ACF Event Schedule

Create sessions, speakers, and event schedules with Advanced Custom Fields.

This is not a standalone events plugin. You attach a schedule to existing public post types (for example Pie Calendar events) chosen in settings. Those events get Dates, Time Blocks, and Spaces. The plugin then adds Session and Speaker post types and renders a time-by-space grid on the front end.

flowchart LR
  Settings[Event post type allowlist]
  Event[Event post]
  Dates[Dates Time Blocks Spaces]
  Session[Session]
  Speaker[Speaker]
  Display[Shortcode or Block]
  Settings --> Event
  Event --> Dates
  Event --> Session
  Session --> Speaker
  Session --> Display

Table of contents

• Requirements
• Installation
• Updates
• Setup
• Display
  • Event schedule
  • Session layouts
  • Block
  • What visitors see
• CSV import and export
• Customization
• Event taxonomy
• Uninstall
• License

Requirements

Requirement	Version
WordPress	6.4 or later
PHP	8.0 or later
Advanced Custom Fields Pro	Required

ACF Pro is a hard dependency. If it is not active, the plugin shows an admin notice and does not load.

Installation

1. Install and activate Advanced Custom Fields Pro.
2. Clone or download this repository into wp-content/plugins/ACF-Event-Schedule.
3. Activate ACF Event Schedule from Plugins.

Activation registers the session and speaker post types and flushes rewrite rules.

Updates

Sites that installed this plugin from GitHub receive updates on the WordPress Plugins screen when a new GitHub Release is published. Pre-releases are ignored. GitHub’s auto-generated source zip is not used; a GitHub Action attaches ACF-Event-Schedule.zip with the plugin folder name WordPress expects.

To ship an update:

1. Bump Version in acf-event-schedule.php (and the AES_VERSION constant) so it is higher than the installed version.
2. Commit, then create a Git tag (for example v1.1.15) and publish a GitHub Release for that tag. Do not mark it as a pre-release.
3. Wait until the Attach plugin zip workflow finishes and ACF-Event-Schedule.zip appears on the release.
4. On a site running the previous version, open Plugins and use Check for updates. The update should install into the same ACF-Event-Schedule folder.

Setup

1. Choose event post types

Go to Settings → Event Schedule and check which public post types should receive schedule fields. Session and Speaker are excluded from this list.

Typical choices are event-style post types such as Pie Calendar events, or any other public post type you use for events.

2. Build the event structure

Edit an event post and fill in the Event Schedule fields:

• Dates — one or more event days (Y-m-d).
• Time Blocks — nested under each date, with start time, end time, and an optional title. Titles are shown on the schedule for break rows that have no sessions (lunch, registration, and similar).
• Spaces — rooms or tracks, used as columns on the grid.

Time block and space IDs are generated automatically. Start and end times are saved and displayed as wall-clock times in the site timezone from Settings → General → Timezone.

3. Add speakers

Create Speaker posts. Each speaker can have:

• First name and last name
• An optional event
• A sessions relationship (kept in sync with the matching session field)

4. Add sessions

Create Session posts. Each session requires:

• An event
• A time block from that event
• A space from that event, or All for a row that spans every space

Speakers are optional and bidirectional with the speaker relationship. If another session already uses the same event, time block, and space, WordPress shows a warning but still allows the save.

Display

Event schedule

Use [event-schedule] on an event post, or pass an event ID:

[event-schedule]
[event-schedule post_id="123"]
[event-schedule post_id="123" date="2026-09-19"]

Attribute	Default	Description
post_id	Current post	Event post ID
date	(all days)	Optional day filter (Y-m-d)

Session layouts

Use [session-times], [session-speakers], and [session-space] on a session post, or pass a session ID, when building session and speaker layouts in the Site Editor, a page builder, or a theme template:

[session-times]
[session-speakers]
[session-space]
[session-times post_id="456"]
[session-speakers post_id="456"]
[session-space post_id="456"]

Shortcode	Attribute	Default	Description
[session-times]	post_id	Current post	Session post ID
[session-speakers]	post_id	Current post	Session post ID
[session-space]	post_id	Current post	Session post ID

[session-times] prints the session’s date, start, and end in a fixed format, with the WordPress timezone abbreviation:

October 16, 2026: 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM MST

The date is always F j, Y and the times are always g:i A. Both are the saved wall-clock values in the site timezone from Settings → General → Timezone. Named zones such as America/Denver produce MST or MDT; a UTC offset produces a value such as GMT-6. Markup is <span class="aes-session-times"> wrapping a <time datetime> element.

[session-speakers] prints a comma-separated list of speaker names linked to their posts, wrapped in <span class="aes-session-speakers">. Unpublished speakers are omitted unless the current user can read them.

[session-space] prints the session’s space name, wrapped in <span class="aes-session-space">. Sessions that span every space print All.

These shortcodes return empty when the target is not a readable session, or when times, speakers, or a space are missing.

Block

Insert the Event Schedule block (acf-event-schedule/schedule) from the Widgets category. In the inspector, set Event Post ID (defaults to the current post) and an optional Date. The block supports wide and full alignment.

