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Your website should be a one-stop destination for all your customers and fans looking for up-to-date information on your brand or business. As such, if you have any upcoming events lined up, then you need to make it available straight through your website.
Also read: 25 Top Event WordPress Themes
Luckily, WordPress users have access to WP Event Manager to help you create, edit, and manage upcoming events from your site’s back-end as well as front-end.
What is WP Event Manager?
WP Event Manager is a free-to-use WordPress plugin available right off their plugin repository. It is completely open-source, extremely lightweight, and super easy-to-use. And despite the free pricing, the plugin is choked full of all necessary features to help you add and manage event listings on your WordPress websites.
Also, if you want to access more advanced functionalities, then you will get access to tons of premium (paid) add-ons. That way, you will only need to purchase the add-ons specific to your needs. This can help you save money by only investing in the features you need.
Who Needs WP Event Manager?
As you can imagine, WP Event Manager caters itself to users who organize or create Events on a regular basis. As such, the plugin should appeal to the following use cases:
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- Informing About Tour Events – Bands, Writers, so on.
- Managing School Calendars.
- Church Events.
- Dating Events.
- Organizing meetups.
- Announcing Conferences.
- Wedding Party, Birthday Party
- Fitness and weekly exercise programs
- Selling ticket for any kind of event with Woocomerce
- Speed dating event Seminars and Conferences
- Course and Classes
- Trade Shows
- Executive Retreats and Incentive Programs
- Golf Events
- Concert / Performance
- Convention
- Competition
- Appreciation Events
- Company or Organization Milestones
- Team Building Events
- Product Launch Events
And much more.
As you can see, the plugin and its features are suitable for creating and managing all sorts of events. So if your website falls under any such event-based niche, then you will obviously benefit from the plugin.
Furthermore, owing to its open-source nature, web developers can also use the plugin and add on it to create advanced web features for their clients.
WP Event Manager Plugin: Features
As mentioned earlier, the plugin gives you access to tons of features with its free version alone. Well, let’s quickly go over these functionalities, and then we will take a look at its more advanced features available through premium add-ons.
- Ajax Powered UI for super-smooth user experience.
- Intuitive options to help you add, manage, and categorize the event listings.
- Comes with tons of template tags and shortcodes.
- Option to add event listings to your posts and pages using shortcodes.
- Support for event categories.
- Option to create custom event fields.
- Option to assign event locations including physical address as well as virtual address.
- Advanced search and filtering options allow users to quickly find an event from a listing.
- Searches will also show RSS links to alert attendees about any new matching events.
- Front-end forms allow guests and registered users to submit & manage event listings.
- Logged in organizers can view, edit, cancel, and delete events on their lists.
- Event listers will get a preview of their listings before it is published on the website.
- Option to attach an email or website to each event listing for further information and registration.
- RSS Feeds.
- Get custom widgets for Recent, Upcoming, Featured Events.
- Caching Support.
- Support for Singleton Javascript, Ajax & Save memory on the Client Side.
- Compatible with SEO plugins.
As you can see, the plugin basically hits the nail on every single necessary feature relevant to an even-based website. However, you might be searching for something more.
In that case, let’s take a look at some of the add-ons that are available with the plugin.
WP Event Manager: Add-ons
Here is a quick overview of all the WP Event Manager Add-ons along with their pricing:
#1. Calendar
It allows you to display an event calendar on your website that can showcase all future events.
#2. Google Maps
It allows you to incorporate collocation searches on your website so users can get the exact location where an event is taking place.
#3. Registrations
It offers your site visitors to directly register for an event they like, straight from your website.
#4. Sell Tickets
This add-on integrates with WooCommerce and allows you to sell tickets for events from within your website.
#5. Attendee Information
It adds an extra layout where users meaning to attend an event will have to fill out their personal information. This information can then be accessed by the admin or event organizer from the back-end.
#6. Bookmarks
It allows attendees or guests to bookmark events, and organizers to bookmark attendees. Users can also attach a note against the bookmarks.
#7. Colors
The add-on allows you to set specific colors for each event type and category. There is also the option to set text and background color for each event type and category.
#8. Contact Organizer
It will help add a badge and contact organizer form at the event feature page which attendees can use to get in touch with the event organizer.
#9. Emails
Enables email notification with your events. Registered users will get email notification depending on any update to the event. Similarly, the admin or organizer will get event notification when a user registers to an event. The email template can also be easily customized.
