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Creating Single Stream Events

Introduction

This guide is for creating a Single Stream Event. They're like a Live Event or Custom Live Event on either Titan or Hydra. It's meant so that rather than having 100's or 1000's of people accessing Titan or Hydra (which can cause the site to become unresponsive), the load is shifted to our VCP platform which is designed to handle those numbers of concurrent users.

The branding and customisation for a Single Stream event is similar to what you can have for the registration page and video page for a Virtual Conference.

Instructions

This first section will guide you through the initial setup for the Single Stream event, putting in global settings and adding branding for it.

Basic Information & Branding

  1. Create a new conference (Content > Add Content > Virtual Conference); as single streams use the same infrastructure as a Virtual Conference, you need to create a conference then change it's type (in the next step).
  2. Select Conference Type: Single Stream.
  3. Next you need to complete all the basic fields required to create a Single Stream Event, these are the essential fields which allow you to save the event:
  4. Primary Setup tab:
  5. Content > Title - The name of the event and will appear on the registration page, and lobby page. Also note, if you change the name of the event, the URL will also be change unless you use the URL Alias tool. Contact Support for more information if you have not used this tool before.
  6. Region > Powered by - This is the region your videos will be selected from, such as asset.tv, assettv.com or insuretv.net
  7. Region > Timezone - As the same platform is going to be used for all VCP events, it is imperative this it set correctly!
  8. Dates > Conference Date - The start and end date/time, this is the official Conference Date, it’s displayed on the Registration page and used to generate the calendar invite. Once passed it allows delegates access to explore the content of the event; videos will be available based on their individual settings. It can be overridden using the setting below if you want the event open earlier or closing later than officially stated.
  9. Dates > Conference Opening/Closing Date - Here you set the accessible date/time if you want the conference accessible beyond the official date/times. Note, both start and end need to be completed for this setting to be saved.
  10. Dates > Date Format - The date format can be customised to account for regional differences, or at a stretch, customer requests. There is a full list in the admin help text to choose from.

The following fields are not required, but should be filled in for completeness and to round off your Single Stream event. Please remember to SAVE frequently to avoid losing any work.

  1. Primary Setup tab:
    • Content > Conference Description - Appears on the registration page and gives delegates some information about the Virtual Conference.
    • Content > Session - here you set up a session with it's content just like for a Virtual Conference, except you only need to create a single session as this is a single stream.
    • Content > Event Admins - add anyone you want to be able to see the conference before the start date and access the event MI; mainly used for Clients to be able to preview the event to check everything before it’s open to the public and grab registrant information. They need to have an account Just use email addresses here; setup and more information noted below.
    • Region > Language - This sets the primary language for the event.
    • Region > Site ID - Select the player to be used for the videos to collate stats against. This needs to be setup prior to adding any video content and can be done using this guide Creating a Site Player.
    • Visuals > Dark Mode - Select whether the client wants to use a light theme OR a dark theme. Clients can choose which one they want to use, but they cannot have both. Note the light theme works best in most scenarios.
    • Visuals > Conference Logo - used in the header of the conference on every page.
    • Visuals > Conference Banner - the header graphic used for all pages except the registration page.
    • Visuals > Conference Background - the background for all pages in the conference, best to use a texture/pattern that the client uses for backgrounds.
    • Visuals > Primary Colour - Pick the brand colour to be used throughout the site; it can be found on the buttons, headers, and poll results if polls are used.
    • Visuals > Secondary Colour - This colour is used for status messages and alerts.
    • Leaderboard - Add a leaderboard which will appear on all pages of the site.
    • Sidebar - Whatever is set on this sidebar will appear on every page. For setup info see section below.
    • Header > Track CPD - Checking this enables CPD tracking for the site, but should be disabled for large events.
    • Header > Header Message - In the top left corner on the black top bar you can add a welcome message to all users. This should be kept short and can be customised if the client requires it to be.
    • Header > Help Text - The help text that appears when you click the help button in the top bar. This can be customised if the client requires.
    • Footer > Footer Description - Just above the main footer, you can add a small description which will appear on every page. If this and below custom links are empty the upper section of the footer disappears.
    • Footer > Custom Links - In the same section as the footer description above, you can insert some custom links which will appear on the right side of the description. If this and footer description above are empty, this section of the footer disappears.
    • Footer > Terms and Conditions - If a client requires some additional information added to the terms and conditions, it can be added here.
    • Footer > Privacy Policy - If a client requires some additional information added to the privacy policy, it can be added here.
    • Footer > Cookie Policy - If a client requires some additional information added to the cookie policy, it can be added here.

Registration

Setting up the registration page will allow delegates to start registering for the event. First you need to create the registration form, then you need to attach it to the registration section on the virtual conference event. In addition to a registration form, you can add a description, sponsors, and the agenda. There is also a list of the other options for the registration below.

If you decide to have an open conference (delegated aren't required to register), you do not need to attach a registration form, and you have the option to skip the registration/access page entirely. If no registration is required you can keep the landing page with all the information on it (description, sponsors, header images, etc.)

