Every school kalolsavam starts the same way: someone has to type in every age group, every competition item, and which item runs for which age group, before a single candidate can register. For a full Kerala School Kalolsavam that is 4 age groups, 90 competition items and 272 competitions. Typing that by hand takes days.
This guide shows the fastest way to start an event on eTalenter: pick a ready-made template that already has all of this built in, or walk through the Create Event wizard step by step. Both are public pages — no account needed until you actually create the event, so you can click along yourself: v2.etalenter.com/v2/Public/EasyStart to browse templates, or v2.etalenter.com/v2/Public/CreateEvent to start the wizard directly.
Two ways in, one result
Both paths end at the same place: a fully set up event, ready for you to sign in and fine-tune.
- Easy Start catalogue: browse every ready-made template first, read exactly what each one installs, then install it. Best if you want to compare a few templates before deciding.
- Create Event wizard: a 4-step form — Basic Details, Hierarchy, Template (optional), Review — that lets you pick a template on Step 3, or skip it and set your event up by hand later. Best if you already know your event’s name, dates and levels and just want to move through it in order.
Picking a template on either path installs the exact same thing: age groups, competition items, the full schedule matrix, grades and rank points, all in one step.
Browsing the Easy Start catalogue
Public page: Easy Start (no login needed)
The catalogue lists every event-category template eTalenter ships — 130 of them at the time of writing, covering talent tests, arts festivals, cultural competitions and sports meets. Tabs across the top group them by event type (Sports Meet, Kalotsavam, Talent Test, Youth Festival, Starter Templates, and more), and a second row of pills narrows a category further (for example Kalotsavam breaks down into School Kalotsavam, Sunday School & Church, Malayalee Association and Arabic College). A Show less popular events link at the bottom reveals templates built for one specific school or organisation.
Each card shows how many age groups, competition items and competitions the template installs, and a See what’s inside link opens the full template page before you commit to anything.
Look inside a template before installing it
Public page: one template’s own page, e.g. Kerala School Kalolsavam
Every template has its own page with the full breakdown: its stat counts (age groups, competition items, competitions, grade bands, rank awards), then sections for Age groups (with each group’s age range), Competition items (each with its category and how judges score it), and Competitions by group — the full schedule matrix, sectioned by age group then category, showing each competition’s type, gender, language, maximum score and time limit.
Where the template has grade bands or rank points, a Grades and ranks section shows them. A Where this template comes from section lists the template’s sources — for the Kerala School Kalolsavam template, that is the government’s own item-code list and the school kalolsavam manual, quoted clause by clause, not a guess at what a kalolsavam usually looks like.
Installing needs a Coordinator account — if you are signed in as any other role, the Install button explains that and does nothing else. Once you are signed in as a Coordinator, Install checks whether you already installed this exact template version before, and offers Repair / Update this event instead of quietly creating a duplicate.
The Create Event wizard, step by step
Public page: Create Event, or the same wizard from Events > Create Event once signed in
The wizard has four steps, shown as a strip across the top: Basic Details, Hierarchy (Levels), Template (Optional) and Review & Finish. You can click back to an earlier step at any time before finishing.
Step 1 — Basic Details. Event Name, Organization Name and Competition Type (Arts or Sports) are required. Competition Level is also required, and it means the widest scope this event covers, not your own organization’s type: a single church running its own event picks Church; a joint event across several churches picks Zone instead, with Church added as a level beneath it next. Venue, Description, Event Logo and Organization Logo are optional. Start Date and End Date are required.
This is the same structure as the Event Levels setup page, reached here for the first time. Your Competition Level from Step 1 is added automatically as the top level. Click Add Level to add another underneath it — pick a Level Name from the same curated list used everywhere else in eTalenter (School, House, Class, Zone, District, and many more), grouped by category, and set its Order. The first level is marked Top level and the last one Lowest level. A single-organization event with no sub-units can leave this at one level.
The same template picker as the public catalogue, filtered to the same category tabs, but inside the wizard. Pick a template to copy its competition items, groups and settings into your new event, or click Skip this step and set competitions up manually later on the Age Groups, Competition Names and Assign Competitions pages. A See what’s inside link on each card opens that template’s full page in a new tab, so you can check it without losing your place in the wizard.
A summary of everything you entered: Event Summary (name, organization, competition type, venue, duration), Hierarchy (every level in order) and Template. Each card has its own Edit link that jumps straight back to that step. When it looks right, click Continue (or Create Event, inside the app) to finish.
What happens next depends on whether you were already signed in. Already have an account? The event is created straight away. New here? You are asked to sign in or create an account first — and your event is then created automatically from exactly what you just typed. You never have to enter any of it again.
