How to Let Members Submit Their Own Events
This guide turns your site into a community calendar where members add their own events from the frontend, instead of you creating every event yourself. Everything here is available on the Free plan.
Step 1: Give Members a Place to Submit
You have two ways to let members create events, and you can use either or both:
Option A - The My Events dashboard
Add the My Events block (eventonomy/my-events) to a dedicated page, e.g. /manage-events/. This gives members a full left-nav dashboard - overview, their event list, a create/edit section, and the events they're attending - all in one place. It's a self-contained shell, so it should be the only block on that page. See My Events Dashboard for what each section contains.
Option B - A standalone submission form
Add the Event Editor block (eventonomy/event-editor) to any page for a dedicated event-submission form, separate from the full dashboard. This is the same form used inside the My Events dashboard's create/edit section, so members get a consistent editing experience either way.
Step 2: Configure Who Can Submit and Moderation
Go to Eventonomy → Settings → Submission and set:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Who can create events | Restrict submission to a minimum WordPress role (Subscriber, Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator), or leave blank to allow any logged-in user. |
| Require approval before events are published | When on, member-submitted events go into a Pending review queue instead of publishing immediately. |
| Default status for new events | What status a new event starts with - Draft, Pending review, or Published. |
| Max events per user | Caps how many events one member can create. Set to 0 for unlimited. |
Full field reference in Submission Settings.
How the Moderation Flow Works
With approval mode on:
- A member submits an event. It's forced to Pending review, even if they try to publish it directly.
- You review pending events at Eventonomy → Events, filtered by Pending.
- You approve or reject it. Either way, the organizer gets an email with the result.
- Approved events go live; your own admin-created events are never affected by this setting.
Members without the manage-events capability see "Submit for review" instead of "Publish" in the editor while approval mode is on.
What Members Can Do After Submitting
From their My Events dashboard, members can:
- See stat cards for their events, upcoming events, drafts, RSVPs received, and events they're attending.
- Filter their own events by lifecycle status (All, Draft, Pending, Published, Past, Cancelled).
- Edit, cancel, or view any event they created.
- Manage attendees for their own events.
- Track the events they've RSVP'd to under Attending.
Next Steps
- My Events Block - settings and shortcode reference for the dashboard.
- Event Editor Block - settings and shortcode reference for the standalone form.
- Submission Settings - roles, approval mode, and submission caps.