Recurring sessions are the go-to method for scheduling client calls due to their predictability for clients and coaches. Whether it's setting up a session to repeat monthly, weekly, or establishing a series that ends after six sessions, recurring sessions are perfect for maintaining consistency with clients. This feature simplifies scheduling for coaches and, more importantly, provides a reliable cadence for clients to depend on.
Recurring sessions are available for all Premium and Enterprise subscription accounts. This feature is exclusively accessible for coaches to schedule directly; clients and admins cannot schedule recurring sessions using the coach's calendar. Check out the details below to learn how to utilize recurring sessions in your practice.
Recurring Sessions When Scheduling
When scheduling sessions, there are controls for setting recurrence settings. Please see the new settings that are presented in the Availability Dialog for a coach's calendar.
Recurrence Option For Eligible Accounts
*Note: Recurring sessions are ONLY available on coach accounts that are part of a Premium/Enterprise subscription and are connected to the NylasV3 calendar integration. Coaches using Cronofy or NylasV2 will not have the option to schedule recurring sessions. If you are unsure about your calendar integration, refer to this article for instructions on how to identify your calendar connection.
Recurrence Settings
Clicking on the "This session is recurring" checkbox will expand to show the recurrence settings.
Based on the Date and Time selected, the recurrence settings allow for scheduling additional sessions that can repeat on:
Every # week(s): The session can have a cadence such as every week, every two weeks, every month, or even once a year.
Ends after # occurrences: Recurring sessions can also be set up to end after a certain number of sessions to conclude the journey.
How It Works
Recurrence settings are applied when scheduling a specific session, and these settings will then be applied to additional sessions based on some simple rules:
The additional session(s) must follow the original session (the one being scheduled) sequentially in the engagement roadmap.
The additional session(s) must be unscheduled. Scheduled or completed sessions will be skipped.
Recurring Sessions will not auto-create additional sessions within an engagement; they only apply recurrence settings to sessions that are available. This is to preserve the scope of the engagement/engagement template and prevent sessions from being endlessly created in the future. Note that the bottom of the scheduling dialog includes a disclaimer about the number of sessions available for scheduling (see below).
Disclaimer Showing the Number of Sessions Available For Scheduling
After accepting the settings, the recurring sessions will be visible in the UI. Recurring sessions are marked to indicate they are part of a recurrence set, as shown below. Please note the small lightning bolt icon next to each session.
Important Tips for Recurring Sessions
The following information has been prepared to help guide the coach in making recurring sessions a piece of cake to use, but also to understand some of the limitations.
Availability Checking Only Applies to the First Session
When you schedule a session and check for availability, the platform will only verify free/busy time for the first recurrence. If you are scheduling a monthly meeting on Mondays for the next four sessions, you will need to manually verify that sessions 2 through 4 do not have conflicts on your calendar. The platform will not perform this check for you.
Only Edit a Recurring Session From Within Coaching.com
It is crucial to note that any changes to recurring sessions should be made within the Coaching.com platform. If an event is updated externally on the coach's calendar, Coaching.com will attempt to synchronize the information, but this is not guaranteed. This could result in discrepancies, with the coach's calendar not being accurately reflected on Coaching.com, potentially causing issues for the coachee or client.
Each Session Will Have the Same Attributes
When applying a recurrence rule to multiple sessions, the name, description, and recurrence settings (date, time, etc.) will overwrite the details of subsequent sessions.
For example, you may have "Session 1" and "Session 2." However, when you set up a recurring session starting with "Session 1," the information must be the same for each meeting. All sessions scheduled as part of the set will receive the same name, description, date, time, and attendees as the original session. This is due to the way recurrence works in all major calendars. While this information can be updated later if needed, it will be overwritten when applying the recurrence rule and scheduling. To help with this, it may be better to use a generic name like "Monthly Session."
Editing a Recurring Session May Trigger Multiple Notifications
When a recurring event is edited—such as changing the name, description, attendees, time, or date—there is the option to modify a single event, or the event and all following events. When this is done, it becomes distinct event(s), separate from the original series. As a result, multiple notifications may be sent to the client. The updated event will be sent as a new invitation, and since the original recurring series has been altered, an additional update may be issued. This ensures that the client receives all necessary invitations and their calendar accurately reflects the updated session details.
Recurrence is based on having a set of calendar events that recur on a regular basis. If one of the sessions is modified (name, description, attendees, time, day), it effectively pulls apart from the set to be its own unique event. Based on this change, multiple notifications may go out to the client. In essence, the event that is being updated will go out in the form of an invitation. Secondly, since the original recurrence set was modified, this may result in another update being sent to the client. The end result is that the client has all of the proper invitations, and their calendar is setup properly with the session information.
Some Edits to Sessions Allow You to Apply the Changes to Following Sessions in the Set
Suppose you want to switch a weekly meeting from Mondays to Tuesdays. If you modify only the date or time of a session, you will be presented with an option to accept the changes for the specific session or to apply them to the same session and all following sessions. Please see the dialog below that will be presented:
Change this session only: The modification will apply only to the selected session, leaving the recurrence set intact for future sessions.
Change this and all following sessions: The modification will apply to the selected session and all subsequent sessions in the recurrence set, updating the recurrence pattern accordingly.
This allows you flexibility in adjusting your recurring sessions while maintaining consistency for future meetings.
Removing the Recurrence Flag Will Unschedule Subsequent Sessions
When you reschedule a recurring session, the Availability Dialog will maintain the recurrence settings information so that it can be rescheduled. Please see below.
If the "This session is recurring" checkbox is unchecked, then recurrence rules will be removed for the current session in question, but also for all subsequent sessions that are a part of the set. These sessions would become unscheduled. A dialog will be presented to inform the coach of the changes that they are about to make:
Rescheduling the Last Session in a Recurrence Set
When the last session of a recurrence is being rescheduled, we will show that the “Make session recurring” checkbox is checked, but it will be disabled. The recurrence settings will be hidden, and the “You have X sessions available” banner will not appear.
Modifying a Session Attribute in the Program Item View
Certain attributes can be edited from the Program Item Session view that affect the recurrence nature of sessions. While the date and time cannot be edited, many other attributes can be adjusted, as shown below:
Attendees: Participants or individuals invited to the session.
Duration: The length of the session.
Location: The physical or virtual location of the session.
*Changing the Name or Description will not send out updates for calendar events, or be reflected on other sessions.
When changes are made to any of these attributes, the following outcomes will occur:
The coach's calendar will be updated for the specific event.
The original recurrence set will be updated, which may result in a secondary notification to the client.
The client will receive updates to their calendar event.
If attendees are added, the new attendees will receive an invitation.
The coach will be prompted to choose whether to apply the changes to "This session" only or to "This session and related following sessions," as seen below:
This process ensures that updates are managed effectively across all relevant parties while maintaining the integrity of the recurring session structure.
