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Preparing Sessions

Most business events involve the presentation of information. The amount and type of information presented varies across events, as do the means of presentation. This section describes the processes for organizing the information for presentation, choosing speakers for the event, and preparing collateral for distribution during the event.

This section provides material on how to prepare information for an event. Later sections of this chapter provide information about venues, equipment, budgets, vendors, and other aspects of event preparation and implementation.

Basic Questions for Event Organizing

In the course of organizing the information for an event, you may find it useful to consider the following questions:

• What kind of audience do you hope to reach?
• What professional challenges do members of your audience face?
• How will the information help the audience meet its challenges?
• What is the size of the audience you intend to reach?
• What kind of presentation will your audience find most useful and appealing?

  For example, is your information appropriate for a lecture format, a hands-on workshop, a demonstration, and so on?

• How long will it take to present the information?
• What equipment, such as computers, projectors, projection screens, slides, sound systems, and telephone or network wiring, will you need for your presentation?
• What collateral item do you want audience members to take with them from the event?
• What resources (human and monetary) do you have for the event?

Having at least tentative answers to these questions helps you decide on the basic structure of an event, including session type and length, speakers, and collateral.

Creating and Using Sessions

During event preparation, you need to establish sessions within events, allowing attendees to choose which presentations to attend. It is not mandatory to create sessions for an event with only one presentation, but creating sessions allows an attendee to synchronize to their personal calendar. Additionally, you can associate a speaker with one or more sessions, but not with events. You can also record feedback received on a session using the session's Feedback Form, as described in Adding a Session to an Event.

Adding a Session to an Event

After you create an event plan, your Siebel application generates the events. You can add one or more sessions to an event.

To add a session to an event

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Event Plans view.
2. In the Event Plans list, select and drill down on the event to which you want to add a session.
3. Click the Schedule view tab, and then click Events.
4. In the Events list, select and drill down on the Event Name.
5. Click the Schedule view tab and then click Sessions.
6. In the Sessions list, create a new record.

   The session record inherits the start date and end date from the event. Modify the Start and End fields as necessary.

   NOTE:  A session's start and end times cannot be outside the range of its Event Plans start and end times.

7. Drill down on the Session Name.
8. In the Session form, complete the necessary fields.
9. To associate a venue with the session, click the select button in the Venue field.
10. To associate a room with the session, click the select button in the Room field.

    NOTE:  Repeat this procedure for each additional session you want to add to the event.

    The following table describes some of the fields in the session form.

    Field	Comments
    Session Fee	Any fee specific to the individual session, in addition to the event Registration Fee. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command.
    Comments	A text field for notes related to the session. Visible to administrators only. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but it can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command.
    Description	A description of the session. Information stored in this field is visible to potential event attendees who request detailed information about the session.
    Dress Code	The recommended session attire. Values available by default include Business Casual, Business Professional, Black Tie, Sport, and Casual. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but it can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command. LOV Type: EVENT_DRESS_CODE
    End	(Required) The date and time when the session ends. This field defaults to the value of the End field for the event.
    Fee Type	A description of the kind of fee noted for the session in the Additional Fee field, if any. Typical values include Donation, None, Registration, and Voluntary. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but it can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command.
    Feedback Form	An optional field for entering feedback received about the session.
    Format	The type of session. Values available by default include Keynote, Lecture, Panel, and so on. LOV Type: EVENT_FORMAT
    Session Name	(Required) A name to identify the session.
    Related Sessions	One or more other sessions that cover related information. Available values are all sessions for all events. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command.
    Room	The specific room in the venue where the session is held. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command. Available values depend upon information entered under the Rooms view tab of the Accounts screen. For more information about completing this field, see Step 10. For more information about entering room characteristics, see the procedure titled To enter room information for a potential event venue in the Creating Venues section.
    Start	(Required) Date and time when the session starts.
    Status	The status of the session. Values available by default include Planned, Launched, Completed, and Cancelled. LOV Type: EVENT_STATUS_CODE
    Venue	The location or facility where the session is held, which may or may not be related to primary venue for the event. For more information about specifying a venue, see Step 9.

Creating and Using Session Templates

Sessions can also be generated automatically using Session Templates. This feature reduces the amount of data entry required when setting up multiple events with similar session schedules.

To create a session template

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Marketing Templates > Session Templates view.
2. In the Session Templates list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.
3. In the lower list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

   Repeat the above step for each session template created.

