Some forms, such as a conference registration, may let you sign up for membership while you complete the form. You do not need to open a separate membership application. When another form shows What would you like to do? with a checkbox, you can add membership from that form.
What You See
The block shows the option that matches your current membership standing:
- A join prompt, if you are not currently a member, your membership does not carry benefits, or your membership lapsed longer ago than your association allows for reinstatement. If you join from an expired membership, your billing status affects how the new membership is dated, which can affect whether the expiration date is what you expect.
- A renewal prompt, if your membership is active and inside its renewal window, or if it has lapsed with no recorded end date.
- A reinstatement prompt, if your membership lapsed recently enough to stay inside your association’s reinstatement period.
- Nothing at all, if none of those options applies to you right now, such as when you are an active member well outside any renewal window. In the Portal, you may also see nothing if you already hold this membership and your association's rules do not allow a second purchase. Staff working in the Console can still add a second year or a duplicate membership by hand.
Your association can also set up the host form to show your current membership type and status during this process, much like a membership overview. When it does, you may see additional buttons or actions beyond the type-and-status summary, depending on how your association configured it.
Prerequisites
- You must be signed in so the form can check your membership standing before it offers you an option.
Sign Up Alongside the Other Form
- Read the prompt, then tick the checkbox to sign up.
- The membership form for your eligible path appears inside the other form. It includes the same kinds of choices covered in Fill Out and Submit Your Application Form, such as package, chapters, sections, and add-ons, depending on what your association included. In some cases, this embedded step is intentionally shorter than the stand-alone application and works more like a quick join.
- Continue filling out the rest of the other form as usual. If your association allows billing an organization or a parent organization, that option appears here only when your Rhythm account has turned on the relevant Other Payment Options setting.
- Submit and pay through that form’s checkout.
Result
Your membership application is added to the same order as the item or registration you were already completing, so you pay for everything in one checkout. Your membership takes effect once that combined order is processed, the same as it would for a stand-alone application. If your account offers more than one payment method at checkout, both options appear only when the combined order has at least two line items, which is usually the case once it includes both your host item and your membership charge.
Warning
This offer does not save a draft. If you leave the host form before you submit it, you lose your membership choices along with anything else you had not submitted on that form.
Warning
If you are renewing and leave Renew Automatically unchecked when you submit, your membership is set not to auto-renew, even if you had previously opted in. This differs from your association's own auto-renewal billing, which keeps your existing auto-renew setting in place.
Why You Might Be Offered a Choice You Did Not Expect
This block checks every membership path you are allowed to start, not only the path that seems to match the form you are completing. If you are eligible for more than one path at the same time, such as a personal path and one on behalf of an organization you belong to, you may see more options than you expected.
This embedded renewal is also separate from any admin-only renewal process your association may run, even when both use a similar renewal period. If you are comparing what you saw here with something your association's staff described from a different renewal configuration, confirm which process each of you is looking at before assuming they should match.
If You Change Your Mind
If you decide not to add membership, untick the sign-up checkbox before you submit the host form. If the membership choices already appeared and you no longer want them, go back and untick the checkbox. Do not assume that leaving the membership fields blank removes them from your order.
If Something Goes Wrong
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Unable to determine eligible membership processes | Rhythm could not check your eligibility for a membership path. The host form continues without offering membership, so try again later or contact your association. |
| No prompt appears at all | You may already be an active member outside any renewal window, or you may not be eligible for any path right now. |
| An error appears on the renewal form before you reach payment | Clearing your browser's cache has been observed to let renewal continue past this error. Try that before contacting your association. |
| A required membership question blocks you from continuing | An unanswered required question, such as one about your current status, can hold up a renewal or other change until you provide any value. Once you answer it, you can continue, and you can go back and correct your answer afterward if needed. |
| The host form does not show your membership status where you expected it | If a form cannot display your status, look for help text that points you to the Membership Overview page, or check there yourself before continuing. |
Related
For the full explanation of the choices you make once the membership form appears, including package, chapters, sections, add-ons, and seat holders, see Fill Out and Submit Your Application Form. If you are signing up on behalf of your organization and are not sure what you are allowed to do, see Act for Your Organization's Membership.