At this time, more than 1,000 events have been entered into the Extension website. These have been viewed over 60,000 times. To see the most effective ways of setting up events on the website, we looked at some analytics data for these events since launch.

The top events by views were:

1. 2019 OSU Small Farms Conference
2. Clackamas County 4-H Tack and Bake Sales
3. Insights into Gardening Conference (Benton County)
4. 4-H Wildlife Stewards Summer Camp
5. High Desert Leadership Retreat (4-H)
6. PNW Tri-State 4-H Professional Conference
7. PNW 4-H Horse Judges’ Training
8. Growing Farms: Successful Whole Farm Management
9. Exploring the Small Farm Dream
10. 2018-19 Oregon 4-H Shooting Sports Mail-In Tournament

Events can be listed in several places: on county pages, on program pages, on topic pages, and on the all Upcoming Extension Events page. Here’s the breakdown on how many people click on events in these places:

• County pages: 8,797
• Statewide program pages: 7,347
• Local-level program pages (4-H, MG): 12,507
• Topic pages: 1,687
• All events page: 1,107

We also looked at some data about what visitors do once they get to an event page:

• On average, they spend 2 minutes and 26 seconds on event pages
• Documents on event pages (i.e. flyers) were downloaded 10,779 times
• Links to other sites from event pages, including registration links, were clicked 15,719 times

From this information, we can make some recommendations for more effective events.

What content authors can do:

• Enter events in the site as events: event pages are viewed much more often than announcements or newsletter issues.
• Don’t spend time making announcements for events unless necessary: adding an announcement to promote an event doesn’t seem to contribute much to views on the event. Of visits to event pages, only 1.8% came from clicking on the event from an announcement.
• Make sure all event information is on the event page itself, not just the flyer: 83% of people get their information from only the descriptions on the events or online registration pages, and it is more accessible.   
• Post events well before they happen. The most viewed events were posted six months before they occurred on average.
• Make sure your events are seen by all the right people: many of the most popular events are those that are aimed at a wide audience geographically but a narrow audience in terms of topic. Make sure information about events is tagged with the appropriate counties, programs, and topics, so people can find events related to their interests and locations.

What EESC plans to develop based on feedback about how people are tagging events:

• A design for topic pages and the “all events” page that allows visitors to more easily find events close to them.
• A design for county and program event lists that highlight especially relevant events separate from others (based on location or subject).
• Improved integration between events on the OSU Extension Website and OSU’s calendar system.

Recent improvements to events by EESC:

• Option for events that take place online only (e.g. webinars).
• Ability to indicate when an event happens multiple times within a specified time period, so you only need to enter that event once.