To use a session template

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Event view.
2. In the Events list, select and drill down on the event.
3. In the Details form, from the Session Template field, click the select button.
4. In the Sessions dialog box, select the session, and click OK.

NOTE:  You can only apply a Session Template to an event if no sessions already exist for that event.

You can add a group of sessions to an event using a session template. As application administrator, you must set up a session template before you can associate it with an event, see Defining an Event.

NOTE:  You cannot apply a template to an event that already has existing sessions. If you want to change the template or reapply it, you must delete all existing sessions, delete the template from the event, save the record, and the reselect the template.

To associate a session template with an event

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Event view.
2. In the Event list, select and drill down on the event.
3. Click the Schedule view tab, and then click Sessions.
4. In the Sessions list, create a new record.
5. In the Sessions list, click the select button in the Session Template field to select a session template.

To see the session associated with the event

• Click the Schedule view tab, and then click Sessions.

NOTE:  The Validate Session button in the Sessions view can be used to check for schedule conflicts across all sessions in a single event. If one or more sessions have time values that overlap, an error message appears. This button is particularly useful when managing large events with many sequential sessions.

Viewing Session Schedules and Attendees

This section describes procedures for viewing session schedules and attendees. You can view session schedules using the Session Time Line. This method is helpful for confirming that there are no unintentional gaps or overlaps in the timing of sessions. You may also view a session's list of attendees to determine the session's popularity or for informational purposes.

The following procedure describes how to view the Session Time Line.

To view the Session Time Line

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Event Plans view.
2. In the Event Plan list, select and drill down on the event.
3. Click the Schedule view tab, and then click Events.
4. In the Events list, select and drill down on the event for which you want to check session scheduling.
5. Click the Schedule view tab, and click Session Time Line.

The following procedure describes how to view only the available sessions for an overall event.

To view only the available sessions for an event

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > All Events view.
2. In the Events list, select and drill down on an event.
3. Click the Schedule view tab, and then click Sessions.
4. In the Sessions list, confirm that Status is set to Open.

The following procedure describes how to view a list of session attendees.

To view session attendees

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Sessions view.
2. In the Sessions list, select and drill down on the session name for the session for which you want to view attendees.
3. Click the Participants view tab, and then click Attendees.
4. To see a list of all companies registered for a session, click the Company Attendees link.

   NOTE:  Registering a contact automatically registers that contact's company.

Assigning Rooms to Sessions

After you have designated one or more locations as event venues and have entered rooms associated with those locations, you can assign specific rooms to individual sessions within the event. The following procedure describes how to assign a room to a session.

To assign a room to a session

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Sessions view.
2. In the Sessions list, select the session to which you want to assign a room.
3. In the Session form, review the current value in the Venue field.

   If necessary, select another venue that is associated with the selected event.

4. In the Room field, select a room.

Researching and Organizing Speakers

Siebel Events Management provides you with the ability to designate one or more speakers per session. Speakers must be members of the event staff, with speaker as their selected role. They can be employees of the event-hosting organization, or they can be persons from outside organizations. They may or may not be registered as event attendees, according to your preference. Speaker information is always stored in relation to a specific session, rather than to an event plan or event.

Adding Speakers to Sessions

The following procedure describes how to add one or more speakers to a session within an event.

When adding a new session staff member with a role of speaker, or changing the role of an existing session staff member to speaker, Siebel Events checks for overlapping speaking engagements for the staff member based on the session start and end date. If the speaker is booked for more than one session at the same time, it displays an error message and prevents the record from being saved.

To add speakers to a session

1. Navigate to the Site Map > Events > Sessions view.
2. In the Sessions list, select and drill down on the session for which you want to specify one or more speakers.
3. Click the Resources view tab, and then click Staff.
4. In the Staff list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.
   • Be sure to select Speaker from the Session Role drop-down list to designate this person is a speaker for the event.
   • The Status field indicates whether or not the speaker has been confirmed to speak at the event. It does not indicate the speaker's registration status as an event attendee.
   • You can only select session staff members who were previously created in the parent event.

Viewing Session Tracks

You can use the Session Track view to associate tracks to sessions. The following procedure describes how to view tracks that are associated with a specific session.

To view tracks associated with a specific session

1. Navigate to the Session Tracks view.

   The Tracks list displays all the tracks that the session belongs to.

2. Click the Tracks Name to sort the list.