Events

Overview

Use Events in Manager to publish programs, volunteer days, guided activities, and other scheduled experiences for visitors.

Events can include a schedule, location, description, banner image, cost, website, phone number, RSVP setting, and related locations.

Open Events

Open Content & Media > Events from the sidebar.

Events open in a calendar view. Use the calendar controls to move between dates and switch between month, week, day, and agenda views.

Select an event on the calendar to edit it. Select an empty calendar slot or New Event to create an event.

Create an Event

Select New Event.
Enter the event name.
Add an optional banner image.
Write a short description.
Set the start time, end time, and time zone. The end must be after the start; check both dates when rescheduling an event.
Choose the event place.
Add a website, cost, and phone number when available.
Turn on Accept RSVPs if visitors should be able to RSVP.
Add related locations when the event is connected to specific places.
Select Save.

Choose a Place

Use the Place field to decide how the event location appears to visitors.

Location connects the event to an existing OuterSpatial area, trail, outing, or Point of Interest.
Address lets you search for a real-world address.
Free-form lets you enter custom location text.

Use an existing OuterSpatial location when possible so visitors can open the related place directly.

Manage RSVPs

Turn on Accept RSVPs when you want visitors to RSVP for the event.

After an event has RSVPs, the event detail page can show the attendee count. If you turn RSVPs off while attendees exist, Manager asks you to confirm the change.

Use Related Locations to attach areas, trails, outings, and Points of Interest to the event.

Related locations help visitors understand where the event happens and can surface the event on related place pages.

Edit or Duplicate an Event

Open an event from the calendar to edit its details. Select Save Event after making changes.

Use Duplicate Event when you want to create a similar event. Manager opens a new event form prefilled from the original event so you can adjust the schedule and details before saving.

Review Imported Events

If imported event review is available for your account and your organization has a connected calendar, select Review Imported Events on the Events page. Organization administrators can see whether the calendar is syncing, find out why a date isn’t published, and make the few decisions only they can make.

When your organization has a connected calendar, the Events page and the event form remind you that events on that calendar are imported automatically. Add an event in Manager only when it is not on the calendar; otherwise the import creates it and keeps it up to date.

The top of the page summarizes each connected calendar once: when it last synced (it syncs hourly), whether that sync could reach the calendar, and what the next sync is expected to change. If OuterSpatial has paused publishing for a calendar, a single notice says so; decisions you save are kept and applied when publishing resumes. Select Reload to refresh the page.

The page has three tabs:

Needs Attention lists upcoming dates that aren’t published or whose latest calendar change can’t be applied yet.
All Calendar Events lists every date from the calendar with its status. Search by event or park name.
Not Imported lists dates someone chose not to import.

Needs Attention

Dates are grouped by what’s holding them, and each reason is explained once for the whole group:

Needs Your Decision holds possible duplicates, events edited in Manager after the calendar published them, and calendar parks that aren’t matched to an Area yet.
Fix in the Calendar (named for your calendar) holds dates with calendar data you can correct yourself, such as an end time earlier than the start time or a signup link that isn’t a web address. The next hourly sync picks up the fix and publishes them automatically. You don’t need to recreate them in Manager.
Waiting on OuterSpatial holds dates OuterSpatial is resolving, such as dates whose status is blank in the calendar. You don’t need to do anything.

Select Details on a date to see the exact calendar values, its calendar listing ID, and when it was last seen in the calendar. Dates that are already published show Published — Update Waiting: visitors keep seeing the published version until the newest calendar change can be applied. Cancelled dates aren’t published as new events and don’t appear here.

Signup links with a valid hostname can be imported without an “https://” prefix. Signup links and times are shown exactly as the calendar supplies them. An end time of 12:00 AM means midnight; if an event ends at noon, set it to 12:00 PM in the calendar.

Decide If Two Events Are the Same

When a calendar date looks like an existing event, the card asks Is this the same event? It says where the existing event came from — another listing in this calendar, another calendar, or Manager — and links to it.

The comparison lists what matches in one line and shows only real differences side by side, with Published now on one side and This listing on the other. Words that appear in only one description are highlighted. Differences that don’t change meaning, such as spacing or punctuation, aren’t flagged. When several existing events could match, the closest match is shown first; choose another from the list to compare it.

