GENERAL
FAQ: What we need to set up the platform
The platform that will be used for your hybrid or virtual event can be completely branded in your own corporate identity. To do this, we need a few things. Follow the steps below and you will know perfectly what we need to get everything up and running.
1. Invitations
Media Arena never sends out initial invitations. These always depart from the organizer. The invitation will either include a “safe the date” or a link to a landing page to register on.
Would you like to include a location map to Media Arena in your invitation? If so, you can download it here:
2. Registrations and landing pages
Participants must register – preferably – to participate. In case of a hybrid event, we have 2 types of participants: physical and virtual. The flow for both types differs.
There are different ways to flow the registrations:
1. Entirely on Media Arena's platforms
This means that as an organizer, you don’t have to deal with the registration process at all. Media Arena sets these things up for you:
- A landing page in the corporate style of your event or organization, containing all information about the event, program, speakers, …
- On the landing page, the participant chooses how he will participate: physically or virtually. Thus, he immediately enters the appropriate communication flow through a series of emails (see below).
Advantages of working this way
- The participant is immediately in the right communication flow. Virtual participants immediately receive the correct link to participate with a personal link.
- Complete relief for you as an organizer.
Disadvantages of working this way
- The landing page is on a Media Arena url (and not on your own domain name). The link will always look like this: https://www.mediaarena.eu/naam-van-uw-event where you can choose the last part of the url.
- You will receive an update around enrollment numbers from us once a week. This is standard. We do note that you can feel free to ask for intermediate numbers in between, of course this is not a problem.
2. Fully self-managed on your own platform(s)
This means that you as the organizer take full control of the registrations. This is perfectly possible. The procedure is then as follows:
- You set up the registration pages yourself, collect data from people who register, and send an initial confirmation email.
- For physical participants, you continue to handle communication yourself.
- For virtual participants, you provide us with an Excel list of registrants at an agreed time. Media Arena imports this list into the platform, from where a confirmation email immediately departs to each individual participant. From there, each registrant enters an automatic communication flow through a series of emails (see below).
- Registrations after the first import, can be imported into the platform at different times. There is no limit to this. We do ask you to stop the registrations on the day of the event itself, and to replace your own registration form with a link to the registration form on the platform. This way we avoid a lot of handling on the day of the event itself, and this way people can register and participate even after the event has started.
Advantages of working this way
- You have visibility into registrations and the identity of registrants at all times.
- The landing pages are on your own domain name, and you can make changes to the landing page at any time.
Disadvantages of working this way
- Virtual participants will not receive their personal link until much later after registration.
- A redirection must be provided on the last day to allow for last-minute registrations.
3. A mix of both
In this case, we assume that the organizer sets up the landing page, and does the management of the physical registrations. For the registrations of the virtual participants, we provide a registration widget that can be placed on the organizer’s website via an embed code. This way, the virtual participants immediately get into the right flow for the online event.
What do we need to receive from you?
1. To setup a landing page
To setup a landing page, we will need to receive from you:
- your logo in as high a resolution as possible
(preferably in png, pdf or ai file) - your invitation
- any graphics and/or photos used (the higher the quality, the better)
- the program
- any additional info
- name of the event (for the url)
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Here is an example of a landing page with registration option to participate both physically and virtual. The look and feel will of course match your event.
2. To setup the registration forms
- A list of all the data you want to capture (first name, last name and e-mail address are standard).
- Which of these data fields do you want to make mandatory?
- Several types of fields are possible. The most
common are text fields and dropdowns (with
fixed selection list). When using dropdowns, also provide
a list of possible answers.
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Here you can see an example of a registration form. Again, we coordinate the use of color to match the rest of the look and feel.
3. Email confirmations and reminders
Depending on how someone will participate, physically or virtually, a specific communication flow is initiated after registration. For physical participants, it is important that they receive an email that clearly states where and when they are expected. This is no different for virtual participants, although there we need to take into account one important detail: virtual participants receive a personalized participation link.
Why is this important?
The personalized link is important for individual tracking. In other words, through the personalized participation link it is possible to link certain actions, behaviors, interactions, etc. to a name. It is therefore extremely important that each registered participant uses their own link. We are thinking here mainly for events where accreditation is provided.
Important for organisers:
You will receive from us a link to the registration page. You can of course also register yourself (if only to see for yourself if everything works). As an organizer, please provide only the link to the registration page, and never a personal participation link. The latter you will never receive from us in the regular communication traffic between project manager and organizer. The only way you will possibly receive such a personal participation link is by registering yourself. So, pay attention!
Both physical participants and virtual participants will receive multiple emails:
- A confirmation email after registration
- A reminder email one or several days in advance
- A reminder email one or several hours in advance (only for virtual participants)
What do we need to receive from you?
- Sender name: when the name ends up in the mailbox, there is a sender there. What would you like to see listed there?
- Do you wish to include a reply e-mail address? Then be sure to let us know. By default, we put in every mail: “For technical assistance, contact us at support@mediaarena.be.”
- Specific information you would like to include in the mail.
- Above each mail we place a banner, usually in the style of the event (and invitation). Want something specific there? Let us know, or provide an image in png format with dimensions 640 x 128 pixels.
- The timing of sending reminder emails. We recommend:
- For virtual attendees:
- 1 day upfront, around 14h00
- the day itself, about 3 hours in advance to the event
- For fysical attendees:
- 2days upfront, around 14h00
- For virtual attendees:
Shown here is an example of a confirmation email for virtual participants.
The emails are formatted within a set template, but offer enough flexibility to brand according to your own look and feel.
4. Questions?
You still have questions, or you are not sure on how to create your content? Feel free to contact us through support@mediaarena.be. You’re very welcome.