Since you’ve landed here on this blog, you’re probably already aware that National Issues Forums (NIF) launched a brand new, mobile-optimized website last year. We’re proud of it. And the NIF network is already getting lots of mileage out of it.

But you may not be aware of one of the most important features on the new website, the Events calendar. Think of it as NIF’s very own Google calendar, only more interactive and useful for our network. If you’re hosting a forum, moderator prep session, or any other NIF-related event, we’d love it if you could list it on our easy-to-use event calendar. This is crucial. It’s one of the few ways we can gauge with any kind of accuracy how active and widespread the NIF network truly is.

The events feature is handy for NIFI, definitely. But it’s an even more important tool for you as forum conveners and moderators.

• If you or your organization don’t have a website, you can use our events feature as a homepage for your event.
• Don’t have a Constant Contact account? Our calendar has a handy dandy RSVP function, so you can get an estimate of how many folks will be attending.
• You can email your registrants with reminders or other information relevant to your event. When you log in and create an Event, you can go Manage Registrations and, under “Settings,”  set a limit on registrations, as well as schedule an automatic reminder to go out any day before your event. You can also click “Email Registrants” to send an email with any other information that might be helpful.

We hope you’ll take full advantage of all the features and benefits the new NIFI.org has to offer. We built it for you.

If you have any questions about the events feature or any other aspect of the website, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Check out a recent event example from an online Making Ends Meet forum.