FAQ’s

Frequently Asked Questions ….. 

 What is MyCommunityCalendar all about?

MyCommunityCalendar.ca is owned by the non profit  Seniors Information Center of Moncton and is mainly operated by volunteers. 100% of all proceeds from advertising go to our non profit. Since we officially launched our calendar in February, 2014, we have been very busy obtaining content and content partners in the community to make MyCommunityCalendar the first and by far the most comprehensive and synchronized calendar in southeastern NB.  We are the foundation for boosting community engagement. We now have over 60 community organizations involved with this initiative and growing. – Back to Table of Contents

Why did you develop MyCommunityCalendar?

Many event calendars struggle to maintain their web sites and software, have very little content, are out of date and many just give up yet remain online and confuse viewers.  Where does a senior, a parent, youth, a tourist, a business visitor and/or many others like yourself find things to do everyday or to plan their trip to Greater Moncton? If they could, would they attend more events or visit longer in our community?  Those are the main reasons we developed the calendar as a community project to help all of us be more active and participate socially in our community. We also developed it in the hopes of developing a sustainable funding source for our charity. We sell advertising on our calendar to support it and help fund our non profit for $75.00 per month. Community engagement starts with a managed, synchronized community calendar of ALL calendars. MyCommunityCalendar.ca is that solution! Back to Table of Contents

Why is our website slower than others to load the first page?

It does take a few extra seconds for the software to create a unique web page for everyone that visits our calendar. For example, if you visit our site at 5PM you do not see events that already happened that day. We simply load the next 75 events that will be happening in the future. Yet, if you  choose a future or past date (yes you can even go back to see what happened last week or last year at this time), the system would create a new page based on your choice of date. Pretty smart eh? We have over 3000 events and activities listed in our database so that can take a bit of time to create a calendar just for you. So we apologise for the slow initial load time of our website but for you to have the best and smartest calendar, please be patient, we believe it’s worth it.

When we chose the software to develop our community calendar we had a number of choices. They included an inexpensive and simple event listing calendar or a dynamic, colorful, informative calendar searchable by date, category and community. So instead of you looking at old events with simple titles or limited information, events that don’t interest you or are not in your community and of course, events that already happened like most calendars, we only show you the ones coming up based on when you enter our site.  Sort of like building a web page just for you… MYCommunityCalendar so to say.

We also load a lot of images for each event to give you a much more colorful calendar and allow the event organizer to provide PDF’s, event posters, ticket purchases or other documents to make sure you have ALL the event information and not just a couple of lines forcing you to call them to get more information. You can further choose the community or communities you want to search and by category or categories (types) of events. Also we have over 1200 events and activities listed in our database everymonth so that can take an extra couple of seconds to create it just for you.  Should you have any other questions please send us an email at info@mycommunitycalendar.ca. Back to Table of Contents

How much does MyCommunityCalendar cost?

Nothing! It’s absolutely free for everyone. Back to Table of Contents

Do I have to register for social networks like Facebook or others to use MyCommunityCalendar?

You do not have to register for any social networks to use our calendar services tools. However, to use our follow tools so you can post or promote an event from our calendar to your Facebook or LinkedIn page, you will need to be signed into those social networks. Back to Table of Contents

What browsers are supported by MyCommunityCalendar?

Google Chrome (latest version), Safari (latest version), Firefox (latest version), Internet Explorer 9, 10, and 11 , Edge and Opera (latest version) Note: Some features may not work correctly in Internet Explorer 6, which we no longer support. We recommend that you upgrade your browser, its free. Back to Table of Contents

What were your challenges and obstacles in developing MyCommunityCalendar.ca?

Well, there were many but at least the first one, financing, was overcome by the generosity of a charity foundation to help us with the initial and first year development and operating expenses. In our initial business plan of February 2014, we uncovered these challenges:

• We had to make a major investment in marketing, business planning, software development, purchasing a HOT site name and securing content partners
• We had to make it viewable and accessible on all computers, types of browsers, tablets, smartphones, 211 and with social media like Facebook “pass along” tools
• We needed to provide secure access to others to manage their events & cancellations
• We had to engage the entire community to work together for the greater good … non profits, event organizers, entertainment venues and tourism venues. We even provided business cards for our web site to taxi cabs and hotels. A lot of people don’t realize that the reason a visitor stays an extra night in our area is because there are still things to see and do. Otherwise, just like you and me, we go home.
• We had to have a financial model that would help raise monies for our non profit
• We did not want to be just another calendar. We wanted to be a marketing partner to sell solutions to make more people aware and attend the event or activity. Back to Table of Contents

How do I add an event?

