User Guide
Contents
Hi, welcome to a new way of creating outstanding virtual events.
onVine has been developed to provide you with a highly flexible, but simple to use, virtual event tool so you can deliver all kinds of outstanding online events.
onVine is great for:
And much, much more…
This guide provides you with an overview of the platform and some helpful hints and tips about creating successful virtual events.
CloseGetting Started
Creating a new event
When you first enter your onVine administrators account, you’ll be asked to provide the basic information for your first event. More detail on the types of information and where they appear are in the managing your event section.
Once this is done you will be able to view the dashboard where all the information about your event can be viewed and edited.
If you want to create a new event from the dashboard, just click the Create New Event prompt in the top left of the screen. You can then go through the set up steps for a new event.
Switching between events
If you have multiple events set up for your account, you can quickly switch between them using the dropdown menu at the top of the dashboard. Simply click on the event name found at the top of the dashboard and select which event you’d like to view from the list.
Remember, to enable your event and make it accessible by potential attendees you need spend a credit. The type of credit you spend will affect the number of event admins you can have, level of bespoke styling you can apply to event pages, and the reporting you get on registrants and attendees. Lite vs Pro comparision table
onVine puts several options at your fingertips. Let’s look at the essential ones for managing your event experience.
Settings
The setting tab lets you edit and update your events core information and visual theme. It is where you can add you unique event branding and make sure it is as attractive as possible for your potential attendees.The setting are split across 6 core areas and more detailed guidance on this can be found below.
Event Settings
The main event settings allow
Event Name - This will appear as the main title on the home page of your event site. It will also appear in web page titles.
onVine URL - Create a memorable vanity URL for your event. Do not use special characters or capital letters.
Enterprise level users have the opportunity to set up their own customised onVine domains.
What’s in a URL?
It’s important to only change an event URL if absolutely necessary. Changing a URL after your event has been enabled and promotion has started could cause problems for your registrants if they have been issued old URLs.
Event Tag Line - A short catchy summary of your events content. Appears on the home page of your event site. Recommended length: 10 words max
Event Description - A series of short paragraphs on your event. Recommended to be less than 100 words in total length. Appears on the home page of your event site.
Event Consent - The message that appears at the end of your event’s registration form.
OUR TIPS: Naming your event
Keep names concise, ideally no more than 4 or 5 words. You can use your tag line, benefits and description to provide more detail. Include words that will be instantly recognisable to the people you want to register so that you get their attention.
Contact
Make sure your potential registrants can contact you if they have questions or need more information on anything to do with your event.
Email - The main contact email for your event. This is where completed contact forms enquiries will be directed and will appear on the Contact Us page of your event site. Make sure this is a monitored email address.
Phone - Appears on the Contact Us page of your event site.
Benefits
You can use this section to make unique selling points, key learnings and essential outcomes visible to your potential registrants.
Title - This should be an attention grabbing one or two words. Appears on the home page of your event site.
Icon - Recommend size 200 x 200px. Recommended .png format.
Description - A short description of this benefit or selling point. Appears on the home page of your event site.
Status - Enabled benefits will be visible on the home page of your event site.
What is a benefit?
Benefits can be anything from an aspiration for your event - Creating conversation between our teams - to a specific element of the event people need to be aware of - Featuring a special presentation by our Chief Financial Officer - or even a specific accreditation for training - Counts as 3 hours of continuous professional development.
They are hooks or key pieces of info that intrigue and interest your potential registrants.
Theme
Our themes have been created to make visually styling your event quick and easy. Just select a master them and define your primary and secondary accent colours to make your event it’s own unique look.
Light - This theme should be used when home page and session images are light colours. So that text stands out and is readable.
Dark - This theme should be used when home page and session images are dark colours. So that text stands out and is readable.
Primary Colour - Sets the colour of buttons and session titles across your event site.
Secondary Colour - Sets the colour of highlights, section breaks and speaker names.
Custom CSS - To apply customer CSS globally for special formatting of elements. Please contact the onVine team if you have significant custom requirements.
