EventU users know the power of the public calendar. "There's really no better way to get that info out there," says Brian Robison of ServiceU support. "The public calendar is a simple feature that allows church administration to post time-sensitive, schedule-related information. Then it is automatically organized and communicated in a format people just inherently understand."

Customizable Web-based Calendar

The calendar is a built-in feature of EventU, and like all other aspects of the system, it integrates seamlessly by adapting the look-and-feel of a users current website. "One of the things I hear most is the relief a customer expresses when they realize they can change certain things like color and fonts," says Robison.

Automatic Scheduling Updates

Brian also addressed an administrative time-saving attribute: automatic posting. "The alternative to using the calendar feature as an administrator is the hassle of manually updating all daily events on a page of your website. That can get confusing. Once an event is updated, EventU's calendar automatically updates that event on each day your event happens, for as long as your event occurs."

Robison continues, "The default public calendar is great, but if you are looking to do more things there are several options available that will make the public calendar pages more versatile. You can do things like include more event information such as rooms, link to specific ministry calendars, show today's events and specify the number of days in the future that you want to show. By using the list style calendar, you can include more columns than show by default. The default list style calendar includes the event name, department, and event date. You can add to those 3 basic columns, by adding 'QueryString' Parameters at the end of the calendar URL. You can add things like resources (rooms), the event start and end time, and a few other things."

Departmental Event Highlights

Alongside the easy-to-integrate nature of the calendar are several time-saving aspects. "An option helpful for departments or ministries is the ability to link to specific ministry calendars. The Administrative area called 'Setting up your Web Site' will show URLs for each ministry added to your organization. These URLs will allow you to link directly to a ministry calendar such as 'Men's ministry' or 'Youth ministry.' You can even combine departments into one calendar." Robison continues, "The drop-down menu in the EventU calendar allows a viewer to isolate particular ministries or departments and see the events that are relevant only to them. This saves your website visitor a lot of time."

Custom Schedule Overviews

The calendar feature in EventU also has a few built-in surprises. "One thing I think is pretty cool in our system is the 'Today's Event' box, says Robison. "The box can be placed in a sidebar or small box on your homepage and only shows the current day's scheduled events in its easily accessible area. This feature allows website visitors to get the highlights of an organization's events without having to go into the calendar. You can link to a calendar that shows only today's events or you can set the number of days in the future such as the next 7 days for a weekly calendar . These options are popular for web site homepages or for ministry pages where smaller, more limited calendars are helpful."

Online Calendaring Improves Outreach

Brian thinks there's more to the EventU public calendar than just scheduling. "The public calendar feature is a great way to improve outreach to a ministry's target audience. It's one of the most loved and most effective aspects of EventU." For questions you may have regarding the EventU public calendar, contact Brian Robison. Click the following link to download the EventU public calendar manual.

= Live external example