• You can add your events, one by one yourself for free. Just link to the “Post Your Event” GREEN button on our site, and take it from there. You can also add a jpg picture, logo or single page pdf as an image to enhance your event.
• Hire us to post your events, including a robust description, image, all relevant content and categories and tags. – $10/event.
• Become a “trusted source” and get an invitation to post and edit your own events securely anytime/anywhere. This gives you full control of your event data for any changes or last minute cancellations. Back to Table of Contents

What kind of events can be posted?

Food & Drink

• Bar Events (trivia night, karaoke, comedy, special events)
• Beer and Brewery Events (tastings, pairings, special events, happy hours)
• Culinary Events (demos, cooking classes, new menus announced, openings)
• Wine Events (tastings, pairings, special events)

Arts & Culture

• Visual Arts (art gallery openings, classes, art shows)
• Books & Reading (author readings, book clubs, literacy training)
• Crafts & DIY (knitting groups, demos)
• Theatre & Dance (auditions, performances, openings, high school musicals)
• Registration, ticket sales and auditions, opening and closing dates only
• Music (live music, choral groups, special concerts)
• We’d love to see karaoke nights, live music, beer tastings, cooking demonstrations and more. Postings such as half-price wine night and half-price burger night, for example, are not ok.

Community

• Benefits & Fundraisers (must be an event, not an online fundraiser such as a campaign)
• Classes & Workshops (free and pay-to-attend events)
• Club Meetings (all kinds!)
• Faith & Spirituality (church services, special events for congregations;
• Family Fun
• Festivals & Fairs (small and large festivals, school craft sales, church festivals)
• Food, clothing and toy drives, opening and closing dates only
• Game Nights (board games, computer games, gatherings)
• Health & Wellness (instructional programs, workshops, drop-in community boot camps)
• Holiday & Seasonal
• Meetups & Networking
• Pets & Outdoor gatherings
• Public Meetings (budget and planning board hearings, fire & police events)
• Signature Events (special, annual events for local organizations)
• Sports & Fitness (races, bike rides, local tournaments, larger games such as playoffs)
• Yard Sales

Business

• Business, tech
• trade seminars and workshops

Schools

For events of appeal to the whole community, such as a high school musical or a holiday craft sale, we’ll list these events. For now, PTA meetings, book sales for students only, games and events only of interest to students and parents at a particular school are not events we’ll be listing.

You and your event team spend so much time, thoughtfulness and consideration to make your event the best possible for your guests. Here are some tips when you’re posting events on MyCommunityCalendar.ca:

Some Posting tips –

• Write a friendly, welcoming, descriptive introduction. Pay special attention to the first 30-35 words as this is what shows up on the site homepage and is visible to all. And remember that the person seeing your event is not on your website and may not know your organization well. Help them get to know you buy including a link to your site.
• Add a photo or graphic. If you have a JPG file for your event or a single page poster in pdf, you can upload that. No larger than 1.5MB please.
• Use upper and lower case for your event titles, vs ALL CAPS.
• Select a community in the categories section that tells where your event will be held vs for whom the event is held, i.e. you should only pick one community for an event.
• Select a category(s) that best describes your event. You could put more than one if applicable for example youth and arts and culture.
• Make sure your event is an event, especially for restaurants and bars. “Stop on by and buy (or eat) stuff” is not an event. “Come sample xyz from this time to that time on abc date” is.
• And follow the “Post Your Event” form questions and fields. Fill in all the event information fields and only put what’s requested in each field.

How do I navigate through the MyCommunityCalendar pages?

In today’s point and click Internet, simply do that. Just point and click on a subject on the top navigation bar for instance. If you are interested in all the events and activities in southeastern NB, simply browse today’s calendar that is displayed when you first link to our home page. If you want a specific date, click on the calendar button and chose one.  If you want to filter your selection by the event category you are interested in or the community you want to view or see the event results from, you can choose one or multiple categories or communities. Our database software does all the rest to deliver a new page for just what you want. Our site is very intuitive! Back to Table of Contents

What kind of events can be listed?