How do I know which theme to use?
Our core themes have been designed to give you a carefully tested event framework that can be moulded to fit to your brand. If your brand style is for lighter colours and imagery use the light theme, where your logo and backgrounds will help session titles etc stand out. If you have deeper colours in your branding use the dark theme so that white text will pop on your event pages.
When picking the primary and secondary accent colours it is usually good to use complementary colours (darker colours in tandem with the light theme and lighter colours alongside the dark theme) so they really stand out a draw attention to essential info and calls to action.
Luckily, you can change this at any time so take the chance to try out a few combinations.
Creating your sessions
Session Details
Label - This is an optional field that can be used to identify topic, content type or similar grouping rather than creating long titles that include these terms.
Start Date & Time - This must be completed in full and be no earlier than the listed start of your event.
End Date & Time - This must be completed in full and be no later that listed end of your event.
Session Intro - Optional field. A shortened version of your session description that will appear on the event agenda if completed.
Session Description - The long-form description of your session that will appear on the main session page.
Session Images
Images help differentiate sessions on their individual pages, on the agenda and in promotion in channels like social media. You can add these images using the upload tools on this tab.
Thumbnail - This will appear when sessions are set to feature on the agenda grid view. Min image size: 900x600 px. Supported file formats .jpg .png .svg.
Session Image - This will provide the background for your session pages. Where this is not supplied, the main event image will be used. Min image size: 1920x1080 px. Supported file formats .jpg .png .svg.
Social Image - This is the image that will appear when the session is shared on social media - it can be used to carry special messages for social media - such as hashtags. Recommended image size: 1200x628 px. Supported file formats .jpg .png.
Speakers
You can add speakers directly to your session or pick from the existing speaker listings. For more information on setting up speakers go to the Speaker Set Up section.
Speaker Name/Image - Edit the speaker record
Publishing Options
Status - Enabled sessions will be publicly visible in your event site’s agenda and their session page will be accessible. Disabled sessions will not appear on your event site.
Featured - A featured session will appear in the agenda grid view on your event site.
Partner - Select a session partner from your existing sponsor listings.
Enable Registration - If set to YES, your registrants will need to actively register for this session via the agenda or session page on your event site.
Registration Target - If session level registration is enabled, set a target number of registrations you want for this session.
Video Settings
Preview Image - Appears on your session page before your event is set to live. Supported file formats .jpg .png .gif.
Intro Video - Can be used to play a short (60 secs) video introducing your session for page visitors before your event is set to live. Simply copy and paste the embed code for your video from the hosting source. (ie https://www.youtube.com/embed/fZgp5UNcr-g or https://player.vimeo.com/video/57399324).
Test Source Code - The video embed link entered here will set the video that is visible to registrants given preview access. Simply copy and paste the embed code for your video from the hosting source. (ie https://www.youtube.com/embed/fZgp5UNcr-g or https://player.vimeo.com/video/57399324).
Live Source Code - The video embed link entered here will set the video visible to all registrants when an event has gone live and the start time for a session has passed. Simply copy and paste the embed code for your video from the hosting source. (ie https://www.youtube.com/embed/fZgp5UNcr-g or https://player.vimeo.com/video/57399324).
Live Stream URL - If a live stream is being delivered to the session, the stream link should be entered here as well as in the Live Source Code (to ensure live and on demand availability).
Video hosting
We’ve decided to make onVine closely compatible with platforms like YouTube and Vimeo as this allows you to only need to upload video to one platform and embed it here. We will be adding additional streaming functionality in the near future to support those who wish to have in-platform video options. If you have any questions about video settings just contact the support team on hello@onvine.net.
Resources
You can directly add resources to a session or select from the existing resources set up for an event. To find out more go to the Setting up Resources section.
Resource Name/Image - Edit the resource record
Chatroom
If enabled, chat functions and polls will appear on a session page alongside the content player. Additional moderation and multiple poll management tools are coming soon.
Poll Question - A poll is a single multiple-choice question that appears alongside your live streamed/video content.
