Conference Event
This guide will walk you through how to author a conference.
A conference in Thinqi is a large event where you can group and configure sessions with similar themes.
Authoring a conference
In the ‘Manage Events’ area of the ‘Events’ feature, and select ‘+ Add New Event.’
Here you’ll be asked to select your event type. Click on the ‘Create Conference’ button.
You will then be asked to give your event a title (don’t worry if you change your mind, this can be changed in the event editor later).
When you’re ready, click the ‘Add’ button.
Changed your mind? Click ‘Cancel' to return to the ‘Manage Events’ page.
You can save your event at any time by clicking the ‘Save Draft’ button. If you’re still busy authoring the event, remember to do this before exiting so you don’t lose all that hard work.
Time and location
The ‘Time and Location’ step of the editor is where you can add and edit sessions. Sessions are a period devoted to a particular activity and make up your schedule. They can be anything from panels to parties, or workshops and performances.
Click on ‘Add a Session’ to get started.
This will trigger a pop-up box where you can input the name, date and time and duration of your session, as well as choose a session group to add it to.
When authoring the first session, you will also need to create a session group. You can author several groups at this point that can be used when creating your other sessions too, or just stick to authoring the one needed for this particular session.
To create a session group, select ‘Add new session group’ in the drop-down menu and then give your group a name. Choose your permissions, then click ‘Add and use’.
Using the buttons with the ‘+’ next to them, you can add a ‘Location’, ‘Capacity’, ‘Abstract’ and ‘Description’ for the session. Once you’ve added these, click ‘Update’.
Location
Toggle between the ‘Physical Address’ and ‘Virtual Address’ tabs to input the details for different address types.
Under ‘Physical Address’, you can input all details for your location, including a map for physical locations.
You can also choose from pre-set locations, which is handy for if you’re using the same physical location often (these are authored in the Events section of the Admin Panel).
If you choose to host your event using a ‘Virtual Address’, you will need to specify the virtual location type.
Choose ‘Custom’ if you’re using an online video conferencing tool external to Thinqi (such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams) to host the event.
You will need to input an ‘Online address’ (this is the meeting invite link).
Add any notes you wish to include in the ‘Notes’ box (for example, instructions on how to join the event) and you’re good to go.
If you plan to host your event in a Thinqi Virtual Classroom, just click ‘Create a new Classroom’ and your classroom will be created. You can also add any notes in the ‘Notes’ box.
Capacity
You can set the minimum and maximum number of attendees for the session. If the event is full, you can choose to enable a waiting list so that if an attendee cancels and a place becomes available, someone else can take their place.
Abstract
Here, you can add a brief overview of what the session is about. Don’t go into too much detail here – it’s just a snippet. Use the ‘Description’ box to go into more detail if needed.
Description
This is where you can provide further details about the session. You’ve got a wide range of formatting tools to use here, as well as the ability to add images and embed media.
When you’re happy with your session, click the ‘Update’ button to save it.
Changed your mind and no longer want to create the session? Click ‘Cancel’ to return to the ‘Time and Location’ area.
Now you’ve created your first session, you’re well on your way to building your first conference. You will now return to the ‘Time and Location’ area.
Location and capacity
As well as being able to set the location and capacity in each individual session, you can also set an overall location and capacity which will apply to all sessions by default (this is useful if the location and capacity is the same for all sessions).
To do this, click on the ‘Update location’ and ‘Update capacity’ buttons. If you choose to set these details here, there’ll be no need to add them again when creating further sessions.
If a capacity is set, you have the choice on whether or not you’d like users to see the total number of remaining places for each session. Simply tick the box next to ‘Hide the number of places remaining’ if you would rather users not see this info.
Schedule
The schedule will show all sessions that you have created. You will also see the list of session groups here. These will be colour-coded to help you easily identify which sessions belong to each session group.
Editing sessions
Once you have added a session (or several), you may edit or delete any by finding the appropriate option in the drop-down menu.
Editing groups
You may also want to edit your session groups, too. First, click on the arrow to the right of the session group and click ‘Edit’.
You can then change the name and group type. Once you’re done, click on the ‘Update’ button.
Add more sessions
Want to add more sessions to your conference?
No problem. Click the ‘+ Add Session’ button to create a new one, following the same steps as above.
Move all sessions
Sometimes, you may need to update the time of all sessions by the same amount of hours. This is useful if you’re duplicating an existing event and just need to edit the date before publishing it.
To do this, start by clicking ‘Move All Sessions’.
This will open a pop-up box where you can make the sessions in your event earlier or later, and specify by how many hours. Click ‘Update’ when you’re done.
Now you’ve finished creating your sessions you can progress on to the next step, ‘Description’.