All kinds of events can be listed, as long as they are held in Greater Moncton and surrounding communities in southeastern NB.  These are listed when you link on “Communities” at the top of the event listings. Free events, paid-entrance events, small events and large events, cooking classes, geocaching, workshops, performances, fundraisers, annual “signature” events, auditions, trivia nights, beer tastings, outdoor adventures, family-friendly events, live music, yard  sales and much more are the kind of events that can be posted. Back to Table of Contents

Who can upload events?

Anyone — individuals, organizations or businesses. Simply use our “Post Your Event” link on our home page above the listings.  Currently all postings are free and are moderated by volunteers for content and accuracy before they are posted. Back to Table of Contents

Can I upload events even if I’m not an official rep of a business or organization?

Sure. It’s a community calendar, and it may take a while before all the businesses and organizations in our area are aware of and actively posting their events, so yes, please do! Also let others in your organization know about the calendar so that they can get more of their events posted. Don’t forget to post your event on your Facebook page using our Facebook link on your event page. Back to Table of Contents

What if I need help getting my announcements posted?

If you need help (as in labor and smarts) to get them posted, you can hire us or one of our local writers to write your event announcement, post a graphic and upload your information for $20 per event payable using our “Donate to MCC” on our navigation bar. Back to Table of Contents

What makes for a good event posting?

A short headline (three to five words), an upbeat and interesting announcement, good category selection(s), a community selection and a great image! The first 30 or so words are what will be visible without an additional click to your full event details, so write your event announcements to draw people in from the start! You can add links, photos, video and more to your event announcements. Back to Table of Contents

Do the links and photos on our website come through with a copy and paste?

Yes! If you’ve already written a great event announcement on your website or blog (one with links and photos), just copy and paste that information into our calendar under description and all of your information should come over. Easy eh! Back to Table of Contents

How do you make money on a site with free listings?

We have ads ranging from as low as $75.00 per month for our featured sponsors.   Our link for advertising opportunities can be found HERE. Back to Table of Contents

Do you offer other services for event promotion?

We have invested heavily on optimizing our calendar in the search engines. As a result you will find us at the top of the listings when searching for community events in an area. Yes, we offer sponsorship packages for additional social media promotion including Facebook posts and promotions, featured events and venue highlighting programs to match your event, venue and budget. Back to Table of Contents

SUBMISSION TERMS

All listings are presented in the language supplied by the poster. You are free to post your event in any language you please. We do not translate events. Should you wish to place both a French and English version of your event, simply separate it by using a / in the title and perhaps putting one of the languages in italics.

Should the event or activity be repeated every day, week or month, please let us know in the description section of the form. MyCommunityCalendar reserves the right to edit or decline event submissions for any reason. If your event is already on our calendar and you wish to update information or cancel the event, please contact us at info@mycommunitycalendar.ca. We will make the changes for you.

In most cases, all events are reviewed within a couple hours, but it can take up to 24 hours. If your event is accepted for posting, the event listing will become live upon acceptance.

All individuals and organizations using this free service must adhere to the following guidelines:

• All events must be open to the public.
• All events posted should be in Southeastern NB
• No events will be posted that may be offensive to the community, such as:

1. events that promote discrimination because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, or sexual orientation or gender;
2. events that incite hatred or harm against identifiable groups or individuals;
3. events that display pornographic or sexually explicit material of any kind;
4. events that knowingly promote illegal, false or misleading information.

The Seniors Information Centre is not liable, in any way, for any potential loss, damage or injury related to the content, correct or incorrect, on this website. MyCommunityCalendar.ca does not necessarily endorse all posted events. MyCommunityCalendar.ca reserves the right to refuse or delete any event in the public interest, at any time, without notification, explanation or remuneration. Back to Table of Contents

I have a great idea for MyCommunityCalendar! Where can I send it?

We’d love to hear your feedback. You can post your ideas or feedback on our “contact us” link or send us an email at info@mycommunitycalendar.ca. Back to Table of Contents