What “Setting up your event” actually installs
Whichever path you took, a chosen template installs the same way: a progress screen lists five sections — Age groups, Competition items, Competition structure, Grade bands and Rank awards — each ticking off as it completes. You are automatically switched into the Coordinator role for your new event once it finishes.
Next comes Your event is ready: a read-only review of everything that was installed — the age groups, the competition items list, and the competitions-by-group matrix (switch the buttons above it between Individual and Team to check both). This page only changes anything through its own What’s next links — Age groups, Competition items, Competitions, and Users and roles — which jump to the real setup pages to fine-tune what the template installed.
This review page only appears once, right after installing or repairing a template — it is not a permanent menu item, so bookmark a setup page instead if you want to come back to it later.
Your new home page: the Event Dashboard
Menu: Event Dashboard, the page you land on after signing in
This is where you land every time you sign in, showing your setup progress at a glance without opening every page: counts for Candidates, Competitions, Participations, Judges, Teams, Age Groups, Event Stages and Results Published, plus a countdown to the event and a registrations-over-time chart. A Waiting for Approval card, when there is one, opens the full candidate list to review public registrations. An Enabled Features card lists whatever optional features you have switched on, with a Manage features link to turn on more.
Sub-Coordinators see a shorter version of this page — the Competitions, Age Groups, Event Stages, Results Published cards and the charts are Coordinator-only. To switch to a different event or role, click your role and event name at the top of any page.
Your map for what’s next: Competition Flow Guide
Menu: Competition Flow Guide
Once your event exists, this read-only page is the map for everything after setup: a visual, step-by-step walkthrough of the whole competition life cycle in 7 phases, from event setup through registration, roles, the draw, scoring, and publishing results. Each phase explains what happens and links straight to the real page for it — Event Setup, Participant Registration, Roles & Invitations, Draw (Optional), Event Day: Scoring, Results Processing, and Post-Event.
Nothing on this page changes anything — it only explains the flow and links onward. Keep it bookmarked: it is the fastest way to answer “why can’t I see this competition here yet?” at any later stage.
Fixing a name, date or venue afterwards
Menu: Event Setup > Manage Event > Update Event Details
Everything from Step 1 of the wizard stays editable here: Event Name, Organization Name, Competition Type, Venue, Description, Start/End Date, both logos, and switches for Grade, Allow Awards and Allow SubCoOrdinators. Click Edit, change what you need, then Submit. Only the event admin, or a coordinator whose access includes event setup, can edit this — everyone else sees a read-only view with the Edit button disabled.
The other four tabs on this same page — Import Data, Duplicate Event, Warning Mails and Event Backup — are copying, backing up and health-checking tools for an event that is already running, covered later in this series.
No template fits? Let AI build your competitions
Menu: Event Setup > AI Competitions & Groups
If your event does not match any Easy Start template — a school’s own rules, a one-off festival — this page can still save you the typing. Upload photos or PDFs of your own event rules (a rulebook, a notice, a circular), optionally add instructions in the AI Prompt box, then click Get Results. AI reads the files and fills in suggested age groups, competition items, ranks, grades and the competitions assigned to each group.
Nothing is installed automatically. Review the Age Wise Groups, Competition Items, Ranks and Grades tables, then in Generated Competitions tick only the rows you actually want (or Select all) and click Submit. Use the Split Gender icon on a row marked Both to install it as separate Male and Female competitions instead. This works best on a fresh event — if age groups, competition items or competitions already exist, installing more this way may be blocked.
Setup checklist
Common questions
Do I need an account to browse templates?
No. The Easy Start catalogue and every template’s own page are public. You only sign in, or create an account, at the point you click Install.
I started the Create Event wizard, then had to sign in. Do I lose what I typed?
No. Everything you entered is remembered and your event is created from it automatically once you are signed in — you never re-enter it.
Can I change my mind about the hierarchy later?
Only until candidates are added. Once any candidate has been added to the event, levels can no longer be added, edited, deactivated or deleted.
I installed a template but I want different age groups or items.
Everything a template installs is editable afterwards on its own setup page — Age Groups, Competition Names, or Assign Competitions — exactly the links Your event is ready points to.
What if my event needs both a template and custom items AI generated?
Both write to the same Age Groups, Competition Items and Assign Competitions pages, so you can install a template first and then add more with AI Competitions & Groups, or the other way round.
What’s next
With your event created, the next guide in this series covers age groups, competition items and who can enter what — the pages a template installs for you, and how to adjust them by hand.
Browse templates yourself at v2.etalenter.com/v2/Public/EasyStart, or see the whole flow played back automatically at v2.etalenter.com/v2/Public/EasyStart/Demo.
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