  • To add the description you set that in Primary Setup > Content > Conference Description, and it's described in an earlier section.
  • The options for the registration page:
  • Setup > Registration Form - Here is where you choose the registration form you want to attach the conference. If one isn't selected, the registration page becomes an access page where the user just needs to click access to enter the conference.
  • Setup > Skip access page - Checking this means if there isn't a registration form attached it'll 'skip the access page'.
  • Setup > Show Closing Date on Registration Page - This adds the option to display the closing date and time to the registration page. Please note if you show the closing date it will show in the same format as the opening date including day, month, year. We would only recommend showing the closing date for events that cover multiple days.
  • Setup > Login Status Message - Here you can add a message which will appear as an alert once a user logs in.

Creating the Registration form

IMPORTANT!

When editing your registration form, you must not change the form keys for: the name fields, email field and company field from what the template creates. If you change these, the analytics and tracking will not work and cannot be recovered!

  1. Log in to the VCP website and navigate to: Structure > Webforms > Templates.
  2. From here you need to select one of 2 templates:
    • VCP Registration - off-white bg - this is the recommended one to choose, so it fits with the background that is used by default.
    • VCP Registration - white bg - this one should be used if a white background is used on the registration page.
  3. You'll then need to change the name of the form, it's advised you prefix the name with 'VCP -' and add the name of the event, so you know what it's for.
  4. If you need to adjust the form fields to add new ones or remove existing ones, do so now and save.
  5. Finally you need to edit the Handlers for the form, edit the form once more:
    • Click the Settings tab
    • Go to Email / Handlers tab
    • Here you'll see one for reCAPTCHA and another for Email. The Email one needs removing as the Webform will not have to send an email, the conference will do it instead.
    • Next add a new Handler and select the one labeled VCP Registration Webform Handler.
    • Now save the Handlers.
  6. Once the form has been created, you can attached it to the conference using the dropdown mentioned in the beginning of this (registration) section.

Completing the Registration section in the Conference configuration

  1. From the top bar edit the Virtual Conference (Content, then filter to find your conference) you’ve just created in the previous section.
    • Setup - all the fields configured here are mentioned at the beginning of this section and relate to the registration page.
    • Visuals > Conference Banner - used on the header for the registration page. Needs to be a size of 1440px x 600px, a different size to the regular page header.
    • Visual > Conference Background (optional) - the background for the registration page, needs to be something subtle and best to use a texture/pattern that the client uses for other things.
    • Email > Email Subject (optional) - the subject line for the email sent to delegates.
    • Email > Email Body (optional) - the content for the email sent to delegates. You can add a HTML email here, but that needs to be created separately. You also need to make sure the field is set to Full HTML. Here you can also add tokens to automatically add custom information, the most important of which is for the ical link to add a file which allows users to add the event to their calendar.Select the Registration tab and make any edits/updates that you require using the fields listed:
    • Email > Email Calendar Invitation - attaches an ical invite to your welcome email.
  2. Save the event after making these changes to avoid losing your updates.

Speaker/Contributor Profiles (optional)

Creating the speaker profiles, before you can add a speaker to an agenda item you need to setup the speaker profile(s). Speakers are not required for an event, but are recommended as they flesh out the agenda and give a more complete experience for delegates.

  1. Go to the Contributors tab and Enable Contributors.
  2. Update the Label - changes the text used on the Main Menu.
  3. Update the Description - this field is used on the Contributors/Speakers page to give some information or an introduction if needed.
  4. Next you need to go to the Edit Contributors tab in the contributors section to add your Speakers, once on the tab, click Add new Contributor and complete the relevant fields.
  5. Personal Details:
    • Name - the name of the speaker; first name and last name.
    • Subtitle - usually the Job title and Company of the speaker.
    • Biography - a small bio for the speaker; will show on the Contributors/Speakers page.
    • Avatar - needs to be rectangular in aspect ratio at a minimum size of 353px x 200px; it will be used on the Speakers page and cropped for the Agenda page if speakers are attached to an agenda item.
  6. External Links:
    • Meeting Link - here you need to insert the link for Calendly for this speaker; this is set up externally to the system by the tech team and has to be done 1 by 1 so there needs to be a considerable amount of time given if a large number of meeting rooms are needed.
    • Social Media - this section allows you to add a link with a label; it's aimed for use with social media links and website links.
      • URL - Link URL for either social media or a website.
      • Link text - A label for the URL link, you can also add font awesome icons with example given to help set them up.
  7. Click save/update contributor to save the contributor.
  8. Repeat adding points 5 to 7 above for each new Speaker required.
  9. Save the Event.

Resources (optional)

Resources allow an event organiser to be able to add downloadable files and links to external resources for delegates to grab or go to. Follow the instructions below to set up and add them to the Virtual Conference.

To set up Resources, first make sure you’re editing the Conference you want it on:

  1. Go to the Resources tab and check Enable Resources.
  2. Update the Label if you need to change the navigation label.
  3. Then go to the Edit Resources tab and click Add new Resource and complete the following fields:
    • Short Description - to give the item a name.
    • Thumbnail - adds a thumbnail to the item when displayed on the Resources page on the front end of the conference.
    • Resource type - here you select where it’s a download or external link.
      • External Link - this shows a field which allows you to add a link to another website.
      • Downloadable Document - shows an upload a file field to add something delegates can download.
  4. Repeat the above point to add more items.
  5. Save the event when you’ve added everything you need.