Event Listing and Event Promo Blocks (and When to Use Them)

RSVPMaker provides several different blocks for listing or promoting events on your website, each of which serves a different purpose. Here are some of the ones you will see listed if you search the available blocks using “rsvpmaker event” as your keyword.

Here is a guide to the most important event display blocks. For a more exhaustive list, see RSVPMaker Blocks (Complete Listing).

Detailed Event Listings

Of these, RSVPMaker Upcoming (Single Block) is the workhorse dynamic block used for the primary calendar or events listing page on a website. It used to just be labeled “RSVPMaker Upcoming” but a recent release added “Single Block” to distingush it from the variations that have Query Loop in their title.

The Query Loop versions will actually insert multiple blocks into the page, including a customized version of the WordPress Query Loop block — representing the database “loop” that retrieves all the events matching a database query customized to retrieve future events — and a “Post Template” of blocks responsible for formatting the event date, excerpt, RSVP Now button, and so on.

The difference:

• RSVPMaker Upcoming (Single Block) is simpler.
• The Query Loop versions are more customizable, meaning you can add, delete, rearrange, and change the Post Template blocks. May be overkill if you’re not looking to do anything fancy.
  • RSVPMaker Upcoming + Calendar Query Loop includes the RSVPMaker Calendar block, which gives you the calendar grid.
  • RSVPMaker Upcoming + Cover Query Loop embeds the post title inside the WordPress Cover block, with the Cover block set to use the featured image (if one has been set for the event). In other words, the event title will be displayed on top of an image, which can be an attractive effect.
  • The default Post Template includes the RSVPMaker Date Block, RSVPMaker Excerpt, and RSVPMaker Button blocks. You can further customize as needed, for example substituting the Content block for RSVPMaker Excerpt if you want the full content of the post to be displayed.

As explained below, a similar distinction exists for other single-block representations of single events and other types of event lists versus Query Loop versions.

RSVPMaker Upcoming (Single Block)

Here is an example of RSVPMaker Upcoming (Single Block) as you would see it in the editor. This single block has options you can set in the sidebar that determine whether to display the calendar grid or just the events and whether the full event content should be displayed or just an excerpt.

Query Loop Variations

In comparison, here is the Query Loop version of essentially the same calendar + event listing display. With the RSVPMaker Query Loop block highlighted, it’s possible to customize the database query, for example by the changing the maximum number of events to be displayed or filtering for a specific Event Types (similar to blog post categories) that should be displayed.

Within the Post Template, each of the blocks can be selected and customized individually.

A pitfall of this approach is that inexperienced WordPress editors and site administrators may insert inappropriate content within the Post Template, thinking they are changing the information to be displayed as part of a single post. If you insert a paragraph, heading, image, or other static content item within the post template, it will be displayed for every event displayed within the listing. Using the Document Outline left-hand sidebar of the editor can make it easier to see where a content block has been placed.

Note that when the Featured Image component is placed within the Post Template, nothing will be displayed in that spot if no featured image has been set for the post. In the version that uses the Cover block, wrapped around the Post Title, a gray background will be displayed behind the Cover block if no featured image has been set.

Setting a Featured Image for an event can be a good way of making it stand out when displayed on your site. The Featured Image is a document property that you set in the right-hand sidebar of the editor. It appears under the RSVP Event tab for an event or Post or Page for those content types.

Here is an example of the Cover block variation where a featured image has been set for each post:

… and here is a more customized version of that same layout, as used on the Swank Specialty Produce website.

Single Events and Summary Listings

The Query Loop blocks described above can be made to display a single event (the next upcoming event) by changing the number of events to be displayed to 1. There is also a Query Loop variation called RSVPMaker Next Event Query Loop that has the number of events set to 1 by default.

The following single block options may be simpler as alternatives:

• RSVPMaker Event (Embed Single Event) – Display a single event. This can either be the next event by date and time, the next event for which RSVP registration is active, or a specific event selected by post id.
• RSVPMaker Next Events (RSVP On) – Displays one or more events for which RSVP registration is active. More detailed information will be displayed for the next upcoming events, followed by a list of links to additional upcoming events. The number of additional links to display is customizable
• RSVPMaker Calendar – display just the calendar grid, with links to the individual events.
• RSVPMaker Events List – Display a list of links to upcoming events.
• Future RSVP Links – Display a list of links to upcoming events for which RSVP registration is active. Optionally, you can skip the first event listed — handy if this is used in combination with RSVPMaker Next Event Query Loop, giving you a more customizable representation of the next event, followed by a summary view of additional upcoming events.

Here are examples:

RSVPMaker Event (Embed Single Event)

The default version displays the next upcoming event.

Here is a version that has a single event specified. It’s not the next upcoming event, but it’s one I want to emphasize. A usage example is that I might add this to the bottom of a blog post promoting the webinar contest. This would allow the event details, including the registration form or the RSVP Now button to be displayed at the bottom of the related blog post. When the event date is past, the RSVP Now button and form will no longer be displayed (replaced by a “registration date is past” message).

RSVPMaker Next Events (RSVP On)

I might embed this block on the home page of my website as a quick way of promoting the next upcoming event, plus links to several additional events.

RSVPMaker Calendar

The RSVPMaker Calendar block lists upcoming events in a calendar grid format and allows website visitors to page back and forth between past and future months, or the full current month (including events from earlier in the month, which are otherwise not displayed).

When placed on the same page as any of the event listing blocks, the RSVPMaker Calendar block’s navigation controls will also set the start date for other event listings. So if you page two months ahead in the calendar display, any other events listing blocks on that page will only display events starting after that date.

The calendar block sidebar allows filtering by event type and provides a few formatting options.

RSVPMaker Event Listing and Future Event Links

These two blocks are used for lists of headlines related to upcoming events, with slightly different display and formatting options between them.

RSVPMaker Event Listing:

Future RSVP Links

Limited Time Content

While the Limited Time Content block is not specifically for event display, it’s handy for displaying information about exceptions to your regular schedule. In this example, a Toastmasters club meets every Friday, but Friday July 4 is an exception because of the July 4 Independence Day holiday in the US.

Like native WordPress layout blocks such as Group or Columns, the Limited Time Content block is designed to “wrap around” other content. You can embed one or more paragraph, headline, image, or other content blocks inside of it, and it will control when that content should and should not be displayed. In this example, it is set to start displaying in late June, a couple of weeks before the July 4 holiday, and stop displaying after July 5.