WordPress for Toastmasters*The WordPress for Toastmasters software includes an event registration module you can use to sign up visitors and prospective members. You can capture their contact information, allowing an officer to reach out in advance of the meeting.
In addition, you can send visitors an automated confirmation message. That can include the Zoom link for online or hybrid meetings, the directions to your meeting location, or details about activities they will be invited to participate in (for example, if your club invites visitors to try Table Topics). You can test it for yourself by signing up for an account at toastmost.org, if you don’t already have one.
Here is the event invitation as it appears on the home page of Online Presenters. Online Presenters actively uses its website as a recruiting tool — and has grown into the largest of the online clubs.
As of early May 2021, adding that home page RSVP Now content block is one of the standard options offered in the setup wizard. In this post, I’ll cover how to activate this feature if it’s not already turned on. You will also learn how to customize the RSVP form and confirmation message.
Adding the RSVPMaker Next Events block
You add a new content block by clicking one of the + buttons on the editing screen. Another method, shown above, is by typing the / character at the beginning of a line, followed by a keyword. Typing “rsvpmaker” displays the blocks associated with the events management and registration system used by WordPress for Toastmasters. Choose RSVPMaker Next Events.
The placeholder that appears in the editor allows you to specify whether only the next event should be displayed or also a few others.
For this to work, you must have “RSVPs On” set for upcoming meetings. You can make that the default for new RSVPMaker posts on the Settings -> RSVPMaker screen. To apply that settings to your existing templates and events, check the box under Apply to Existing Events.
Customize the Confirmation Message and RSVP Registration Form
There are links to the default confirmation message and default registration form on the Settings -> RSVPMaker page. You can also navigate to them by looking at any individual event and opening the drop-down list for event editing options, as shown here.
The confirmation message will be displayed in the WordPress editor. You edit it just like a web page or blog post. A few fancy formatting blocks like columns may not translate well into email, but you can add headings, images, links, and bold or italic text.
You also edit the registration form in the WordPress editor. In this case, most of the content consists of specialized content blocks representing text input fields and other form fields. See this knowledge base article. I recommend keeping the form short and simple. However, an advanced club might want to prompt visitors to specify their level of experience with Toastmasters, for example. An online club might decide that it doesn’t make sense to ask for a phone number or prompt for the names of guests (which would be more important if you had to save seats for the whole party of guests).
Advanced Uses of RSVPMaker
RSVPMaker can also be configured to collect online payments and includes many other features not covered here. See rsvpmaker.com for more details.
