training - Workshops only for your organisation's staff
Invite-only sessions - Events where you want to control exactly who attends
Client-specific events - Training for a particular company or group
Testing - Trying out the booking flow with a real event

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Private + Reservations

For true invite-only events, combine Private with Reservations. Make the event private so it can't be found, then send invitations to specific people. Only those with invitations can book.

Show in Embed

The Show in Embed setting controls whether your event appears in embedded event listings on your website.

What Show in Embed Does

When enabled, your event:

Appears in embedded event lists, grids, or calendars on your website
Is included when someone uses your organisation's embed code

When disabled:

The event is excluded from all embedded listings
Direct links to the event still work
The event may still appear in Medtribe search (unless also private)

Configuring Show in Embed

Open your event
Go to Settings
Toggle Show in Embed as needed
Save your changes

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Embed vs Private

Show in Embed and Private are independent. A public event (not private) can be hidden from embeds. A private event can be shown in embeds if desired. Use the combination that fits your needs.

When to Hide from Embeds

You might disable Show in Embed for:

Internal events - Events that shouldn't appear on your public website
Pilot programmes - Testing new courses before public launch
Fully booked events - Removing sold-out events from your listing
Archive cleanup - Past events you don't want featured

For more on embedding events, see the Collaboration guide.

Promoted Events

The Promoted setting gives your event special prominence in listings.

What Promotion Does

Promoted events:

Appear at the top of search results
Display a "Featured" or "Promoted" badge
Get priority placement in embedded listings

Who Can Promote Events

Event promotion is available on higher-tier plans:

Plan	Promotion Available
Starter	No
Educator	Limited
Pro	Yes

Promoting an Event

Open your event
Go to Settings
Toggle Promoted to on
Save your changes

Visibility Matrix

Here's how different combinations of settings affect your event:

Published	Private	Show Embed	Result
No	-	-	Draft mode. Only owner/admins/collaborators can see. No bookings.
Yes	No	Yes	Fully public. Appears in search, embeds, and indexed by Google.
Yes	Yes	No	Hidden/invite-only. Direct link works, not discoverable anywhere.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Website only. Appears in your embeds but not Medtribe search.
Yes	No	No	Search only. In Medtribe directory but not your website embeds.

Common Scenarios

I want to test my event before going live

Keep the event unpublished while you set up tickets, forms, and sessions. You can preview everything and make changes without anyone seeing it. When ready, publish the event to go live.

I want a hidden event only for invited people

Set the event to Published (so bookings work), Private (so it's not discoverable), and disable Show in Embed. Then use Reservations to send direct invitations to specific people. Only those you invite can book.

I want the event on my website but not in Medtribe search

Set the event to Published, Private, and Show in Embed enabled. It will appear in your embedded event listings but won't show up in the public Medtribe directory or search engines.

I want to run internal training for my team

Create a Private event and share the direct link with your team, or use Reservations to send them invitations. The event won't appear publicly but your team can access and book it.

I want maximum visibility for my event

Set the event to Published, not Private, Show in Embed enabled, and Promoted if available on your plan. The event will appear everywhere: Medtribe search, your website embeds, search engines, and with featured placement.

I want to temporarily hide a live event

You have two options:

Make it Private - Hides from search but existing links still work
Unpublish it - Blocks all access except for owner/collaborators

If you want to pause bookings completely, unpublish. If you just want to stop new discovery while honouring existing bookings, make it private.

Additional Display Settings

Beyond the main visibility controls, you can also configure what information is shown to attendees:

Show Ticket Availability

Controls whether attendees see how many seats remain:

Enabled - Shows "X seats remaining" on tickets
Disabled - Hides availability numbers

Showing availability can create urgency but may also discourage bookings if numbers are low.

Show Ticket Price

Controls whether prices are displayed before checkout:

Enabled - Prices shown on event page and listings
Disabled - Prices only revealed during checkout

Troubleshooting

My event isn't appearing in search

Check that the event is published
Check that the event is not private
Ensure at least one session is published with available seats
Allow a few minutes for search indexes to update

My event isn't showing in my website embed

Check that Show in Embed is enabled
Verify the embed code is using the correct username/organisation
Check that the event is published
See Collaboration guide for embed troubleshooting

People are finding my private event on Google

Google may have indexed the page before you made it private
The no-index tag tells Google not to show it, but removal takes time
For immediate removal, you can use Google Search Console to request removal

I can't enable promotion

Event promotion requires an Educator or Pro plan
Check your plan tier in Account Settings
Consider upgrading if promotion is important for your events

Related Guides

Managing Events - Create and configure events
Reservations - Invite specific people to book
Collaboration - Embed events and add event managers
Sessions - Manage individual sessions within events

For visibility-related questions, contact support@medtribe.com.