#10. Embed-able Event Widget
The add-on allows you to generate code against your event listings which you can then use to embed the listing onto other places.
#11. Event Alerts
The add-on will alert registered users on your website based on upcoming events, keywords, location, category, and so on. Users will also have the option to create their own custom event alerts.
#12. Eventbrite Integration
The add-on brings integration with Eventbrite which can help you with back-filling your event listings.
#13. Event Logs
It allows you to enable or disable debugging as well as trace JS and other files. This is more of a developer-oriented functionality.
#14. Event Tags
The add-on adds a custom field – tags to each event post type which makes them more searchable.
#15. Export Events
It allows you to export all your events in CSV file format.
#16. Google Analytics
The add-on brings Google Analytics integration with your event post type so you can get detailed stats on user behavior and interaction with your events.
#17. Google Recaptcha
As you can imagine, it enables Google Recaptcha on your website to prevent spammers and bots.
#18. iCal
The iCal add-on allows you to integrate with Google Calendar (or any other third party calendar) and synchronize all the events with it. The add-on works by generating an ICS file with events listings.
#19. Organizers
If your website has too many event organizers then you can use this add-on to start managing them, and even filter the events based on their organizers
#20. Recurring Events
As you can imagine, this allows the user or the admin to create a batch of recurring events at the same time to save future labor or effort. The recurring events can be saved on a day-to-day, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis.
#21. Sliders
Helps integrate your event listings with OWL Carousel or other popular WordPress Sliders. This allows you to present your featured event listings by using a well-designed slider interface.
#22. WooCommerce Paid Listings
Another add-on that integrates with WooCommerce. It lets you manage the paid listing functionality run by WooCommerce and gives you the option to generate customized event suites which can then be procured or cashed at the time of event proposals.
Now, depending on your requirements, you can simply pick one or two of the addons, thereby only paying for what you use. However, if you see yourself using many of these paid addons, then you can go for their discounted bulk purchase option. It gives you access to all these premium add-ons at $235 – which equates to 65% discount.
WP Event Manager: User Interface
Now that you have an idea of the different features and functionalities you get with the plugin, let’s quickly guide you through on how to use the WP Event Manager – from installing the plugin to how you can create an event listing.
Installing WP Event Manager
Since the plugin is available straight from the WordPress repository, you can install it straight from your WordPress back-end. Simply head on over to your WordPress Dashboard, and then from the sidebar, go to Plugins -> Add New -> Search “WP Event Manager” -> Install Now -> Activate.
Once done, the plugin will activate on your WordPress website and you should be able to see the following section on your WordPress back-end.
This is the place where you will find all the relevant settings and information to create and manage all your event listings.
All Events
WP Event Manager gives you access to an event custom post type.
As you can see, the interface is somewhat similar to what you get when handling your WordPress posts and pages.
Here you will be able to see a list of all your events with relevant information including current status, canceled or active, featured or not, event location, event organizer, and even the start, end, and expiry dates of the events.
To create a new event, you can hit the Add New button at the top.
Add New
Here you will be able to create new events for your WordPress website.
As you can see, the interface is similar to what you get while creating a new post or page. However, scrolling down we are greeted with a laundry list of options that lets you add relevant event data. This can be used to provide more information about the event which will be useful while searching and filtering through the listings.
As you can see, you will get access to all these event fields to add information about:
- Organization Name
- Organizer Description
- Whether or not it is an Online Event – radio box
- Venue name
- Organization email
- Address
- Website
- Location
- Zipcode
- Social Media handles
- Link to the event page
- Start date
- End date
- Listing expiry date
- Event banner
- Registration email
You can even specify who is posting the event.
Scrolling further down will get you to the custom fields section where you can create and add custom fields to your event listings. These can help you add extra metadata to your events.
Field Editor
The field editor gives you access to two distinct sets of options – The event fields, which gives you this interface:
And the organizer fields, which gives you this interface:
From here you can customize all the event and organizer fields and even create new custom fields. It also gives you the option to delete existing fields if you want to create an ultra simplistic and minimal event listings.
Either way, this is an awesome feature that adds an extra level of customization to the plugin making your events unique to your website.
Settings
This is where you will get access to all the plugin settings.
General
Here you will be able to enter your Google API key to get access to google map or location information. Also, there is a checkbox which if ticked will enable data deletion of all your event listings when the plugin is removed from your website.
