Here are some tips for adding events to our Cirkla Event Calendar:

1. YOU CAN PRINT THESE INSTRUCTIONS. These instructions will help you along in adding your first few events. Feel free to add as many events as you like, but please do not add events out farther than six months. To print these instructions, click on the little PDF icon on the top of this article. That should load this article onto a printer friendly page. (NOTE: With some versions of Internet Explorer, you need to right click on the PDF icon and choose "Open in New Window" to be able to open it in PDF.)

2. LOG IN. To add an event to the Cirkla Events page, you first need to be logged in. Only registered users can add information to the calendar, although registering is free to the public. If you are not logged in, there will not be a link to add an event so you won't be able to add anything!

3. GO TO THE EVENTS PAGE AND CHOOSE YOUR REGION. Once you have logged in, you must go to the Cirkla Events page to access the Add Event link. The easiest way to add a new event is to go to the Event Category that you want first, ex: Midwest Events, from the Events menu on the left side of the screen.

4. CLICK ON THE 'ADD EVENT' HYPERLINK. Once you are on the Event Listing page, scroll down under the event calendar and there is an Add an event hyperlink. It is near the bottom of the page. Click on it to enter a new event.

5. FILL IN THE SUBJECT. The subject line is what is visible on the calendar, so this line is important. Keep it brief (40 characters or less is ideal)! Don't put dates, times or contact information there - just give the event a short title and the city,state is helpful. There is another place to put extra details. Ex: Yoga Workshop in Minneapolis, MN. THIS SECTION IS SEARCHABLE.

6. CHOOSE A CATEGORY. If you try and save your event without a category, it will not let you save.

7. FILL IN THE ACTIVITY (DETAILS). This section should contain the following information: Facilitator Name, Location Name, Location Complete Address and Topic Details. This information shows up when they click on the event subject on the Event List. THIS ENTIRE SECTION IS SEARCHABLE.

8. ENTER THE LOCATION, CONTACT (FACILITATOR) AND EXTRA INFO FIELDS. This information is important because this is what shows when a member clicks on the link for the event. The Extra Info area is for relevant information that you don't need it to be included in the search parameters such as some topic details, directions to the site, what they need to bring or what they should do to prepare for this event. THE LOCATION, CONTACT AND EXTRA INFO FIELDS ARE NOT SEARCHABLE.

9. GO TO THE CALENDAR TAB TO ENTER THE DATE AND TIME. If you don't enter a date and time, it will assume that the event is today. To change the date, click on the calendar icon to the right of the date field to pick a date. Keep the format as it is. If you try and Americanize the formula, the date doesn't read properly and your event will not display properly. The recurring event information area at the bottom is only activated if you have a different start date and end date. If it is a multi-day event, make sure that you edit both the start and end date fields. You really don't need to edit the recurring area if you have no special recurring patterns. Please do not set your end dates out farther than six months for recurring appointments.

10. CHECK THE FORUM IF YOU HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS. There is a topic in the Cirkla Forum for the Cirkla Calendar. Please feel free to post comments or suggestions there that are outside the scope of this document. Unfortunately, I did not write the software to generate these calendars so I am at their mercy for product updates, feature additions, etc., but it is good to hear your feedback so please let me know if there is anything we can do to make it better. This calendar application is called JEvents and does a good job for most of what we need. I remain ever grateful to the people who helped me to add this capability to our site!