David F. Carr, Author at RSVPMaker WordPress Plugin

Updated Admin Bar Navigation Between Events, Confirmations, Reminders, Forms, and Templates

RSVPMaker uses the black admin bar that appears at the top of the page when you are logged in to provide links to related documents and settings screens.

Because the WordPress full screen (distraction free) editor prevents the display of that menu, it’s now disabled by default when you are editing RSVPMaker posts. This navigation is important to allow you to navigate from an event post for a specific date to the event template it was based on. Recent releases have made it easier to see whether the registration form and the confirmation message are specific to the event you are looking at, as opposed to being the default version from your settings, or a version inherited from the event template.

The New option you click on for a new p0st or page lets you create an individual RSVP Event, a New Event Template, or Create/Update events based on a template you’ve defined.

Here are some of those variations.

If an event currently uses the default confirmation message for your site, you can click on the Confirmation Message (Default) link to edit the default version. Alternatively, you can click on the Customize link to create a version specific to this one event.

In this example, the messages have been inherited from a template. The form is the default (meaning the template also references the default version).

In this example, the confirmation and reminder messages as well as the form have all been customized. You can tell because even though it’s based on a template, there are no links prompting you to customize those items.

These options appear under the Edit RSVP Event menu when you are viewing an event on the public site. When you are in the edit, working with event content, these links appear with RSVP / Event Options as the top level menu item.

When you are editing a message or form related to an event, the menu changes again to provide links back to Edit Event and View Event, along with the submenu options.

Finally, here are the new improved options under the New menu. Create / Update links will be provided for any templates you have defined.

New event, versus new template, or Create / Update a series of events based on a template.

Allow Event Submissions from Website Visitors

If you run a website for a community of people who would like to be able to post events occasionally — but not often enough that you need to provide them with an author or contributor password — you can allow them to submit events for review by your website’s team of editors.

An example is shown below. This form can be added to any post or page using the RSVPMaker Event Submission editor block or the [rsvpmaker_submission] shortcode. For security reasons, event descriptions are limited to bold, italic, and link formatting. Any other HTML or script code is filtered out.

When a website visitor completes the form, an email notification is sent to the list of people you specify (either in your default settings or the block settings). RSVPMaker event posts are saved as drafts but not published until a website editor approves them.

Optionally, you can prompt users to include a timezone in addition to date and time. This is important for online events and events across many geographies, but not necessary for a website advertising local community events.

You can try the user experience here.

Event Title:

Month Day Year

Time

End Time

Timezone
Choose a city in the same timezone as you.

Your Name

If you want your contact information to be published as part of the event listing, also include it in the description below.

Event Details

Here is what the block looks like in the editor.

My experience from running community websites is that I'd rather give people a password if they are posting events regularly, partly because I want them to be able to make updates when event details change.

On the other hand, plenty of people who might have something good to share are reluctant to accept the burden of having to remember another password -- and I can't blame them. This is a way of encouraging more participation and building a more complete calendar for whatever community you serve.

Update: Release 7.7.5 adds support for Google reCAPTCHA to combat form spam. The reCAPTCHA credentials must be entered on the RSVPMaker Settings screen.

Sending Confirmation Only After Payment, for Example with the Link for an Online Event

There are now 2 different confirmation messages you can configure in RSVPMaker, one for the initial registration and the other displayed only after payment when you are charging for an event. One scenario: you’re charging for an online class or webinar and do not want to share the link until after payment is collected.

You can test it right now by signing up for the Google Photos workshop my friend and client Chris Guld is taking registrations for.

Setting the Payment Confirmation options.

By default, RSVPMaker sends a confirmation email message immediately after an event registration is recorded. However, you can now change that to say the confirmation email should only be sent after payment is confirmed.

Introducing the Daily Schedule Event Listing Block, with a Conference Demo

One of the new editor blocks available in RSVPMaker is RSVPMaker Schedule, an alternative to the calendar-style presentation meant to let you display a series of related events such as sessions within a conference program.

You can see it at the conference schedule demo site I’ve created, from which this screen shot is taken. The demo is based on a live implementation for the Toastmasters District 47 annual conference (which this year turned into a virtual event).

WordPress enthusiasts might consider this as a way of sharing a WordCamp event schedule.

The setup for the conference schedule demo is that there is one RSVPMaker event post that serves as the registration page for the entire weekend event. Each conference session is then modeled as its own RSVPMaker event. As displayed within the RSVPMaker Schedule listing, the sessions of the individual presenters are grouped by day, with the time that they are speaking shown as part of the session headline.