Slam Poets
Competition circuit, team slams, regional bouts. Track your season and let fans follow where you're bouting next.
Learn moreOpen mic schedule for poets, storytellers, and hosts Every open mic has a list. Yours should outlive the night.
Sign-ups, features, workshops, and book launches on one link. Free registration with a capacity limit, recurring dates that skip the holidays, and no platform fees when you sell.
- Open Mic
- Slam
- Featured Reading
- Storytelling
- Workshop
- Book Launch
- Lit Fest
- Chapbook Release
- Salon
- Author Q&A
Tonight, and then never again
The list exists in one room, on one sheet, for about four hours.
i.
The clipboard
One copy, by the door
Whoever arrives first writes first. Everyone else texts you to ask if there is still room.
ii.
The group chat
212 unread
The date is in there somewhere, above four photos of a dog and a poll about a bar.
iii.
The DMs
“Can I get on?” ×9
Nine separate conversations, three platforms, and one of them is asking about a night that already happened.
A schedule holds the same list, and it is still there on Wednesday. See the slots
One link is the list
Put the sheet somewhere the room cannot lose it.
Three things do almost all the work, and all three are on the free plan.
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Free
Registration, with a cap
Turn on registration for the night and say how many spots there are. The page shows how many are left, and once they are gone it stops taking names instead of quietly overbooking you.
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Free
Every second Tuesday, minus the holiday
Set the pattern once as a recurring event, then add exceptions for the weeks the room is closed. You are not rebuilding the same night twenty-six times a year.
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Free
The mic, the series, the workshop
Sub-schedules split one link into strands, so the weekly mic, the featured reading series, and your workshops each get their own section without needing their own page.
Free also covers unlimited events, two-way Google, Outlook, and CalDAV sync, an embeddable calendar, online and hybrid readings, a waitlist for a full night, and a calendar feed anyone can subscribe to, so a moved night updates itself.
Who's up
Stop asking “what are you reading” at the door.
Anyone can put an event forward for your schedule, on any plan, and it lands on your Requests tab. On Pro you add your own questions to the sign-up form, so the things you would otherwise shout across a loud room arrive written down.
- Ask what they are reading, how long it runs, and whether it needs a content note.
- Your own fields can go on the form for putting an event forward too, where a text answer can be checked against a pattern you set, with a hint you write, in the browser and again on the server.
- Export the answers with your sales when you need a running order on paper after all.
Doors
The same list, in your hand at the back of the room.
Free
The night promotes itself
Generate a flyer from the event and post it, instead of rebuilding the same graphic in a design tool every second Tuesday.
It is in their calendar, not just yours
Two-way sync with Google, Outlook, and CalDAV on your side. On theirs, an .ics download for any one date, or a live feed of the whole series that updates itself when a night moves.
It lives on the venue's site too
Embed the calendar on the bookstore's page or your own site, so the list is wherever people already look.
The rest of it
Everything a scene needs that is not the writing.
Free
The scene's mailing list
Regulars who sign up with their email and confirm it get a digest of the nights you add, automatically and at most one every three days, and you write to the whole list directly when you have news. No algorithm deciding which regulars find out.
The digest sits outside your newsletter allowance, which is 10 emails a month on Free and 100 on Pro, counted per recipient. For a room of regulars that is real, and it is worth knowing the number before you plan around it.
Free
Clips from the night
Attendees add photos, video, and comments to the event with just a name and an email. Everything waits in an approval queue, so the page stays yours. Free covers 25 photos per schedule.
Pro
When the feature is ticketed
Take payment through Stripe or PayPal, or cash on the night, and sell straight from the schedule with QR check-in at the door. Putting a price on the night is the Pro plan, and Event Schedule takes zero platform fees, so what is left after processing is yours.
Announce the feature before tickets are on sale, switch on the "Notify me" card, and people can leave just an email address to hear when they go on sale. Pro adds discount codes for the regulars and a pass that covers a whole season of the series.
Pro
Let the room decide
Put a poll on the event and let people vote on the theme, the next feature, or which night of the month the mic should move to.
Free
Read to the people who could not come
Mark a night as an online event and the link sits on the same schedule as the in-person ones. Hybrid workshops and virtual salons do not need a second home.
Analytics on the free plan show which nights people actually opened, which is a better read on the scene than a like count.
Pro
Ask afterwards
Collect star ratings and written comments from people who were there, so the next night is planned on something better than the vibe at the bar.
Where the list goes up
One schedule covers all of them, whether you host the night or just read at it.
- Coffee shops Weeknight mics with a sign-up by the register
- Bookstores Launches, signings, and author Q&As
- Bars and lounges Late slams and monthly showcases
- Universities Student series, visiting readers, workshops
- Lit festivals Multi-day programmes across several rooms
- Online Virtual salons and hybrid workshops
Built for how poets actually work
Whether you're on the slam circuit, running the room, or launching a collection
Spoken Word Artists
Performance poetry with music, movement, multimedia. Share your theatrical shows and collaborations.
Page Poets
Book launches, literary readings, publication events. Promote your collections alongside appearances.
Open Mic Hosts
Running your own series? Set the night up once as a recurring event and let poets take their own spots.
Learn moreLiterary Curators
Organizing reading series, festivals, salon events. Aggregate your programming in one place and embed it anywhere.
Learn moreStorytellers
Oral storytelling, narrative performance, and story slams. Share your upcoming shows and captivate new audiences.
Learn moreThree steps
Start the list
Add the mic as a recurring event, turn on registration, and set how many spots there are. Skip the weeks the room is closed.
Share one link
Your bio, the venue's site, the back of your chapbook. Or embed the calendar on a page you already have.
Let them sign up
Poets take a spot themselves. You see the list from anywhere, and it closes itself when the spots are gone.
Key features
Related pages
Free forever. Upgrade when you're ready.
Free registration for as many people as you like. When you start charging, zero platform fees on every plan - the only deduction is your payment processor's own.
Free
$0
forever, no card
Everything you need to publish a schedule and fill the room, for as long as you like.
- Unlimited events, sub-schedules and recurring dates
- Two-way Google, Outlook and CalDAV sync
- Unlimited free registration and RSVPs, scanned at the door
No expiry, and no card asked for.
Pro
Most picked
$5
per month
Start charging, and the rest of the selling kit arrives with it.
- Sell paid tickets, with the live check-in dashboard
- Promo codes, add-ons, passes and gift cards
- The REST API, webhooks, and no Event Schedule branding
7-day free trial, cancel any time.
Enterprise
$15
per month
For a room with a seating chart, a team, and a domain of its own.
- Reserved seating, drawn once and reused every date
- Your own domain, and up to five team members
- Internal and unlisted events, and 1,000 newsletter recipients
Included free on every selfhosted install.
Frequently asked questions
Everything poets and hosts ask before they start the list.
Is Event Schedule free for open mics and readings?
Yes. Sharing your schedule, running recurring nights, taking free registrations with a capacity limit, generating a flyer for each night, and syncing with Google, Outlook, or CalDAV are all free forever, and no ceiling sits on the sign-ups. Charging at the door is the Pro plan at $5 a month, which also adds custom questions on the sign-up form. Event Schedule charges zero platform fees on tickets either way.
Can poets sign up for a slot themselves?
Yes. Turn on registration for the night and set how many spots there are; on a recurring mic the count is per date. Performers claim a spot from the event page, the page shows how many are left, and it stops taking names once they are gone. A poet who cannot make it cancels from the link in their confirmation email, which frees the spot, and once a night is full the next poet can join its waitlist and is emailed when a spot opens. Registration and its waitlist are free on every plan.
Can I ask performers what they're reading?
Yes, on the Pro plan. Custom fields let you add your own questions to the sign-up form, so a poet answers "what are you reading", "how long is it", or a content note when they take a spot, and each answer is stored with their registration. You can also let people submit a whole event for your schedule, on any plan, and it lands on your Requests tab. On Pro your own fields can appear on that form too, where a text answer can be checked against a pattern with a hint you write.
How do I run a mic that happens every second Tuesday?
Set it up once as a recurring event with a day-of-week pattern, then add date exceptions for the weeks the room is closed or the holiday lands on your night. Recurring events and exceptions are free on every plan.
Can I keep the open mic, the feature series, and workshops on one page?
Yes. Sub-schedules split one schedule into strands, so the weekly mic, the featured reading series, and your workshops each sit in their own section of the same link. Sub-schedules are free on every plan.
Can I sell tickets to a featured reading?
Yes, on the Pro plan at $5 a month, which is what lets a ticket carry a price. Take the money through your own Stripe or PayPal account, or by payment link or cash, with the QR code scanned at the door like any other. Pro adds the live check-in dashboard as well, and it is also what a season pass across the whole series needs. A night you run for nothing takes free registrations on any plan. Event Schedule takes zero platform fees on any of it, so the only deduction is your payment provider's own, and a Stripe, PayPal or Razorpay sale can be refunded in full or in part from the Sales page.
Can people ask to hear about a night before sign-up opens?
Yes, once you switch on the "Notify me" card. Anyone can then leave just an email address on the night's page, with no account and no subscription to your schedule. They get a reminder shortly before it starts, word if it is cancelled, and any change notice you send, and if the night sells tickets, one email when they go on sale. Registration takes names from the moment you switch it on, so there is no opening email for it.
A bookstore listed me as its feature. Is there a page for me already?
There may be. When a bookstore, venue or series names a reader who is not on Event Schedule, its event page still shows that reader by name, and the app creates a page for them. That page says which schedule created it and that you have not claimed it, credits each date to the schedule that added it, and stays out of search engines until it is claimed. If it carries your email address, create an account or sign in with that address and press Claim this page: it becomes your schedule, and the series that already listed you keep listing you without asking again, while anyone new sends a request you accept. If it is not you, This is not me takes it down.
Free forever
Line 01 is open.
Start the list tonight. Nobody has to DM you to get on it, and it is still there in the morning.
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Start your list
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❦ Colophon Set in EB Garamond, with Lekton for the small matter, in two inks: black, and one vermilion.
Keep exploring
Recurring Events
Set the weekly mic once, and skip the weeks you are closed.
Read moreCustom Fields
Ask what they are reading right on the sign-up form.
Read moreSub-schedules
Keep the mic, the reading series, and workshops apart.
Read moreNewsletters
Email the regulars when the next night is up.
Read more