East Bay WordPress Meetup Presentation October 22, 2017

Event Management Plugins A few high-and-lowlights of some of the many, many event management plugins for WordPress

Event Plugin Spreadsheet Add information about your favorite event plugin here.

What Event Plugins Can Do • Show events in the order they’re happening. • Display different event views: calendar, list, grid, map. • Show extra event information like Google Maps • Sell tickets to events. • Import events from other sources. • Sync with your calendar. • Export events to people’s calendars. • Let other people add events and sell tickets. • Show detailed schedules for all-day events (sometimes).

A Few Honorable Mentions • Just want to show your Google calendar on your site? Try Simple Calendar. • Want a timeline of history instead of a calendar of upcoming events? Try Timeline Express. • Selling tickets for your WordCamp? CampTix is the way to go. • Is your band or show on tour? Try GigPress (now owned by Modern Tribe). • Show just the event schedule with Timetable and Event Schedule.

The Events Calendar Modern Tribe https://theeventscalendar.com

The Events Calendar Pros & Cons Pro • Straightforward to use. • Free version is solid. • Nice range of views • Wide range of features available with add-ons. • Extensive docs/forums. • Discounts for nonprofits & special Meetup program. Con • No guidance on creating new views. • Too much reliance on templates & not enough on hooks. • More expensive than alternatives: Ultimate Bundle for 1 site is $499

Events Calendar Examples

EventON http://www.myeventon.com/

EventON Pros & Cons Pro • Low Base Price • Slick Tile View • Attractive List View • Event Seating Add-on • Event Speaker & Schedule Add-on Con • Almost every feature is a paid add-on, including many that are free with other plugins. • Total price can = Modern Tribe. • No free version. • No developer license.

EventON Screenshots

Event Organiser https://wp-event-organiser.com/

Event Organiser Pros & Cons Pros • Decent free version with multiple views. • Handles VAT for Europe. • Free third-party import tool. • Popular with my dev friends. • Add-ons either separate or bundled. • £120 Dev package Cons • All views but list require shortcodes. • No integrations with ecommerce—sales go through their plugin. • Limited number of add-ons.

Event Organiser Screenshots

Events Manager https://eventsmanagerpro.com/

All This for $75 (Sonja London) Pros • Multisite & BuddyPress • Shortcodes for All the Things • Approval of tickets, earlybird tickets and multiple ticket types. • Custom fields and custom registration forms • Templates for All the Things • Hooks for All the Things Cons • Not enough payment gateways. In particular, no Stripe. • Very little documentation.

Event Espresso https://eventespresso.com/

Event Espresso (Amanda McCoy) Pros • LOTS of payment gateways • Able to create event packages • Multiple dates for a single event. • Fantastic ticketing & attendee management options • Integrates w/ MailChimp & LearnDash • People add-on for event speakers Cons • Free “Decaf” version lacks most of the features that make the plugin stand out • Payment gateways are paid add-ons, not included in Pro • Calendar & grid view are both paid add-ons ($40 each or $299 for package with all add- ons)

Stress Care Training (Amanda McCoy) For a course that repeats at different locations, a page with the course description and a widget listing all upcoming occurrences. https://stresscaretraining.org/8-week-course/

Stress Care Training Single Event Single event page includes ticket purchase on a sliding scale, map & venue info, and listing of all the different class times. https://stresscaretraining.org/events/2018-8-week-winter-orinda/

All-in-One Event Calendar https://time.ly/

All in One Event Calendar (Carol Hatcher) Pros • Handles any kind of event feed for import (Carol created a custom feed) • Works with membership & content restriction plugins • Posterboard, tile, stream, agenda, week, and month views • Superwidget lets you show one site’s calendar on another Cons • Tickets not included in $99 Core+ bundle • Venues are a pro add-on (included in Core+) • Tickets add-on only works with PayPal • Confusing website!

AIO on Flying Docs (Carol Hatcher) One calendar for members, one for the public. Shown in agenda view. https://www.flyingdocs.org/calendar/

Which Plugin Is Best for What? Sell with WooCommerce, Eventbrite, & EDD The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe Ticketing & Attendee Management Event Espresso Bang-for-the-Buck Event Display Flexibility Events Manager Cool Add-ons and Slick Visuals EventON These are not affiliate links and none of the presenters has a commercial connection with any of the plugins discussed.

The Presenters Sonja London, Zosime Amanda McCoy, Amanda McCoy Design Carol Hatcher, Los Médicos Voladores Sallie Goetsch, WP Fangirl You can reach any of us through Meetup.com