Implementation Guide - Event categories, types, and fields
One of the most important steps in the Trumba® Connect implementation process is identifying the event categories, event types, and custom fields that you will use to organize and describe your events.
Categories, types, and fields affect how you present events on your website, how your site visitors find events they care about, and how easy it is for you to expand or modify your implementation in the future.
Click the following links to learn more about categories, types, and fields and how they relate to one another.
- What is an event category?
- What is an event type?
- What is a custom field?
- How do categories, types, and fields relate to each other?
- What event categories should I use?
- How many event categories should I create?
- Should I create event sub-categories?
- When should I create a new event type?
- When should I create a new custom field?
- How should I name my categories, types, and fields?
- If my organization has multiple Trumba accounts, can I share event types and custom fields across accounts?
What is an event category?
A category is a label for a group of events that share something in common. Typically, in the Trumba Connect editing environment, you create a new calendar to represent each event category. You assign an event to a category by adding it to the appropriate calendar.
For example, the following Current Publication list shows the event categories we created for the Trumba Tribune demonstration calendar.
We organized the Trumba Tribune events into six different categories. In this case, each category (calendar) represents a kind of event.
What is an event type?
An event type is a collection of fields that uniquely describe a specific type of event. You use event types when you create and edit events in the Trumba Connect editing environment. The same event type fields that you fill out in the Add/Edit Event form appear when visitors to your website calendar display details about an event.
The following Add/Edit Event forms and corresponding event detail pages demonstrate how different event types are collections of unique fields.
Add/Edit Event form and event details page for the Restaurants/Nightclubs event type
Add/Edit Event form and event details page for the Exhibits/Galleries event type
What is a custom field?
Each piece of descriptive information about an event is a field. In the Trumba Connect editing environment, you fill out these fields in the Add/Edit Event form as you create new events. Visitors to your website see these fields when they view details about an event on your published calendar.
For example, the following picture shows the Add/Edit Event form and event details page for an event.
Restaurant/Nightclub event from the Trumba Tribune demonstration calendar
This event includes the default fields available for all events, such as description, location, date/time, and notes. It also includes custom fields specific to this event type, including Price Range and Cuisine Options. These custom fields provide crucial information to site visitors faced with the decision of whether or not to attend.
How do categories, event types, and custom fields relate to each other?
Categories, event types, and custom fields all work together to organize and present your events in ways that make it easy for site visitors to find what they're looking for.
Categories correspond to calendars. That means that you collect onto one calendar all events that share something in common. For example, you might have a calendar for events related to Food and Dining. Or, you might have a calendar for events that take place at the Ballard library branch.
Within each category of events you can use one or more event types. For example, the Community Events category might include only one event type while the Food and Dining category might include two event types, Restaurant/Nightclub and Cooking/Food Classes. The Ballard library branch category might make use of several different event types, including Author Readings/Lectures, Homework Help, Story Time, and Book Group.
Each event type is made up of a unique collection of information fields chosen specifically to give site visitors the information they need to decide exactly what the event is and whether to attend. For example, in addition to description, location, and start time:
- The Restaurant/Nightclub and Cooking/Food Classes event type both include Cuisine Options and Reservations fields. However, the Restaurant/Nightclub event type includes a unique Price Range field while the Cooking/Food Classes event type includes a unique Cost field.
- The Author Readings/Lectures event type includes unique Full Description and View in Catalog fields while the Homework Help event type includes unique Homework Help Description and More Homework Help Options fields
What event categories should I use?
Create categories that reflect the primary way that your site visitors look for events. For example, you might categorize events by:
- Where the events occur.
- What kind of events they are.
- The group or department that sponsors the event.
For example, visit:
- Missoula.com Magazine where events are categorized by kind.
- NYTimes.com Automobiles where events are categorized by geographic location.
- American Education Services where events are categorized by priority of event.
How many event categories should I create?