Event Listings
This is where all the event listing settings are located. As you can see from the image, you will get options to specify:
- How many listings you want per page
- Show/hide canceled events
- Show/hide expired events
- Show/hide expired listings content
- Allow multi-select categories
- Allow multi-select event types
- Category filters
- Event type filters
Event Submission
Under this tab, you will get access to all event submission settings which configures who can submit events on your website, event organizer registration procedure, how user-submitted events will be handled, and much more.
Pages
Here you will be able to specify a page or a post for embedding your events, event dashboard, or event submission form.
This is done using the following shortcodes:
- [events] – use on the page or post where you want to embed your event listings.
- [submit_event_form] – use on the page or post where you want to embed the event submission form.
- [event_dashboard] – use on the page or dashboard where you want to allocate the event dashboard.
The above-mentioned shortcodes need to be embedded onto a page or post on your WordPress website. Then through this interface, you will be able to specify which page or post to use for showcasing your event listings, event submission form, and event dashboard.
Date & Time Format
Under this section, you get access to all relevant settings and options to help you manage the date & time settings of your different event listings.
Add-ons
And finally, we have the add-ons page that comes inside the WP Event Manager dashboard. From here you will be able to go through all the add-ons currently available and easily add them to your website.
Create an Event Listing Using WP Event Manager
By now, you should have a clear idea of what features the plugin offers, and the overall user interface. With all that out of the way, let’s go over a quick tutorial on creating an event listing using the WP Event Manager.
First, head on over to your WordPress Dashboard -> Event Listings -> Add New.
As you can see, we are creating a very basic event with the title – ‘Welcome To My First Event‘ created by organization – ‘admin‘ and description – ‘hey, i am the admin!‘ The starting date of the event has been set to – 2019-09-30 and ending date to – 2019-10-01. A drop-down calendar will help you to choose the date.
Of course, you can fill out all the other fields to provide additional information about your event.
Once done, simply hit the publish button, and your event will be created.
Now, you will have to create a new page where you want to showcase your events or even embed them on an old existing page.
For the purpose of this tutorial, we have created a new page – “Events” and included the shortcode [events]. This allows the plugin to display all your event listings on this page.
Let’s take a quick look at how it looks.
As you can see, the plugin works like a charm.
it is very basic as we haven’t included much information. It is only showing the starting and ending dates, event location, and event image(but we haven’t provided one).
Also, as you can see, you will have access to an advanced search and filter option which will allow users to find events based on keywords, locations, and dates.
Now if you are looking for some more advanced guides on better using the plugin, then the developers have provided detailed documentation which serves as a rich source of information and user guides.
WP Event Manager Plugin: Support & Documentation.
The team behind WP Event Manager is very serious and dedicated to their work with a promise to deliver on-time high-quality customer support. Just look at their support forum and you will find almost all queries have been answered within 24 hours.
Therefore, if you ever run into any issues while using the plugin, you can rest assured that their support team is always available at your service. Furthermore, if you are a paid customer and purchased one of their add-ons, then you will be entitled to priority support via a ticketing system.
But you will hardly ever need to address their support team. Not only is the plugin super stable and extremely intuitive, but it also comes with extensive documentation (as mentioned earlier) that will guide you through everything. It is a real lifesaver when 24 hours is too long a wait – which it can be in certain cases.
What Makes WP Event Manager Standout From Its Competitors?
WordPress has literally hundreds of plugins catered to help you create and manage events on your website. Many of them are available for free while many more are premium plugins packed with powerful and advanced functionalities.
Comparison based on General Features
Comparison based on Admin Features
In this crowd, WP Event Manager butts its head out by providing users access to all necessary features under a free price tag. And that’s not all, it also gives you the potential to avail much more powerful functionalities by simply pairing it with the premium add-ons. And if that’s not all, the plugin also provides quality customer support, which is commendable when considering it as a free plugin.
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Over to You
If you are in the market seeking a good event management tool for your WordPress website, then WP Event Manager won’t disappoint. The free price tag along with access to all the necessary features makes it perfect for small scale websites looking to integrate event post types. And thanks to the premium add-ons, extending the feature list won’t be an issue either.
Furthermore, the plugin is also high on usability. With shortcode and widget support, you get the option to easily add your event listings to your posts and pages without breaking a sweat. The availability of both back-end and front-end forms is also noteworthy.
And lastly, let’s not forget to mention their prompt support team.
Taking all this into consideration, the WP Event Manager plugin is a great option and one that’s worth checking out for users who deal with event-based websites.
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