How to Setup Event Espresso and Publish Your First Event

In this guide, we will learn how to setup Event Espresso and publish your very first event. It is recommended that you work through the guide completely but if you have already completed certain steps, then feel free to skip ahead as needed.

Install and Activate the Event Espresso plugin

To install Event Espresso go to Plugins -> Add new, then install the zip file you downloaded from your account and activate.

We have more in-depth documentation on this here: https://support.eventespresso.com/article/391-install-event-espresso-4

Update the Your Organization Page

The Your Organization page allows you to customize information for Event Espresso.

This page can be found by locating Event Espresso in the WordPress admin menus and then and clicking on General Settings. This page has the following areas: Contact Information, Company Logo and Social Links. Add any details relevant to you/your organisation here.

Activate your Event Espresso license

Your Event Espresso license key can be found under the License Keys section in your Event Espresso account HERE.

Go to Event Espresso -> License keys.

Add your license key for Event Espresso core and click Activate.

We have more in-depth documentation on this here: https://support.eventespresso.com/article/635-how-to-activate-your-event-espresso-license-key

Set up the 'Your Organization' settings

Now, we need to update the information about our business/organization. Go to Event Espresso -> General Settings, set up the Contact Information so it is relevant to you/your organization, update all fields, and remove any unnecessary information. Note that the country that is selected will affect the currency options that are used throughout Event Espresso.

Next you can upload a logo for your organization (if available) using the option in the Company Logo area. A size of 400 pixels wide or smaller is recommended. Additionally, you can add links to your social networks using the fields in the Social Links area. Now you are done updating the Your Organization page and you can click on the blue Save button to save your changes. We are now ready to setup a payment method so that you can accept payments (if required) for your event registrations.

Set up a Payment Method

Go to Event Espresso -> Payment Methods in the WordPress admin menu.

The Invoice (offline) payment method should already be enabled by default, but to accept online payments, we can use an online payment method such as PayPal Commerce, so click on that payment method name and then activate.

For details on how to connect your PayPal account to the PayPal Commerce payment method, follow the documentation here: https://support.eventespresso.com/article/338-paypal-commerce-checkout-payment-gateway

Create Your First Event Using the Event Editor

The Event Editor can be found by locating Event Espresso in the WordPress admin menus and then clicking on Events. Once on the Events Overview page, click on Add New Event button which appears at the top of the screen. In the example event that we’ll be using, we’ll focus on these areas of the Event Editor: Event Title, Event Description, Event Tickets & Datetimes, Event Registration Options, and Save New Event. Information about these options and others in the Event Editor can be found in the Help tab which appears in the top right corner of the screen.

Information for our example event:

Title: Spring Concert Celebration
Description: Come kickoff spring with a fun evening of music and food.
Event Start: March 22nd at 7pm
Event End: March 22nd at 10pm
Event Limit: 500
Free Ticket: no charge
Premium Ticket: $20, allows early admission at 6pm

Begin by entering a title or name for your event. This should be descriptive as it will be shown in various areas of Event Espresso including the WordPress admin and on the front end. Next, enter a description for your event. Event Espresso supports the rich text editor in WordPress so you can format your description using the toolbar that appears above the description area. Now scroll down to the option for Event Tickets & Datetimes. In this section we’ll setup a datetime and tickets for our events. Click on the Event Start field and change it to the date and time that your event begins. Next, click on the Event End field and change it to the date and time that your event ends. You can optionally set a limit on the number of tickets that you want to be available for this event.

We are now ready to setup tickets for our event. By default a Free Ticket will be created for our event. If you will be offering free tickets for your event, then you can begin editing the options for this ticket. Update the Ticket Name, Goes On Sale, Sell Until, and adjust the quantity. If you will not be offering free tickets, you can update the existing options for this ticket to convert it to a paid ticket.

Next, locate the Event Registration Options widget. The active status will show unknown since we are currently creating a new event. The next option allows you to specify the maximum number of tickets that can be bought per order. For example, if you wanted to limit a registrant (attendee) to buying 5 tickets at one time, then you would enter a 5 in the field. The field for Alternate Registration Page is useful if you want attendees to register through a separate URL. If you are new to Event Espresso, then leave this field blank. Next, you can enter a phone number (optional) for your event. Then you’ll want to select the Default Registration Status. A status of Pending Payment is recommended since it will allow your registrants (attendees) to make payments (if necessary). You can learn about the other options by viewing the help tab for the Registration Form Settings page.

Now double-check that your event information is correct: Title, Description, Event Tickets & Datetimes. Then locate the Save New Event widget and click on the Save Draft button to review your event later or click on the Publish button to make your event live.

Congratulations on publishing your first event with Event Espresso! Now browse to your event on your website to see how it will appear to your registrants.

Be sure to toggle full screen in the bottom corner of the video and switch the quality to HD.

Notes: in the video above we create a sample event for a cooking workshop.