The Virtual Event Organizer (VEO) is designed to curate live streaming links, static video links, on-demand resources, speakers, sessions, check-in/out and ratings into a single window from which your attendees can navigate to and engage with the content you produce for virtual consumption.
The VEO sits atop the framework you have designed for your event. That means you can deploy the VEO for any event at anytime, which gives you flexibility in migrating from live to hybrid to virtual events without changing the underlying structure of your event in most cases.
Once set to live, the VEO can easily be accessed by a registered attendee from your main event homepage, by clicking the banner atop the page. The banner button's color and wording can be customized.
HOW THE ATTENDEE ENGAGES WITH YOUR VIRTUAL EVENT
There are other ways to get the “Join Virtual Now” button or link to your attendees; you may text the link through the communications center or activate a large banner/button that appears atop your event website. You may also change the color and wording of the button. In all cases, the attendee winds up inside the VEO shown below.
Notice there are 3 tabs along the top left corner of the VEO. They are:
- MY ITINERARY: this tab shows what sessions the attendee is already signed up for. You can allow attendees to customize their itinerary during registration and during the live event.
- If the attendee has nothing saved to their itinerary upon logging into the VEO space for the first time, the display will default to the first AGENDA tab
- AGENDA: this tab shows the full event agenda. Your event may contain more than one agenda; each agenda will have its own tab.
- If your event is using custom registration profiles, then viewers will ONLY see the agenda sessions that they are permitted to see (based on their profile)
- RESOURCES: this is your online, searchable content library. You can post videos and documents for attendees to access on demand
Clicking on a session takes the attendee to the session’s landing page, where the attendee can review times, continuing education credit information, speakers, downloadable resources and sponsors.
Depending on when the attendee tries to access the session, clicking the ACCESS/JOIN SESSION button will yield a different result.
BEFORE SESSION STARTS
Below the access/join button, text will indicate to the registrant when that session will begin. If the attendee clicks the access/join session button at this time, a small window will popup indicating that the session has not yet begun.
If the attendee has not yet registered for the session and the event permits itinerary changes on the day of the event, the popup will give the attendee the option to add the session to their itinerary.
If the attendee has not yet registered for the session and the event does NOT permit itinerary changes on the day of the event, the pop up will indicate that the attendee did not register for the session and will not permit the attendee to proceed.
DURING THE SESSION
If the attendee attempts to login during the session, a window will appear and give the attendee the option to OPEN THE SESSION. If the attendee isn't registered for the session and the event allows itinerary modifications on the day of the event, then the act of opening the session will automatically add the session to the attendee's itinerary as well.
If the attendee is not registered for the session in progress and the event does not permit attendees to modify their itineraries, the attendee will be denied access.
AFTER THE SESSION
If an attendee attempts to access a session that has already concluded, the attendee will be denied access and informed that the session has already occurred.
HOW THE ATTENDEE GETS TO YOUR VIRTUAL EVENT
Once the attendee registers, they receive a confirmation email that can include a button like the green one below. Clicking this will take the attendee directly to the VEO. It’s the only link they will need for your event. No live stream links, No link sharing amongst attendees.
VEO AGENDA SETUP
The VEO is essentially an interactive presentation of your agenda. So, the first step in configuring the VEO for your event is to create an agenda.
Your event website will host this agenda per the usual setup.
AGENDA SETUP
To create an agenda, enter the Event Builder and select the AGENDA tab at the top. Click the Agenda Setup tool on the left. Here, you can create Item-Connected Slots and normal agenda slots.
When your agenda is filled, you can start to configure the VEO. Click an agenda to open its settings panel. On the left, you will see the various settings tab that allow you to configure the slot.
Click the Virtual Event Organizer tab to configure the slot for the VEO.
Within this tab, you will see a simple set of options:
- VEO Meeting Link: place the URL of the meeting in this box. It can be either 1) a link to the live web conference room or 2) a link to a pre-recorded video session.
- Meeting Link Type: select the type of link you placed in the box above
- Enable Virtual Connector: by checking this box, this agenda slot will show up within the VEO interface, available for attendees to interact with
- Join Button Becomes Active: decide when the button to join the session should appear for attendees to interact with (open the door to your virtual meeting room)
- Join Button Becomes Disabled: decide when the button to join the session should no longer be available for attendees (close the door to your virtual meeting room)
Once you are satisfied with the VEO settings for this slot, select the OPTIONS tab in the slot editor. There are a two more settings to configure as the slot relates to the VEO:
- Mobile and VEO Agenda: just as registrants can add agenda slots to their itinerary from the mobile agenda, the VEO also allows them this ability. You can disable this setting if preferred.
- Agenda Slot Color: You can customize the color of the entire slot for presentation on the VEO
VEO EVENT DAY SETUP
Enter the Event Builder, then click the EVENT DAY tab at the top.
ATTENDEE INSTRUCTIONS
Create a set of instructions for attendees to best operate your VEO. Attendees can access this help screen within the VEO by clicking the question mark icon in the upper right corner of the VEO screen:
SCHEDULING GRID
The Scheduling Grid utility gives you an arena to make ALL necessary VEO adjustments to all of your agenda slots. Rather than make adjustments slot-by-slot in the Agenda Setup tool, you can utilize the Scheduling Grid for quick adjustments to your entire schedule of sessions and pre-recorded videos.
In the Scheduling Grid, each session is laid out in a row.
BASIC SLOT SETTINGS
On the left side of the Scheduling Grid, you will see the basic attributes of each agenda slot. You can modify these with ease inside the Scheduling Grid; however, you will want to remain mindful of the impact this has on the underlying agenda slots and registration items.