What visitors see

The front end renders one section per day as a CSS grid of time versus space:

• Times match the values entered in the admin, in the WordPress site timezone.
• Session cards link to the session, and list time, speakers, and space.
• A time block with a title and no sessions renders as a break row.
• Visitors only see the schedule for events they can read. Password-protected events require the password (editors can still preview).
• Session and speaker statuses follow the linked event. Draft events show their full grid to editors and in preview; publishing the event publishes those sessions and speakers.
• An empty schedule outputs a short “No schedule found” message.

The session and speaker post type slugs are unprefixed (/session/, /speaker/) and can collide with other plugins. You can change the rewrite slugs with the aes_session_rewrite_slug and aes_speaker_rewrite_slug filters. Do not rename the post type keys on an existing site.

CSV import and export

Settings → Event Schedule includes import and export for an existing event.

Export a schedule, edit the CSV, and reimport it to the same event. Optional ID columns from the export update the matching time block, space, session, or speaker. Empty ID cells create new rows and posts, or reuse a match by time slot, space name, or title. Rows omitted from the CSV are left in place. An ID that is missing or belongs to a different event is rejected.

Limits: 2 MB file size and 2000 data rows.

Columns

Column	Required	Description
date	Yes	Event date (Y-m-d, such as 2026-09-19). Excel-style dates such as 10/16/26 are also accepted.
start_time	Yes	Time block start (24-hour H:i or 12-hour g:i a)
end_time	Yes	Time block end (same formats as start_time)
time_block_title	No	Shown on the schedule when the block has no sessions
time_block_id	No	Time block ID from export. Updates that time block when set
space	If the row has a session	Room or track name, or All for a full-width session
space_id	No	Space ID from export. Updates that space when set. Leave empty when space is All
session_title	No	Creates a session when set; leave empty for a break
session_id	No	Session post ID from export. Updates that session when set
session_content	No	Optional session post content
speakers	No	Speaker names separated by ;
speaker_ids	No	Speaker post IDs from export, semicolon-separated in the same order as speakers. Updates those speakers when set

Download the CSV template from the settings page, or start from this example:

date,start_time,end_time,time_block_title,time_block_id,space,space_id,session_title,session_id,session_content,speakers,speaker_ids
2026-09-19,09:00,10:00,Opening Keynote,,All,,Welcome Address,,Opening remarks for the event.,Alex Rivera,
2026-09-19,10:00,11:00,Morning Sessions,,Room A,,Building Better Schedules,,A practical session on planning rooms and time blocks.,Jordan Lee; Sam Patel,
2026-09-19,10:00,11:00,Morning Sessions,,Room B,,Community Lightning Talks,,,,
2026-09-19,11:00,12:00,Lunch,,,,,,,,

Export uses the same columns, with IDs filled in for existing rows and posts. A successful import reports what was created and how many existing sessions or speakers were saved.

Customization

Theme templates

Copy plugin templates into your theme to override markup:

your-theme/acf-event-schedule/schedule.php
your-theme/acf-event-schedule/session-cell.php

See templates/schedule.php and templates/session-cell.php. The grid root class is .aes-schedule. Session layout shortcodes use .aes-session-times, .aes-session-speakers, and .aes-session-space.

Filters

Change the assembled schedule payload:

add_filter( 'aes_schedule_data', function ( $schedule, $event_id, $date ) {
    return $schedule;
}, 10, 3 );

Change the session query:

add_filter( 'aes_schedule_query_args', function ( $args, $event_id ) {
    return $args;
}, 10, 2 );

Programmatic render

echo \ACF_Event_Schedule\Schedule_Renderer::render( $event_id, '2026-09-19' );

Pass an empty string as the date to render every day.

Event taxonomy

Sessions and speakers are assigned a public aes_linked_event term that mirrors the Event field. Editors never pick this taxonomy: choosing an event on the session or speaker is enough. The term is a hook for theme PHP, Site Editor templates, and page-builder conditions.

• Classic PHP: has_term( 'my-event-slug', 'aes_linked_event' ) in single-session.php or single-speaker.php, or taxonomy templates taxonomy-aes_linked_event.php / taxonomy-aes_linked_event-{slug}.php. On session templates, [session-times], [session-speakers], and [session-space] output the session’s time range, linked speakers, and space.
• Block themes: Site Editor templates for the Event taxonomy, including per-term variants.
• Page builders: singular or archive conditions for the Schedule Event taxonomy (Kadence: “Schedule Event Archives” under Sessions/Speakers, then the event term). Term names match the event title; slugs follow the event post slug. Draft and private events use an opaque term name (Event {id}) until the event is publicly viewable.

Speakers with no event have no term. The ACF Event field remains the source of truth for the schedule grid.

Uninstall

Deleting the plugin from Plugins removes its settings (aes_event_post_types, schema, and rewrite flags). Session and speaker posts, ACF field data, and linked-event terms are left in place so an accidental uninstall does not wipe schedule content.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. Built by Joel McD Web Works.