Choose an outcome, read what it does, and select Save Decision:

Yes, Same Event — Keep the Published Version: the calendar listing doesn’t create another event. The published event keeps updating from its own listing; changes made only to this listing don’t appear.
Yes, Same Event — Keep the Manager Version: for an event created in Manager. It stays as it is, and the calendar won’t update or cancel it; keep it up to date in Manager.
Yes, Same Event — Update It From the Calendar: appears only when OuterSpatial has enabled calendar takeover and the Manager event has one schedule and no RSVPs. The calendar replaces its title, description, place, and time now and after each sync; its photo, related locations, and RSVPs are kept.
No, These Are Different Events: the calendar listing is published as its own event on the next hourly sync (or when publishing resumes), unless something else holds it.

If this listing already has its own published event, the only choice is No, Keep Both Events.

These decisions can’t be undone in Manager. Contact support if an event needs to be unlinked. If an event changes while you’re reviewing it, the comparison updates automatically; review it again before saving. If a decision can’t be saved, the page explains why.

Choose Which Version to Keep

If someone edited a calendar event in Manager after the calendar published it, or added RSVPs or another schedule to it, the calendar’s changes are held and the card asks Which version should visitors see? Use the Calendar’s Version replaces the Manager edits and keeps the event updated from the calendar; it appears only when the calendar can manage the event. Keep the Manager Edits keeps your edits, and the calendar stops updating the event, including cancellations. When RSVPs or another schedule were added, the choice is Keep Managing It in Manager, with the same effect. If you’re not sure, leave it: visitors keep seeing the current version.

Match a Calendar Park

For a park the calendar names but that isn’t matched to an Area, choose the Area and select Save Park Match. The match applies to every date at that calendar park and can’t be undone in Manager. Nothing is published immediately; the next sync publishes any dates that are ready. If the calendar provides no usable park name or number, OuterSpatial follows up.

Don’t Import a Date

In a date’s details, select Don’t Import This Date to keep one unpublished date out of OuterSpatial, even if the calendar is corrected later. Other dates of the same event aren’t affected, and published events aren’t removed. Select Undo on the confirmation, or open Not Imported later and select Import Again. Importing a date again has the next sync check it; it’s published only if nothing else is holding it.

Not Imported shows who chose not to import each upcoming date and when. Past dates are listed separately.

All Calendar Events

Open All Calendar Events to browse every date from the calendar or only Next Sync, the events the next sync will add, update, or remove from upcoming listings. Search by event or park name and use Previous and Next to move through the results. Each event shows its date, park, available photo, and status. New Event adds an event to Manager. Update Existing Event explains which fields will change, such as its description or date and time. Description formatting improvements can appear here even when the calendar hasn’t changed. Events with no changes appear as Already Synced. Select Review Event on a flagged event to open it on Needs Attention or Not Imported. Each date of a recurring calendar event appears separately.

Valid events publish while other dates wait; individual calendar-data problems don’t stop the whole calendar. A sync that would remove an unusually large share of upcoming events is held for review. Browsing doesn’t publish events or change decisions. Existing event photos are retained when syncing updates an event. Select a photo to enlarge it; a missing photo doesn’t prevent reviewing an event.

Manual events with RSVPs or recurring, missing, or multiple schedules can’t be taken over by a calendar through review. Staff can enable RSVPs after an event is managed by a calendar.

Edit a Calendar-Managed Event

Calendar-managed events use the same form as other events, with a Managed by an Event Feed notice and muted, read-only fields for details supplied by the calendar. Update the connected calendar to change the name, description, dates, time zone, primary location, web page, cost, or phone number.

Staff can turn OuterSpatial RSVPs on or off and change the banner image, related locations, and sponsors in Manager. Syncs preserve these settings and existing responses. Visitors can RSVP when RSVPs are enabled and the event is scheduled and available. Related Locations and Sponsors appear together in the sidebar on wider screens.

Banner images are a local choice: sync can add a calendar photo when the event has no photos, but does not replace the image you choose in Manager.

Cancelled, fully booked, or withdrawn events show a notice in Manager. Calendar-managed events cannot be deleted directly. Contact support if an event needs to be unlinked.

Add Sponsors

Create reusable sponsors under Organization Settings > Sponsors. When you link a sponsor to an OuterSpatial organization, its name and logo stay synchronized by default; use Override beside either field to manage that value independently. On an existing event, use the Sponsors card to add up to 10 sponsors, choose one featured sponsor, change their order, and save the assignments. Sponsor assignments are managed separately from the event details.

Each OuterSpatial organization can be linked to one reusable sponsor in your organization's sponsor list. If it is already linked, edit the existing sponsor or select it from the Sponsors card.

Delete an Event

Use Delete Event only when the event should be permanently removed. Confirm the deletion when prompted.