Setting your categories and divisions

What they are

Categories and divisions are the two ways EventEngine groups your events. Both become filters on your events listing page, and both are dropdowns on the event form.

A category describes what kind of event it is. Product training, industry insights, AGM, that sort of thing. Every event needs one.

A division splits events by branch, chapter or region. North, Yorkshire branch, Scotland. Divisions are optional.

On the public listing page the category filter is labelled Category and the division filter is labelled Branch.

Adding them

During install

The first screen after payment asks for both. Type a name and press Enter to add it, then repeat. Click Next when you're done.

You don't need the full list now. A handful of each is plenty to start with.

Later, from the event form

Both dropdowns on the event form carry a + Add new category or + Add new division option at the bottom. Choose it, type the name, and it's added to the list and selected for that event. You don't need to leave the form or go back to any setup screen.

There's no screen for renaming or deleting one once it exists, so it's worth choosing names you can live with.

Choosing good ones

Keep the lists short. Every category and division you use becomes a filter option on your listing page, and a filter with fifteen entries doesn't help anyone.

The filters are built from your published events rather than from the full list. A category that no event is using doesn't appear as a filter option, so an unused one costs you nothing on the page.

Use divisions for anything regional. The Location filter on the listing is built from each event's venue and shows town and country only, so events in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all read as United Kingdom there. If your audience thinks in regions, put those in divisions and they'll appear under the Branch filter.

How to check it worked

Create or edit an event. Your categories and divisions appear in the two dropdowns at the top of the form.

Publish an event using one of each, then open your events listing. The category shows under the Category filter and the division under Branch.