QUICK TIP: changing the title, date, time and description of the slot WILL also make the change within the agenda as well; however, if the slot is an Item-Connected Slot, the title of the underlying registration item will NOT change. If using an Item-Connected Slot, we recommend making the change FIRST to the item. The update will then push to the agenda and require you to reenter the VEO slot information once again.
- Agenda Slot Title - this is the title of the corresponding agenda slot
- Start Date/Time & End Time - Be careful when modifying the date and time of a given slot. Ensure that you are making that change within the underlying registration item or agenda slot first. The change will then reflect in the Scheduling Grid.
- Agenda Slot Description - Click the link to modify the description of the slot
- Speakers and Tracks - this is an agenda-only attribute (does not apply to registration items). Click the link to associate or dissociate speakers, tracks and sponsors with that particular slot.
- Check-in and Check-out codes
OTHER SLOT SETTINGS
To the right of the "basic" set of slot settings, there are other attributes can be modified. Changing these attributes in the Scheduling grid WILL reflect across the underlying agenda slot AND registration item (if applicable).
- Turn Off Reviews - disabling reviews will preview registrants on both the mobile app and within the VEO from submitting a review for the agenda slot (does NOT disable speaker review). Slot/session reviews can be given after the registrant has joined the session (within the VEO).
- Connected to Reg Item - this will indicate whether or not the slot is connected to an underlying registration item. This has important implications for whether or not check-in is offered, as well as where to modify the date and slot title.
- Disable Add to My Itinerary - You can manually disable the Add to My Itinerary function. the Add to My Itinerary function is available only on mobile and within the VEO. It allows registrants to add new sessions to their personal event agenda after submitting their initial registration (exceptions include agenda slots that are connected to registration items that have assigned Exclude Logic, as well as agenda slots that are connected to registration items with prices attached).
- Check-In & Check-Out Codes - only slots that are connected to underlying registration items allow the assignment of check-in and/or check-out codes. In the VEO, these codes can only be used after a registrant joins the virtual session. Within the mobile app, self check-in can be accessed any time.
VEO-SPECIFIC SLOT SETTINGS
On the right side of the Scheduling Grid, you'll see the VEO-specific settings:
- Meeting Link - this is the live streaming OR recorded video link that will be used to access the session. When the session opens, attendees can join this link by clicking the join session button. The link will NOT be revealed and is protected by the button.
- Link Type - this toggle helps remind you whether the session is LIVE or RECORDED.
- TIP: sometimes we see folks record the live streamed session (i.e. via Zoom), then after the session concludes, the admin will return to the Scheduling Grid and replace the live stream link with the new recording link. If there is a password needed to access the recording link, you can add that to the slot description within the Scheduling Grid as well (scroll left)
- **Enable VEO** - A VERY IMPORTANT SETTING! The slot will not appear inside the VEO until this box is checked. And this box cannot be checked until a MEETING LINK is added to the left
- Slot Color - changes the color of the slot that is displayed when viewing the agenda or itinerary within the VEO interface
- NOTE: the color is only displayed within the VEO interface, NOT on the standard desktop or mobile event sites
- Join Button Label & Color - the button within the VEO session page that is used to join the session (and link the user to the meeting link you specified to the left) can be re-labeled however you'd like and also colored to your preference
- Join Button Becomes Active - this setting informs when the JOIN SESSION button (however it is labeled) will open and enable attendees to actually login to the meeting link you specified. Prior to this time, the meeting is effectively locked and cannot be joined.
- TIP: if this is a live streamed meeting, be sure to coordinate with your speakers to understand when makes sense to start allowing attendees to pool in the "virtual lobby". You'll also want to take into account when your attendees might want to start logging into the session and getting prepared for the live stream.
- Join Button Becomes Disabled - this setting informs when the JOIN SESSION button closes and will no longer allow folks to join the meeting.
- TIP: if you will have a Q&A session after the scheduled programming, make sure to take this into account, as people may want to rejoin at this point. You will also want to take into account how close the next session is.
- TIP: at the bottom of the dropdown, you can set the toggle to LEAVE ENABLED. This is a great option when the meeting link is for a RECORDING session. This way, attendees can return to the session and access the content even beyond the "scheduled" slot time.
- Enable Auto Check-In - auto check-in will mark the attendee with a check-in stamp for that particular session as soon as they successfully join the meeting. There is no auto check-OUT.
- NOTE: only item-connected slots allow check-in recording
- NOTE: if the slot is already using check-in/out codes, auto check-in won't be an option
- TIP: this is a great option if your attendees are not accustomed to manually entering a code to validate their attendance
OPTIONS
The Options page in the Event Builder allows you to set a standard for the button which attendees will click to join a specific session.
Join session button:
Controls in the Builder:
You will see another setting in the Options area for setting up a button within the registrant's confirmation email, which allows the user to visit the VEO directly from the confirmation email.
LINKS
The Links page in the EVENT DAY setup area will give you:
- A direct link to the VEO (which may come in handy if you need to quickly distribute the URL to all registrants)
- The button for testing your VEO before it is launched to your live event page
Giving registrants the direct link to your VEO setup will send them to a login page (assuming they aren't already logged into Eventsquid with the username/password they created during their initial registration).
ACTIVATION
The Activation page allows you to control the VEO launch settings.
On this page, you have two sections. You can control:
- The VEO activation / deactivation dates
- The VEO BUTTON activation / deactivation dates
In some cases, it might be valuable to display the banner/button for accessing the VEO before the VEO has been launched. This may be a good strategy for building interest and keeping people informed on HOW to access the VEO before event day, so folks aren't caught off guard.
Settings within the VEO Activation area, inside the Event Builder:
Notice how you can independently activate/deactivate the VEO launch button and the VEO interface itself. If the VEO is deactivated and the launch button is active, you can customize a message that will display to users that click the VEO launch button.