Free event workflow

The simplest complete routine: an event anyone can attend, with registration but no payment.

1. Create the event

Events → Add New:

  • title, content, excerpt and featured image;
  • start and end dates, with times if the event has them;
  • place, introduction and organizer, if relevant;
  • event type and category;
  • any additional links.

2. Configure registration

Registration form tab:

  • choose the optional fields — name and email are always required;
  • keep it short; every extra field costs registrations;
  • set the button labels.

Attendants tab:

  • leave Available space empty if the event has no limit;
  • decide whether to show remaining places.

Settings → POM Events → Single event must have a privacy policy URL, or the form collects personal data with no consent step. Set it once for the site.

4. Publish and verify

  1. Publish.
  2. Open the event in a private window.
  3. Read it as a visitor: dates, place, description, button.
  4. Register once yourself with a test address.
  5. Confirm the attendee appears in the Confirmed section.
  6. Delete the test registration afterwards — move it to cancelled first.

5. Announce it

Add the event to whatever you use to reach people, and confirm the link opens the event page for a signed-out visitor.

Check that the page holding [web_event_search_form] lists the event, since that is where people who arrive later will look.

6. While registrations arrive

  • Watch the Assistants count on All Events, sorted by start date.
  • Read comments as they come in, or at least weekly. They contain accessibility and dietary requirements.
  • Reply to anything that asks a question — nothing is sent automatically.

7. The week before

  • Read every comment.
  • Act on requirements: catering, access, materials.
  • Confirm the event page is still accurate.
  • Decide whether to send a reminder — if so, you send it, using the addresses from the export.

8. The day before

  1. Open the event.
  2. Export the attendee list to CSV or XLS.
  3. Sort by name.
  4. Add an Attended column.
  5. Print it or load it on a tablet.

That file is your door list. Export after any last changes.

9. On the day

Use the exported list. Mark attendance in your own column; the plugin records registrations, not attendance.

10. Afterwards

  • Export the list again as the definitive record.
  • Note the no-show rate.
  • Leave the event published; it drops out of upcoming lists on its own once the end date passes.
  • Apply your data retention policy to the exports.

See Post-event workflow.

What you never have to do

  • Unpublish the event when it finishes — the end date handles it.
  • Close registration manually — the finished state does it.
  • Delete anything, unless retention or a data request requires it.
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