Working With an Event
We display these events on the Events page to which people from across campus can publish their own event items. Event submissions are only accepted through WMU CMS. Events are also available for display in section-specific event queues on landing pages (e.g., School of Music)—speak with your section manager for details.
Every event has two parts: the event teaser and the event page—every event has its own page.Every published event will appear on the WMU Event page; past events are not displayed.
The event teaser will display title, teaser text, thumbnail image, date and time. Clicking on the event teaser will take the audience to the event page. These are listed on the WMU Events page.
The event page will display the title, body text, cover image, date, time, cost, location and any other information entered by the author. This is displayed within the section where it was created.
Every published event will appear on the WMU Event page; past events are not displayed.
In the event of inclement weather, the creator of an event is responsible for making changes to their event posting. These changes can include cancellation, transition to virtual, postponement, no change, etc. The Office of Marketing and Communications will no longer make changes to individual events based on weather disruptions.
Events are not accepted through email—they can only be added through WMU CMS.
How to create an event
Events can be created by WMU CMS authors and published by WMU CMS publishers. Once published, an event is displayed in the WMU Events page—past/expired events are not displayed, only current and future events are shown.
What is your event
Click on Add content in the administration menu and click on Event.
Enter the Title of your event (e.g., Live and Interactive: Western Brass Quartet).
Choose your Section (e.g., School of Music).
Select an Event type—choose the one that best describes your event (e.g., Arts and entertainment).
Add some information in the Body to give further information to your audiences (e.g., naming all the performers)—the value of the Body is used in the event teaser and event page; however when the Body text is used in the event teaser, it will be limited to 300 characters. If you would like more control over your teaser text, you may click on Edit Summary and whatever you enter here will appear as the event teaser text, and the Body text will be used on the event page.
When is your event
Add a Date and a Time.
Check All day if your event is an all day event—all day does not mean "8 a.m. to 5 p.m."
Check Show End Time if you would like.
You may Add another item if there are multiple times for your event; however, if the Location changes for that item, you will need to create a new event (e.g., if the show is in Dalton Center one night and Miller the next, you would create two events).
Where is your event
Add a Name—this would be the name of the building itself (e.g., Dalton Center).
Enter the Street address—when possible, use a real, physical mailing address. Avoid using "1903 W Michigan Ave" which does not provide an accurate location.
Add City, State, ZIP code and Country.
If your event doesn't have a location (e.g., Spring tuition due), then do not provide a location. All of this is used so that we are eligible for display as a Google rich result.
How much is your event
Add a Price if there is a monetary value to the cost of admission (e.g., 5). A dollar sign ($) is not needed; it will be added by the system for you.
- The box next to the Price field can be used to add detail to the cost and will appear after the price (e.g., with college ID). This is also a good place to simply type "Free" if there is no cost to attend the event.
Use the Description if further instructions are necessary.
The Link to purchase tickets online can sometimes be the only field you need—use it only for linking to an online ticket purchasing service (e.g., https://tickets.millerauditorium.com). Do not use it to link to an information page about the event.
The When Available can be used if you would like this level of detail; with options of: In Stock, Sold Out and Preorder. Do not use this field if you are not going to maintain its accuracy.
Who to contact about your event
Add a Name, Phone and Email for the primary contact person. The email will be hidden from the audience and clicking on it will open a contact form in another window.
Images you can add to your event
A Cover image is used on the event page itself.
A Thumbnail image is used for the event teaser and is displayed as a thumbnail on the WMU Events page.
You must add alternate text to all images that are not solely decorative. Screen readers do not read graphics—without alternative text, they will read the file names or path names of the image. This is not what we want for our audiences.
The text should be clear, concise, and understandable in isolation (e.g., use full names of people if possible).
You don't have to describe everything in the image in full detail.
What would I want to know about this image if I couldn't see it? What is the purpose of this image on the page?
Refrain from using genders, race unless it is relevant to the story.
Additional information for your event
Tags are a way that we can add terms to our event that can be used to filter feeds of events on a flexible page within your section. Add any number of single words or phrases—separated by a comma—to add to this taxonomy (e.g., music, brass, live show). Tags will autocomplete if another WMU CMS author has created it.
Attachments work just like in basic pages, where you may attach a PDF that is relevant to the event. This will produce a URL for the file that may be linked in the Body.
Once you save, the event will need to proceed through the moderation process before it becomes published.
What happens after an event is published?
All published events will appear in the Events page. They are also available for display on landing pages—talk to your section manager for details.