How to let readers submit events (and charge for featured listings)

Readers, venues and organizers can submit their own events. Every submission waits for review before it goes live.

Set up the submission form

1) Create a page (for example "Submit an Event") and add the shortcode [eec_submit_event].

2) Add your reCAPTCHA v3 keys under Settings > LocalCalendar > General to block spam.

3) Optional: create a "My Events" page with [lc_my_events] so submitters can see their events and status.

Review submitted events

• New submissions appear under LocalCalendar > LocalCalendar Events as Pending. Open the event, check it, and click Publish.
• Turn on Pending Event Alerts to get an email for every new submission. You can add more than one email address.
• Turn on Email the Submitter on Approval to send the submitter a message with a link when their event goes live. You can edit the subject and message, and use {title}, {site} and {link}.
• Turn on AI Auto-Approval to have pending events checked hourly, twice daily, daily or weekly. Events that pass are published. Anything flagged stays pending for you to review.

Charge for Featured and Recurring listings

Free listings are always available. You can also offer paid upgrades on the form:

• Featured listing - pinned to the top of the calendar.
• Recurring event - one submission for a repeating event.
• Featured + Recurring bundle.

To turn these on, add your Stripe keys under Settings > LocalCalendar > General > Stripe - Paid Event Upgrades, choose which upgrades to offer, set the prices (in cents, for example 500 = $5.00) and edit the labels if you like. Start in Test mode, then switch to Live mode.

Every paid submission is listed under the Paid Submissions tab, with a CSV export.