Hi Mark, look forward to hearing more about events in easysocial.
I am not 100% sure if an events application is fully on the cards for 2.3/2.4release of easysocial. I did hear it being mentioned a few times so il dream a little here
However I did want to open up a discussion on this here to get some feedback and alternative views. I run a business network and one of the challenges is organising real roadshows/live events. Typically we would advertise the event in isolation on the site using something like jomsocial events in the past and then have to market this event to the community and if it was a paid, even use some third party booking system or separate website to then take payment from the user which adds a whole new layer to the transaction on the site and well you can see its a challenge!!
Let me flesh out a scenario below and maybe others have some views on this. Simplicity is what I am trying to achieve here for the user.
Firstly I would love for the events application to have the ability to reside within groups (just like photos and discussion app) therefore if the group was a Technology group for example we then could create all technology events within this group and all users would be aware and see these from the wall and also from the widgets which would help with marketing the event. I am sure this is possible as it seems to be the way all the apps are setup to operate. I know a personal profile could have ability to create events also but for my needs at least unless this person is a famous person with hundreds or more friends then creating events within groups would be my thought process here or maybe both as I know your flexibility is high.
Secondly could the social connect app work with the events and allow the admin of the group and event to invite the users of the group to the specific event? sharing this event on other social networks like facebook would also be a nice touch but not essential innitally.
Thirdly (This is a big one) could the events app utilise the subscriptions app (In certain cases where paid events take place) and ask the user to pay as they signup and follow an event? This would be massive as it would remove that extra clicking off to third party sites which in turn removes a whole layer of complexity from the process of signing up and paying for events. Obviously with paid events places are limited so it would need to have some function to limit attendance numbers. I know you are considering the membership payment app in the future so just fleshing out your thoughts on this also.
It would be a nice touch to display somewhere on the persons personal profile page the events that he/she is now following on the site of course. We would potentially have hundreds of events a year so it would be nice to maybe have this under the apps area of a profile, rather than a large list cluttering the profile but this is design issue and maybe for another chat rather than say the fundamental work flow of events.
I am sure you guys have fleshed this out a little - interested to hear ideas on this and if anything I suggest is maybe a little flawed. I know the membership app working with events for my purposes would be massive. My site will always remain free as its a commitment but the live shows and events mostly can be paid events to cover costs etc so this is where the membership payment app would come in. Now by its nature its a subscription right? So is there a once of way to use this potentially per event as each event may have a different set fee?
opening it up.....