Setting Up Speakers
You can create listings for the individual contributors to your event and sessions in the Speaker area. Speaker listings can include name, job title and organisation, as well as logo images for organisational brands or other accreditations or identification marks.
To get started just hit ‘+ New Speaker’.
Basic Info
Speaker Photo - This should be a good quality headshot, recommended in .jpg format. Minimum image size: 200x200 px
Speaker Logo - This could be brand logo or professional accreditation symbol, recommended in .png or .svg format.
Speaker Name - This will appear on your event site alongside the speaker photo on the speakers page and any session page to which the speaker is assigned.
Job Title - Optional field. Try and keep job titles concise to aid readability for registrants.
Company - Optional field. This could be employer or other organisation represented by the speaker.
Publish Settings
Speaker Status - Enabled speakers can be attached to sessions and will appear on the speakers page of your event site. Disabled speakers will not be visible.
Setting Up Resources
Resources are additional files and links you want to make available for your registrants. Resources are intended to be linked to sessions so registrants can access them alongside video content to enhance their experience.
You can add a new resource using the Resources section, just hit ‘+ New Resource’
Resource Set Up
Resource Name - This will appear wherever your resources are listed.
Thumbnail Image - This will help illustrate your resource. It is recommended this is a .jpg or .png format.
Resource URL - This should be a link to a web page or downloadable file. Ensure you include the https:// for webpage URLs. For downloadable files .pdf format is recommended.
CTA Title - This is the call to action for your registrants, it should be short and instructional - Download Now, View More etc.
Resource Type - Sets the type of link - External links are for navigation to web pages outside of your event site, Internal links are for downloads.
Good resources?
What makes a good resource really depends on your event and audience. If you want registrants to be able to access supporting documents and take information away with them, then downloadable PDFs might work for you. If you want them to visit other sites or an online FAQ page, then links will do this job for you. Just think carefully about what your audience will find most useful.
Add all the partners for your event. You can include a variety of information for each partner, contact information, multiple formats for logos that can be used across your event site and create special consent messages to meet the requirements for individual partners.
Creating Partner Categories
Category Set Up
Category Name - This appears on the Partners page of your event site.
Category Description - This appears on the Partners page of your event site.
Status - Enabled categories will be publicly visible in your event site’s Partner page and can be assigned to your sponsors.
Creating a Partner
You can add a new partner to an event at anytime using the Partner section, just hit ‘+ New Partner’
Partner Name - This will display for partner listings on your event site.
Partner Category - If Partner Categories have been created and enabled you can set them for this partner.
Partner Logo - The primary logo to be used for this partner. This should be a .png or .svg file.
Partner Logo (Inverse) - A one colour (white) version of the primary logo. If available, appears on pages when Dark Theme is selected. This should be a .png or .svg file.
Partner Description - This will appear on session pages that are assigned to this partner.
Tool tips for partner settings Contact Info tab:
Email - Optional field, will create a contact button on session pages assigned to this partner.
Phone - Optional field, will create a contact button on session pages assigned to this partner.
Website - Optional field, will create a visit website button on session pages assigned to this partner.
Twitter - Optional field, will create a follow on twitter button on session pages assigned to this partner.
Linkedin - Optional field, will create a connect on LinkedIn button on session pages assigned to this partner.
Setting up Partner Specific Consent
If your partners have specific consent requirements for registrants to the sessions they are involved in, you can set these capture tools up here. They will be served to every registrant who adds a session with this partner to their personal agenda or when any unconsented participant enters the partner session for an event in Live mode.
Consent Checkbox - Statement to appear alongside checkboxes for consent. For multiple checkbox options, add each statement required on a new line.
Privacy Policy URL - Will be appended to each checkbox statement.
Custom Consent Message - The wording that will appear before the check box options when anyone, without consent recorded, registers or enters a session page assigned to this partner.
Partner Publish Settings
Partner Status - Enabled partners will appear on the home and partners page of your event site. Sessions can also be assign to enabled partners.
