For internal and external constituents alike, your campus calendar is a constantly beneficial resource. Future and current students will regularly visit your event page to look for upcoming events that might interest them. On the backend, of course, managing the university calendar can be immensely complex. You need software with functionality to both manage your university events and drive event attendance by promoting them to the campus community on your university website, social media, and beyond. That’s where higher ed custom event calendars come into the equation.
Designed for higher education institutions, these custom calendars can go a long way toward building a centralized way to manage and promote your event listings.
The 4 Best Customizable Event Calendar Platforms for Higher Education
Even a quick online search will unearth many options for higher ed custom events calendars. All of them come with their own nuances and benefits. These are our four favorite options to help your institution manage the many different event types that are relevant to them.
1. Concept3D
Topping our list is Concept3D, thanks to Localist—a comprehensive calendar solution that is the ideal fit for higher education. Affordable pricing combines with extensive templates and workflows that make it easy to both post events and centrally manage them.
Case studies from the University of North Dakota and the University of Louisville consistently show that this website calendar improves page visits and event attendance. Meanwhile, a dedicated support team provides a standout client experience for institutions of all sizes.
Key Features
- A centralized master calendar that makes it easy to keep an overview of all events and happenings on campus
- An advanced permissions structure that enables anyone from admissions to student organizations to post their events
- Fully customizable branding to integrate the calendar into your university landing page and website experience
- Integrated ticketing and RSVP options for intuitive backend management, including payment options
- Advanced metrics and insights that range from registrations to social media activity, attendee geography, and more
- Omnichannel marketing features that enable you to use your event calendar for recruitment
2. The Events Calendar
The Events Calendar is a dedicated WordPress plugin. If your institution runs on WordPress, it’s a great pick to help manage all campus events. In fact, it’s the most popular calendar plugin on the platform.
Compared to Concept3D, The Events Calendar is limited; it only works with WordPress websites. Also, because it’s not optimized for higher education, its features are less specific than other higher ed custom event calendars. That said, its key features still make it a viable pick for institutions of all sizes.
Key Features
- Advanced customizability, ensuring visual brand alignment with your institution
- The ability to create templates, making the individual event creation easier for different types such as virtual events, student events, external events, etc.
- An extensive knowledge base that answers all common FAQs and makes integrations easier for onboarding institutions
- Event marketing and importing modules that can tie the plugin into your larger technology stack
3. Modern Campus
The value proposition of Modern Campus lies in its comprehensive nature. Unlike other higher ed custom event calendars, it offers comprehensive features for website management, academic catalog management, career planning, co-curricular management, and more.
Of course, as with other broad solutions, that also means the features of each individual module tend to be more limited than a dedicated solution like Localist. Still, the conference and event management module of Modern Campus makes it a viable option for institutions looking to start centralizing and optimizing their events.
Key Features
- Conference management options that go beyond individual events and address larger organizational challenges
- Event content personalization options that align with the larger CMS and website experience for audiences
- Student event integration with co-curricular management that allows student affairs offices to better work with student clubs and organizations
- Direct CMS integration for events to display on your homepage and other relevant landing pages
4. Coursedog
At its core, Coursedog is a curriculum management software designed to improve academic operations and drive student success. But its event management platform is also worth highlighting in this space, especially given its powerful ability on the backend.
Make no mistake: among other higher ed custom event calendars, this is an organizational tool more than a promotional tool. It shines as a space management platform for classrooms and event spaces. But some promotional opportunities also exist in the platform, making it another viable option for institutions looking to improve event management and attendance.
Key Features
- Customizable workflows, including automated email notifications, to streamline event organization
- Event request options for stakeholders and constituents across campus to start the process of reserving a space and promoting an event
- Extensive reporting on resource availability for individual events to better plan and optimize institutionally
- The ability to integrate with your website on a single landing page and improve the visibility of your events
Best Practices for Managing Higher Ed Custom Event Calendars
Regardless of the solution you choose, higher ed custom event calendars will only be effective if you can implement and manage them the right way. From categorization to promotion and tracking, these five best practices can help.
#1: Categorize and Tag Events
The types of events higher ed institutions need to manage are inherently complex. Student events reach very different audiences than external lectures, larger conferences, academic calendar notices, and more. Start your management process by creating specific categories that match up with the types of events you’re looking to manage. That way, users can more easily filter and find events relevant to them, improving their user experiences and enabling more targeted promotions.
#2: Ensure Mobile Accessibility
Most internet users access websites using mobile devices, and that percentage only grows among Gen Z audiences. So, for full visibility and the best user experience, your event calendar should be mobile-friendly and accessible from any device. Responsive website experiences are key, as is the ability to integrate calendar listings into any mobile apps your institution uses to communicate with students.
#3: Promote Events Effectively
Even the best-managed events will fail if your audience doesn’t know about them. Effective promotion for your events is key, including but not limited to:
- Your website, which tends to serve as the hub of all relevant institutional information for your audience
- Social media, a preferred tool for your students to get updates from their school
- Email notifications, relevant particularly for faculty and staff at your institution
Don’t be afraid to leverage more unique campus event promotional ideas, either. The more your higher ed custom event calendars integrate with your best-performing promotional channels, the better.
#4: Enable Event Registration and Tracking
You will need advanced backend features for at least some of your events. The more easily you can leverage them, the better. For example, online event registration can be streamlined within the listing itself, making it easier for whoever organizes the event in question. Similarly, tracking attendance becomes simpler when you can do it within your management solution. This both ensures that you don’t overcrowd any space and can start gathering crucial information for potential future iterations of the event.
#5: Regularly Update and Maintain the Calendar
Finally, and especially once you have a comprehensive event management system in place, it’s crucial to keep it the lively and dynamic experience it can be for your users. Make sure that every campus event is listed on it, and dedicate someone on the events or marketing staff to regularly ‘clean’ the listings.
Train anyone who might post events on its features and the tagging system you’ve established. Then, establish check-ins with them to make sure they use the system accurately on the institution’s behalf.
Manage Student Events Seamlessly With Concept3D
The right event management software can make all the difference for institutions looking to create and maintain a dynamic campus life. Following the above best practices provides better ways for your entire campus community to share events and promote events. They can also find the events they want to attend that match their interests.
That’s where Concept3D and the Localist event management solution come in. Dedicated to higher education use cases and thanks to advanced features that benefit the entire campus community, it can become your central solution for managing and promoting all campus events. Request your Localist and Concept3D demo today to learn more.