Beginning Feb. 1, there will be a new university-wide events calendar at events.stanford.edu. Here are the important things to know about the change.

Why the change?

The system being retired launched 19 years ago. Technology has improved and user expectations have changed. After extensive research with users of the events calendar and a broad survey of possible systems, the Localist platform was chosen to host the new events calendar because it offered the best combination of great features, flexibility and ease of use.

What’s different – and what stays the same – for event seekers

Event seekers will still be able to browse for events of interest and get essential details about events they’ve learned about elsewhere. In addition, they’ll be able to create an account in the system and follow departments, organizations and venues to stay up to date on events they’re offering. Event seekers will be able to build email digests to get weekly updates about upcoming events that fit their interests and follow friends to see what events they’re interested in.

Publishing events

Event publishers will be able to create and immediately publish events for their department, organization or student group. In addition, event publishers will now have an array of choices for classification – a powerful way to make sure their event gets seen by those who are most likely to be interested in it.

Event publishers will need to first create a user account in the new system and then submit a ticket to ask for event publisher access for a specified organization or department. Only accounts created with a SUNet ID can gain event publisher access. Event publishers will need authorization from their department or group to create events on their behalf. More information is available on the How to Create an Event page.

Existing event links after Feb. 1

Since mid-November, there has been a nightly sync between the legacy (old) system and the new Localist platform. Event publishers should continue entering events into the legacy system until Jan. 31 and begin entering them into the new system on Feb. 1 (with an exception for those with Drupal 7 sites).

The event URLs from the legacy system will change at launch. Consider using a link shortener like bitly.com or the “Request new GOTO Short URL” feature of Stanford’s Vanity URL service to promote your event using a shortened URL. On Feb. 1, return to the link shortener and change the short URL so that it points to the new address.

Displaying events from the new calendar on other websites

RSS/XML feeds are still available, and Stanford Web Services has created a Drupal 9 Event Importer module. A new feature, customizable Widgets, makes it easy for anyone to create a targeted list of events to be displayed on their site. And the Localist platform has an API that offers a JSON feed for complete flexibility.

The legacy version of the calendar post-launch

The legacy version will remain live through the transition, at least through the end of July 2022, so that Drupal 7 users have time to transition their sites to Drupal 9.

Although the old platform will still be live after Feb. 1, it will not be a robust source for events at Stanford since many departments and groups won’t be entering their events there. Unless there is a technical reason to stay on the legacy system, transitioning to the new system immediately is strongly recommended.

Where to go for help

A new open Slack channel, #events-calendar-help, has been created for support. During the pre-launch period and through February, there will be an open office hour on Slack on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12-1 p.m. Pacific for real-time assistance.

There is also a Service Now form specifically for Events Calendar questions. Using this communication channel is recommended because questions will be distributed to several people, all of whom can help.