How to Create an Event Slider in WordPress

by Waseem Abbas on August 14, 2017 | Reader Disclosure

Do you want your upcoming events to sell themselves on your homepage? A plain list of dates is easy to skim past, but a slider puts each event’s best photo front and center. In this tutorial, we’ll share how to create an event slider in WordPress.

We often see event pages that are updated by hand every week, which means old events linger long after they’re over. The approach below pulls your events into the slider automatically, and you can schedule it so it never shows an event that’s already happened.

WordPress doesn’t include an event slider by default, so we’ll combine a free events plugin with Soliloquy. To create an event slider in WordPress, you’ll need to follow these 7 steps:

Step 1. Install and activate the Events Manager plugin
Step 2. Add your events with featured images
Step 3. Install and activate the Soliloquy slider plugin
Step 4. Install and activate the Featured Content Addon
Step 5. Create a Featured Content slider using the event post type
Step 6. Schedule your event slider
Step 7. Publish the slider on your WordPress site

When you’re done, you’ll have an event slider like the one in this example:

Ready to get started? Let’s go!

Step 1: Install and Activate the Events Manager Plugin

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Events Manager plugin on your WordPress site. It’s free and adds an Events section to your dashboard.

If you haven’t installed a plugin before, here’s how to install a WordPress plugin.

Step 2: Add Your Events with Featured Images

Once the plugin is active, go to Events » Add Event and create your event. Add the title, event description, dates, time and venue.

Next, set a featured image for each event. Soliloquy uses the featured image as the slide, so pick a photo that looks good wide.

Step 3: Install and Activate the Soliloquy Slider Plugin

Now you need to install and activate the Soliloquy image slider plugin, so you can turn your events into a slider.

If you’d like a hand with this part, see our guide on how to install the Soliloquy plugin.

Step 4: Install and Activate the Featured Content Addon

Once Soliloquy is active, go to Soliloquy » Addons to install and activate the Featured Content Addon. This is the addon that turns posts, including your events, into slides.

The Featured Content Addon is included with the Soliloquy Developer plan or higher. If you need to switch plans, here’s how to upgrade your license in Soliloquy.

Step 5: Create a Featured Content Slider Using the Event Post Type

Next, go to Soliloquy » Add New. Add a title for the slider, open the External Slider tab, and select Featured Content as the slider type.

Now open the Slider tab. In the Select Your Post Type(s) field, choose Event.

Pro Tip: A Featured Content slider shows 5 posts by default. If you’re promoting a busy season of events, change the Number of Slides setting further down the Slider tab.

For the rest of the slider settings, check out our guide on how to create an image slider in WordPress.

Step 6: Schedule Your Event Slider

Events have end dates, and your slider should too. With the Schedule Addon, which comes with the Soliloquy Multi plan or higher, you can make the whole slider appear and disappear on its own.

To schedule the slider, open the Schedule tab, check Enable Scheduling?, and set a start and end date. For example, you could start it a month before your first event and end it the day after your last one.

Do you also run a regular image slider with a few hand-picked promo slides, like a holiday sale or ticket deadline? You can schedule those slides one at a time. Click the pencil icon on a slide, check Schedule Slide?, set its dates, and click Save Metadata.

For a full walkthrough of both options, see our guide on how to schedule your WordPress slider and images.

Step 7: Publish the Slider on Your WordPress Site

Go ahead and click the Publish button. Then copy the shortcode from the Soliloquy Slider Code widget.

Now edit the page or post where you want to show your event slider and paste the shortcode where it should appear.

Click Publish or Update to save your changes. Your event slider will now look like this example:

Want to use the same approach for other kinds of content? Check out our guide on how to create a WordPress slider for custom post types. And if your site feels slow, take a look at this ultimate guide to boost WordPress speed and performance.

FAQs About Event Sliders in WordPress

How do I show upcoming events in a WordPress slider?

Create your events with an events plugin, give each one a featured image, then use Soliloquy’s Featured Content Addon to build a slider from the Event post type. New events you publish are added to the slider automatically.

Why aren’t my event images showing in the slider?

The slider uses each event’s featured image, so check that every event has one set. If some events don’t have images, you can add a Fallback Image URL on the Slider tab.

How do I stop old events from showing in my slider?

Schedule the slider with the Schedule Addon so it ends after your last event, or remove past events from your events plugin. For promo slides in a regular image slider, you can schedule each slide to disappear after its date.

Which Soliloquy plan do I need for an event slider?

The Featured Content Addon, which builds the slider from your events, comes with the Developer plan or higher. Scheduling uses the Schedule Addon, which is included from the Multi plan up.

That’s it! We hope this tutorial helped you create an event slider in WordPress. If you’d like to keep building, check out these beginner-friendly guides: