One embodiment of the invention comprises a system and method for enabling a graphical program to dynamically register one or more events during execution of the graphical program. An event registration node may be displayed in the block diagram of the graphical program. One or more events may be associated with the event registration node. The event registration node may be operable to dynamically register the one or more events during execution of the graphical program. Another embodiment of the invention comprises a system and method for enabling a graphical program to programmatically generate and respond to a user-defined event. The user may desire to define custom, i.e., user-defined, events for use in a graphical program.