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  • 1.  Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Community MVP
    Posted 09-24-2020 11:00
      |   view attached

    Hey Cvent Community!  My name is Loretta Peterson and this week I am providing Tip of the Week #25.  Be on the lookout for additional tips coming from fellow Cvent users in the coming weeks, as well. If you have an idea for a weekly tip or topic that you would like to learn or write about, you can reply to this post or send the Cvent Community team a message through Communitymanager@cvent.com.

     

    Last week, Jo Anna Chapin, wrote about Using Event Templates.  She highlighted the benefits of using a consistent framework for building out your events.  Segueing off of that, this week is about creating a blueprint for your templates and events.   CDW transitioned to Cvent as a Flex early adopter, and like many of you, had to rebuild our templates.  We took the opportunity to improve and enhance them during our design process.   It can be overwhelming starting in a new program and having to rebuild - where do you start?

     

    We created a blueprint of our registration site by laying out our content (questions, instructions, etc), registration paths and the order of the questions in Excel. This is a good method to use for building the foundation for your more complex and hybrid events.

     

    Benefits:

     

    • Easy to share collaborative tool for team review
    • Easy to make revisions for content and order
    • Focus on content - removes distraction of site design
    • Can be duplicated and used for future builds and event evolution updates
    • Helps determine use of custom contact fields and application of data to your event management processes
    • Can be used for API mapping

      

    BLUEPRINT COLUMNS 

    Please find below a couple of simple examples for your reference.

     

    • Questions/Instructions Content
    • Flex Widget/ Question Widget
    • Notes
    • Registration Paths:  We placed an "X" in the cell where a question was included in a path

     

    Other Items

    • Required Question
    • API field mapping:  If you are using API, you can use this grid to help map your data.  Copy the tab and create an API mapping tab

     

    Once your blueprint grid is finalized by your team, go into Flex and build!  Your team can compare the site against the blueprint. If further changes are needed, you can easily update the content within the widget, or drag and drop a widget to change the order.   Cvent Resource:  Using the Site Designer

     

    Master Template

    If you are going to have more than one template and they have a similar design and content structure, create a Master Template to simplify your building process and ensure consistency.  Build the most comprehensive template first as a master, then duplicate the succeeding templates as a hierarchy from most to least comprehensive.  Delete what you don't need in the duplicated templates and update with the customizations.

     

    Registration Path Build Hack

    In a similar fashion, build out the most comprehensive registration path first, then duplicate that path by clicking Create Path found underneath the Registration Path name and choosing Duplicate from the drop down menu.  You are ensured your paths will be consistent. And you don't have to rebuild a path that is similar to another. From there, you can easily add and duplicate, hide, or delete questions by using the menu at the top left hand corner of a question widget. 

     

    Hope these tips get you off to a good start.  We hope you will share your tips as well! 

     

    • What would be one column to add to your own blueprint? How do you use that feature?
    • What do you do to prep for your build?

     

    Happy designing and building, everyone!

     

    To learn more about using Flex from fellow Cvent customers, register for Cvent CONNECT Virtual to check out the on-demand session, FLEXible Features: Tips and Tricks from Real Cvent Customers.


    #Flex-Creating/ManagingEvents

    ------------------------------
    Loretta Peterson
    Events Associate
    CDW
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  • 2.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Community MVP
    Posted 09-25-2020 12:47
    This is great information... thanks Loretta

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    Andrea Timbes
    CRM Administrator & Lead Catcher
    Visit Fort Worth
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  • 3.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Posted 09-25-2020 15:57
    Loretta - this is fantastic! We are preparing to expand our instance for worldwide use and are desperately in need of way to streamline processes. I have nothing to add but a big thanks for sharing your document.

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    Stacy Wright, CMP
    Senior Manager, US Congresses & Events
    Galderma Laboratories, L.P..
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Community MVP
    Posted 09-28-2020 09:46
    Great content! Thanks for sharing!!!

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    Lori Wildman
    Senior Marketing Manager
    DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.
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  • 5.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Posted 09-28-2020 09:51
    Thank you so much for sharing this inofrmaiton!

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    Amy Zientek
    Director of Sales
    Visit Lubbock The Convention and Visitors Bureau
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  • 6.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Community MVP
    Posted 09-28-2020 10:16
    Brilliant!

    I would LOVE to see this in Cvent Budget Templates - a blueprint of the most common budget items (custom) and how to build them, and also a map of the more "miscellaneous" or specialized one. Perhaps some can be coded as event-specific and left OUT of the Account-level reporting on Event Budgets.

    ------------------------------
    Brenda Ainsburg
    Channel Program Manager
    brenda.ainsburg@siemens.com
    Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    United States
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Posted 10-01-2020 06:25
    Great info.  I would just add that if you use a master template or any templates ensure they are errorless or your mistakes will perpetuate.

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    Edward House
    App and Tech Supprt
    Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
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  • 8.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Posted 10-02-2020 06:32
    Thanks for the great tips! Templates are a great way to keep everything consistent.

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    Coy Rushton
    Graphic Designer
    Primary Residential Mortgage
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  • 9.  RE: Tip of the Week #25: Where to start?  Registration Site Blueprint

    Community MVP
    Posted 10-02-2020 13:05
    Thank you Loretta for sharing your process with us! 
    I'll add that once you've settled as a team on the structure of the website & registration path(s), the design itself can become the next phase. 
    We are using Cvent's Test User profile functionality as a way to send out our registration and website for review to management/committee members who are not actual users. 

    Cheers,

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    Béline FALZON
    Conference Program Specialist II
    California Teachers Association
    ------------------------------