Description
Here, you can add (or edit) a ‘Title’, ‘Abstract’, ‘Thumbnail Image’ and ‘Description’ display on the overview of your Event.
The abstract is just a snippet of what the event is about. Use the description to add further detail. You also have a range of tools available to format the description and get it looking exactly as you want it.
To update the thumbnail image, click the ‘Update image’ button to trigger a pop-up window.
You can either upload an image from your device or select from an image that has been uploaded to the ‘Files’ area of your user profile (for more information, see the How to manage your profile help guide).
To upload an image from your device, click on the icon shown below. Select the image you’d like to upload.
To select an image from the ‘Files’ area of your user profile, select the magnifying glass icon
Select the image you would like to use and then click the ‘Insert’ button You can also clear the selection by clicking the ‘Clear all’ button –- useful for any last-minute changes.
You can crop your image by clicking with the mouse and selecting the part of the image you’d like to use.
If you want to delete the image completely and start over, click on the ‘x’
When you’re happy with your image, click ‘Done’.
Your thumbnail image will now be updated.
Now it’s time to decide on your registration settings. When you’re ready, click ‘Next Step’.
Registration
‘Registration’ is where you will specify how users may join the event. You’ve got a number of settings options here:
- ‘Join Requests’, - choosing this option will mean that users must request to join the event and an event admin will need to accept the request. . This gives you full control over your attendees list.
- ‘Open’ - choosing this option removes the ‘Join’ button, so attendees won’t need to request to join and will be added to the attendees list straight away. This option can also be used for public events (where people without a Thinqi account can also attend).
- ‘Payment’ - this option uses vouchers (configured in the Admin Panel) to book onto events. Line Managers can be allocated a certain amount of vouchers to book their staff onto events on their behalf.
- ‘Managed’ - this option disables the ‘Join’ button completely. However, attendees can still be added manually – see the How to manage Events help guide for more details.
When you’ve chosen the appropriate settings, move onto the next step – ‘Classification and Tagging’.
Classification and tagging
You can make your event easier to find by adding tags and updating your event’s classification, relevant to learners’ competencies.
To update the event’s classification, click ‘Update Classification’. A pop-up box titled ‘Curriculum Mapping’ will open, where you may assign your event to one or more curricula or ILO. Just choose from the pre-set list of curricula and ILOs on the left-hand side, fill in the necessary information and hit ‘Save’.
To add a tag, type your term in the ‘Add a new tag’ box and press the ‘+’ button, or simply hit ‘Enter’ on your keyboard. If you want to remove a tag you’ve added, find the tag in question and click the ‘X’ on that tag.
You can also quick-add tags by finding a tag under ‘Recent tags’ and clicking the ‘+’ button to include it.
Once you’re done, it’s time to move onto the final step of creating your event – ‘Event Settings’.
Event settings
Time to add the final details to your conference event. Here’s how you do it.
Discoverable and hidden events
You will be presented with several options for listing your event in the discovery area:
- List the event in the discovery area - This is ideal for events that only need to be listed once, or that have sessions that run clearly together.
- List all sessions separately in the discovery area - This is useful for sessions that contain the same content, but run at different times, dates or locations.
- Hide the event in the discovery area - The hidden event will not appear in the discovery area or search results, but users with access to the share link or content folder will be able to see it. This is useful for private events you don’t want to advertise.
Event code
This will allow you to add a memorable shorthand code to your event, completely customisable to suit your needs.
Waiting list
The waiting list is useful for when the event, or any event session(s) they wish to attend, are at maximum capacity.
The waiting list can later be reviewed and managed in the management area of the ‘Events’ app.
To enable the waiting list, toggle the switch on.
What content can people see before joining an event?
You can upload files to an Event, as well as create and publish articles. Toggle ‘View Files’ and ‘View Articles’ to determine what content people can see before joining your event.
Once you’re done, you’re ready to get the event out to the world.
Click the ‘Save and Publish’ button in the bottom right-hand corner (this button can also be found in the top right-hand corner of the events editor).
Publishing your event
This will open a pop-up box where you can decide when to publish your event and set the privacy by selecting a content folder. Not sure how privacy settings work with content folders? The How to use the ‘Admin Panel’ help guide has all the info you need.
To schedule your event to be published at a later date, click on ‘Want to publish this at a later date?’
Click the calendar icon to select a date and time and then click Add when you’re done.
You’ll now see that your event is scheduled to go out on your chosen date and time. Don’t worry – it won’t be available to anyone until this date.
Once you have chosen a privacy setting, hit the button labelled ‘Publish’ at the bottom of the pop-up box.
And there you have it – you’ve successfully created and published your conference.