The number of categories (calendars) that you create reflects your specific implementation but here are a few guidelines. Create a new calendar for each category of events that:
- You want to publish or email independently.
- You want to share with a specific event editor.
- Your site visitors will expect to view separately.
Note If you create more than twenty calendars, you probably have too many categories.
Create calendars and subcalendars
Should I create event sub-categories?
For most implementations, sub-categories are not necessary.
If you promote a very large number of events, however, and your event categories are broad, it may be helpful to your site visitors to sub-categorize events.
To learn about best practices for creating sub-categories, see How to implement sub-categories.
When should I create a new event type?
Create a new event type only when adequately describing that type requires a unique collection of fields.
Tip When you're considering which event types to create, err on the conservative side. Use the smallest number of event types that still allows you to provide your site visitors with the information they need.
For example, visit the Seattle Public Library calendar. For Event Type, choose Author Readings/Lectures. Click an event description to see the event details. Notice the fields unique to this event type, such as Full Description and View in Catalog.
Now, for Event Type, choose Homework Help. Click an event description. Notice the fields unique to this event type, such as Homework Help Description and More Homework Help Options.
Create event types that use your custom fields
When should I create a new custom field?
When you're deciding how many custom fields to create, consider the following strategic purposes that custom fields can serve:
- Custom fields provide descriptive information about event types that help site visitors decide whether or not to attend an event.
For example, create a Price Range custom field to help site visitors decide whether or not a restaurant/nightclub event is within their budgets.
- You can create a filter from any custom field. Site visitors can use these filters to limit the events they see on your published calendar.
For example, you might want to create a Sponsor field to allow site visitors to limit events to those sponsored by a specific department or organization.
- Use custom fields instead of sub-calendars for sub-categories that are associated with more than one category.
For example, suppose you organize your events into the categories of Business and Technology, Food and Dining, Sports and Outdoors, and Visual Arts. Within each category, you also want to subdivide the events according to the region in which they occur.
Instead of creating regional sub-calendars under each category calendar, create a Region custom field that you can include across all of your event types.
How should I name my categories, types, and fields?
As you choose your category and event type names and custom field values, remember that they are not for internal consumption only. Visitors to your website who interact with your published calendar see these names in a number of public contexts. For example:
- Links back to the full published calendar from event detail pages include calendar (category) names.
The category name Alumni appears in this event details page from the Trumba University Alumni demonstration calendar.
- Email messages sent on behalf of your calendar and events (such as event invitations, announcements, reminders, and submission acknowledgements) contain category (calendar) names.
This upcoming events email message from the Trumba University Campus Life demonstration calendar includes the category (calendar) name in the From and Subject lines.
- If you give your site visitors the ability to filter by category, category (calendar) names appear in the Calendar List spud on your website.
Calendar List spud for the Trumba University demonstration calendar
- If you give your site visitors the ability to filter by event type or custom field, the type and field values appear in the Filter spud on your website.
This Filter spud from the Trumba Tribune demonstration calendar gives site visitors the ability to filter by the custom field Region. You can customize the filter label (custom field name) but the value names (such as Downtown and North City) appear as you originally assign them.
Send event announcements, reminders, or invitations
What are calendar views and spuds?
If my organization has multiple Trumba accounts, can I share event types and custom fields across accounts?
It's not necessary to replicate event types and custom fields in different accounts. Instead, you can create the fields and types in one account and share them with calendar editors in other accounts.
Here are the best practice steps you follow to share custom fields and event types across accounts:
- Designate one account as the primary or administrator account.
- Create an unpublished "shared types and fields" calendar in the administrator account.
- Create all of your custom fields and event types in the administrator account. For each field and type, set the unpublished "shared types and fields" calendar as the owning calendar.
- Share the unpublished "shared types and fields" calendar with the editors in your other accounts. Set each account editor's permission level to at least Can add, delete, and change events. This allows the editors to use the event types as they create events but prevents them from modifying the types and fields in any way.