The Groups and Events addon enables you to create events to showcase in your community's Categories and Groups, making it perfect for spreading the word about your organization's upcoming events.
📝 NOTE: You must have the Groups and Events addon enabled to create events. See Groups and Events to learn how to enable it.
In this article, you'll learn how to create and manage events.
Events overview
The Groups and Events addon provides the following event features for your organization:
- Create and view events in a Category or within a Group
- Display upcoming events in a widget that's located on the Recent Discussions and All Categories pages, as well as on individual Category pages.
- View and export lists of users who have expressed interest in an event, making it easy to reach out to them with further event information.
- Leverage analytics to view data about users interested in an event.
- If your organization uses Zoom, you can integrate your Zoom account to your Vanilla community to enable one-click registration and event viewing directly in your community.
This addon provides the following event features for your users:
- Express interest in an event via the I'm Interested button on event pages. This ensures event organizers can keep in touch with further event information.
- Ease of access to public events for users who are not already members of your Vanilla community OR members of a Group. Refer to the Easy access to public events for non-members section of this article for more information.
- If integrated with Zoom, users can register for Zoom events via the Register button on the event page, and use the Join Event button to launch the Zoom event.
Create events
The main thing to understand when it comes to creating an event is that it can be done either at the Category level or within a specific Group. This gives you the flexibility to make events available to your larger community audience or limited to a Group's members.
Create community events
You can create an event in any community Category (including subcommunities).
- Users need the
Events > Manage permission to add events in Categories. You can set this for a Role in the Default Category Permissions to allow it for ALL Categories OR set this permission for a specific Category to limit the ability. - When you create an event in a top-level category (like a subcommunity) the event will be displayed in this subcommunity and all categories therein.
- When you create an event in a sub-category, it will only appear in that sub-category.
✔️ TIP: You have the flexibility to have public events or private events by leveraging Category permissions.
To create an event:
- From the desired Category, click New Post > New Event.
- Refer to the Event options section below to learn more about each configuration option.
Create Group events
- On a Group's page, click the New Event button in the Upcoming Events section.
- Refer to the Event options section below to learn more about each configuration option.
Event options
Regardless of where an event is created, the configuration options are the same:
- Name of the Event: Give the event an appropriate name (limit of 200 characters).
- Duration: Use these fields to set the event's date and time. You can click into a field and type or use the provided calendar or clock icons to select.
📝 NOTE: The time is set to your local time zone but will display to users in their local time zone.
- Location: Indicate where the event is being held, whether it's a virtual space (e.g., Zoom) or an in-person venue.
- Location URL: For virtual events, this is typically the URL necessary to access the event; otherwise, this may be a web page with more details about the event.
📝 NOTE: The Location and Location URL fields are optional. If left blank, they will not display on the event page, and you can add this information in the Event Details field.
📝 NOTE: If your community is integrated with Zoom, you may see two Zoom-related fields that provide two ways to leverage the integration. Check out the Zoom Events Integration article to learn more.
- Display Event Organizer Name: Check this box to automatically display the name of the user who created the event as the event organizer. Leave unchecked if the event creator is not the event organizer; in this case, you can add this information in the Event Details text field.
- Add Call To Action Button: Check this box to display two additional fields: the call-to-action button label and URL fields. Complete these to add a custom button to the event page that directs users to important event information, such as external landing pages, registration forms, related discussions, etc. While you're free to add this type of information in the Event Details area, this button is perfect for spotlighting important event information.
- Event Details: This is where you can provide any relevant event details to your intended audience (e.g., event organizer, links to relevant event information, etc.). If needed, you can also upload images, media, and even files.
View events
Depending on whether an event was created at the Category or Group level determines where you'll go to view it.
View community events
- Events associated to a community Category respect that Category's permissions.
- Users need the
Events > View permission to view and express interest for events in Categories. You can set this for a Role in the Default Category Permissions to allow it for ALL Categories OR set this permission for a specific Category to limit the ability.
Category events are displayed in the Upcoming Events widget, which is available on the Recent Discussion page, the All Categories page, and on individual Category pages.
- Click an event to view its full details on a dedicated page.
- Click More Events to access the main events page for a full list of upcoming events.
View Group events
As you'd expect, you can view a particular Group's events on its page, in the Upcoming Events section.
- Click an event to view its full details on a dedicated page.
- Click All Events to access the main events page for a full list of upcoming events.
Event details page
Click an event to view its full details on a dedicated page. From here, you can:
- learn more about the event;
- click I'm Interested to add yourself to a list of those interested in attending or learning more (this is a great way to receive event updates from the event organizer);
- click the icon in the Who's Interested section to view other people who indicated interest in the event. If you're an event organizer or Administrator with the proper permissions, you can also export this list (more on this later).
📝 NOTE: For events integrated with Zoom, two additional buttons will be available allowing you to register for the event and launch the Zoom event at its start date. More on this in the Zoom-integrated events section of this article.
Easy access to public events for non-members
For users who are not yet a member of your Vanilla community OR a member of a Group, public event pages provide a one-click flow to quickly get them joined and RSVP'd to an event.
- If not already a member of your Vanilla community, a user can click a public event's Join Group and RSVP button to automatically be sent to the community's Sign In page to create an account; once an account is created, the user will flow right into automatically joining the Group and RSVPing for the event.
- If not already a Group member, a user can click a public event's Join Group and RSVP button to automatically join the Group and RSVP for the event.
Manage Events
- Users need the
Events > Manage permission to edit and delete Events at Category level. - Event Leaders, authors, and Administrators (and potentially Moderators) can edit Events at the Group level.
Edit events
When you edit an event's details via the Edit option, you can choose to send an email notification to interested users upon saving those changes:
- Check the appropriate option based on your needs.
- These notification emails provide the updated details only; they do not highlight the specific changes.
- Users can choose whether to receive these emails on their profile > Notification Preferences page. From there, they can check/uncheck the Groups > Notify me of new or updated events option.
View and export interested users
Each event page includes the Who's Interested section, which provides the two important features discussed below.
I'm Interested
Users can click the I'm Interested button to indicate interest in the event (this does not express whether they're attending or not). This action adds them to a user list, accessible via the icon to the left.
📝 NOTE: If your event is integrated with a Zoom meeting:
- The Who's Interested section becomes Who's Going
- The I'm Interested button becomes Register
View & export interested users
This list is makes it easy for event organizers and administrators to understand who is interested in an event, enabling them to easily reach out to these potential attendees with additional event information as the event draws near.
To view these potential attendees, click the icon highlighted below. In the popup:
- Each user is listed and hyperlinked; click their name to view their profile.
- Event organizers and administrators can click the Export button to download a .CSV file providing useful data, like their name and email address, event ID, link to their profile, and more.
📝 NOTE: A user must belong to a Role with the Garden > Exports > Manage permission to export the user list.
Zoom-integrated events
If you have integrated your Vanilla community with your Zoom account, you can leverage the integration in two ways:
- Create a meeting within Zoom and then connect its Zoom Meeting ID or URL to an event in Vanilla. This method enables you to host Zoom events in your Vanilla community.
- Create an event within Vanilla and use the Create Zoom Meeting feature to simultaneously create a meeting within the configured Zoom account. This method enables you to keep the event-creation and management workflow solely within Vanilla, reducing the need to work in both products.
Check out the article below to learn how to set up and use the Zoom events integration for your Vanilla community.
Additional resources
Click the link below to access a video expanding on what you learned in this article.
