Bookshelf Home | Contents | Index | Search | PDF

Siebel eEvents Management Guide > Preparing for an Event > End-User Procedures for Preparing for an Event >

Content and Speaker Preparation Tasks

---

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

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.

Organizing Presentation Content into Sessions

During event preparation, you need to establish sessions within subevents, allowing attendees to choose which presentations to attend. It is not mandatory to create sessions for a subevent 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 subevents and events. You can also record feedback received on a session using the session's Feedback Form, as described in Adding a Session to a Subevent.

When you organize a subevent into sessions, each session behaves like a subevent within a subevent, with its own requirements and staffing. Remember that certain information stored in Siebel eEvents Management at the session level is not visible at event or subevent levels.

Adding a Session to a Subevent

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

To add a session to a subevent

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > Sub-Events.
In the Sub-Events list, click the name hyperlink of the subevent to which you want to add a session.
Click the Sessions view tab.
In the Sessions list, create a new record.

The session record inherits the start date and end date from the subevent. The Status field displays the default value of In Planning.

Modify the Start and End fields as necessary.

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

After entering a name, click the name hyperlink to navigate to the Sessions screen.
In the Session form, click the show more button and fill in the fields as needed.
To associate a venue with the session, click the select button in the Venue field.
To associate a room with the session, click the select button in the Room field.

NOTE:  Repeat Step 4 through Step 9 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 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 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. 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 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 Capacity	The maximum number of people who can attend the session. This field may not be displayed in the Sessions list by default, but can be made visible by using the Columns Displayed command. If a value is specified for Room, defaults to the capacity of the room. If no value is specified for Room, defaults to the Event Capacity value for the event. For more information about entering room characteristics, see To enter room information for a potential event venue.
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 9. For more information about entering room information in the Accounts screen, see To enter room information for a potential event venue.
Start	Required. Date and time when the session starts.
Status	The status of the session. Values available by default include Planned, Executing, In Progress, 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 8.

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

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > Sub-Events.
Select the subevent for which you want to check session scheduling.
Click the Sessions Time Line view tab.

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

To view session attendees

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > Sessions.
Select the session for which you want to view attendees.
Click the Attendees view tab.

Researching and Organizing Speakers

Siebel eEvents 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 or subevent.

Adding Speakers to Sessions

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

To add speakers to a session

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > Sessions.
In the Sessions list, select a session for which you want to specify one or more speakers.
Click the Speakers view tab.
In the Speakers list, create a new record.

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.

Publishing Event Information to a Web Site

It is important to note that only subevents and sessions display on the customer-facing eEvents Web site (the Web site). Events and Tracks do not display on the Web site.

The combination of three Siebel eEvents Management settings affect whether or not information in the Sub-Events and Sessions screens is visible to prospective event attendees on the Web site. These settings are as follows:

The status of the event
The start date of the event
The type of event

NOTE:  There are check boxes on the Sub-Event and Session More Info form called "External," which are checked (set to true) by default. If you uncheck a subevent's External check box, the subevent and its sessions are not displayed on the Web site, regardless of the status, date, or type. If you uncheck a session's External check box, the session is not displayed on the Web site. Thus, External check boxes can be used to designate internal subevents and sessions that should not be published to the Web site, or subevents or sessions for which only an administrator can register attendees.

The following procedures describe how to choose settings for the visibility you want.

To make event information visible to all

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > All Events, and select an event.
Set the Status field to Executing or In Progress.
Set the Start field to a date in the future or to today's date.
Make sure Event Type is not set to Restricted.

To make event information visible to invitees and administrators

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > All Events, and select an event.
Set the Status field to Executing or In Progress.
Set the Start field to a date in the future or to today's date.
Set Event Type to Restricted.

NOTE:  Events of type Restricted are not displayed in the customer site except to attendees who have been explicitly invited to the event. The attendee can view open invitations from the home page by clicking the View My Open Invitations link, and can then accept an invitation by registering for the event.

To make event information visible to administrators only

Set Status to any value except Executing or In Progress, or set Start to a date earlier than today's date.
If a subevent is visible, then the sessions related to it can be visible or not based on the value in the Status field in the session itself. As with events, a status of Executing or In Progress allows all users to see the session information.

Preparing Event Collateral

Another aspect of organizing information for an event is preparing literature such as brochures, white papers, presentation handouts, trade show exhibit maps, and so on. Collectively, such literature is known as collateral. Collateral can be a Web page URL or a file.

You can manage collateral preparation using activities in Siebel eEvents Management. After collateral is prepared, those electronic files, as well as vendor and venue contracts, can be stored in the Siebel eEvents Management.

Adding Collateral to a Subevent or a Session

You can use Siebel eEvents Management to store collateral for a subevent or for a specific session.

To add a collateral item to a subevent or a session

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Events > Sub-Events or Sessions.
Select the subevent or session with which you want to associate collateral.
Click the Collateral view tab.
In the Collateral list, create a new record.
Complete the necessary fields. Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
Extension	The file name extension for the file chosen in the File field. Typical values would include doc, ppt, xls, and so on. By default, this field may not be displayed in the Collateral list, but it can be added using the Columns Displayed command.
File	The operating system name of the file you are storing as collateral, without the file name extension. By default, this field may not be displayed in the Collateral list, but it can be added using the Columns Displayed command. For more information about completing this field, see Step 6.
Name	A name to identify the collateral item.
Status	The current stage of preparation for the collateral item. Typical values include Designed, Draft, Final, Printed, Shipped, and Submitted. LOV Type: EVENT_COLLATERAL_STATUS
Type	The kind of collateral item. Typical values include Brochure, Flyer, Handout, Layout, Map, and Presentation. LOV Type: EVENT_COLLATERAL_TYPE

To attach a file to the record, click the select button in the File field to display the Add Attachment dialog box, and then follow these instructions:
Click Browse to display a Choose File dialog box.
Use standard Windows techniques to select the file you want to designate as collateral, and then click Open.

The Choose File dialog box closes, and the selected file is listed in the File Name field of the Add Attachment dialog box.

Click Add.

The Add Attachment dialog box closes, and the selected file is listed in the File field of the Collateral form in the main window.

Bookshelf Home | Contents | Index | Search | PDF