CloseAfter you have thoroughly tested your event, you are ready to let people know about it. Marketing or communications about your event can happen in many different channels so you’ll want to be able to track where registrants are coming from.
Creating Event Invite Links
You can create event links that will include source codes and other information so you can see exactly where registrants have come from. This will help you access how well certain types of marketing work or see how many registrants you have attracted from a specific target group.
Using the Link Manager
Create links for sharing your event. Add source information to track performance for different marketing channels and communications. Enable and Disable links to run limited time registration promotions.
Just hit ‘+ New Link’ to get started.
Sources
It is a good idea to keep source terms short and quickly recognisable, this could be using channel and date code - ie email1412 - or a sequential term for a series of communications - ie invite1. These sources will be tracked against the event registrants and will be visible in the event dashboard to see how they are performing.
The Event Register
All registrants for your event can be viewed here. You can also see registrant sources if you have be using link tracking via the Link Manager. Registrants can be given preview access via the Enable Preview button. This function can be used this for pre-event checks with stakeholders and partners.
CloseYour event is currently set as ‘Disabled’, but now it’s time to update your event into the ‘Pre-Event/Preview’ mode and start marketing for your potential attendees and testing with your key stakeholders.
If you have completed set up on all sessions, speakers, partners and resources you can use preview access to share an on the day experience. Checking things like video playback, resource downloads, chats and poll questions.
It is always recommended that you preview your event with one or two users before going live.
The ‘Pre-event’ or ‘Preview’ mode means all your event pages are live with all video, chat and poll functions enabled. All published sessions will appear in the agenda. Registration is now open, with registration and consent forms are active.
Preview mode and live streams
Unfortunately, you cannot preview a live stream. Live streams will need to be activated at the appropriate date and time to function. You could however create a second live stream link and add this to your sessions to facilitate a preview. Remember, the true live stream link will need to be entered before your event.
By updating your event to ‘Preview’, you will be asked to assign a credit, this can be a Lite or Pro credit – these determine the features of your event.
P.S. You can buy more credits and host events under Manage Organisation within your User Profile.
CloseSetting an Event Live
To set your event into live mode, this will activate all the chatroom, poll and resources functions for visitors. You simple hit the green ‘Go live’ button on your event dashboard.
You can hit the red ‘Go offline’ button at anytime to return the event pages to their offline mode and deactivate the live experience elements.
Using Announcements
Announcements can be scheduled to appear before, during and after your event to share essential information with your registrants and attendees.
Announcements appear in multiple locations during your event and can be scheduled and prioritised based on your needs.
Creating a New Announcement
Announcement Title - Give your announcement a catchy, informative title.
Announcement Body - This is the main content for your announcement, some formatting options are available using the editor.
Sticky - A sticky announcement always appears at the top of the Announcements page while the event is in live mode.
Sponsor - If an announcement is published on behalf of a sponsor, their branding can be set to appear alongside the announcement.
Status - Enabled announcements will be publicly visible from the date and time set. Disabled announcements will not appear.
Publish Date - The date an enabled announcement will be visible from.
Publish Time - The time an enabled announcement will be visible from.
CloseFor administrators on the Pro or Enterprise plans, you can add additional users to help manage your event programme. Editable permission levels give you the ability to delegate content management and maintenance to a wider team.
Setting Up a Team
A Team is a grouping for users that allows you to set permissions for each user level. To create a new team just hit ‘+New Team’.
Once you have named and created your team you can select it and use the quick toggle settings to set up the access permissions across all areas of event management.
Once these permissions have been set you can create additional users to add to the team.
Creating a User
You can create a new user (assuming you have not reached your accounts user limit) at any time in the Manage Organisation area, just hit ‘+ New User’. Ensure you have at least 1 Team set up before creating a new user.
Once you have assigned the user to a team and provided their email address - it is recommended you do not use personal emails for users - the user will be sent a message allowing them to activate their user account.
You can disable a user at any time in the Manage Organisation Area.
CloseIf you need any additional support just contact our team by email at hello@onvine.net.
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