Webex Events platform: 6.3
Event App: 36.0
Webex Events Production Studio: 2.1.3
Onsite: 2.1

This month’s release comes with some juicy improvements to Registration and the Onsite App, plus the Webex Events Production Studio now supports GIFs! 🎉  Watch the video below, or keep reading to learn more! 📖

Registration ticket and order management enhancements

This month’s cornucopia of Registration enhancements hone in on streamlining ticket and order management and reducing distractions for your registrants. 

New payment options to publish Registration

Previously, we required you to connect to a Stripe account to publish Registration if you selected ‘Paid’ during Registration setup. Now, you can select one or more of three options — Stripe, Invoice, and Check — to publish paid Registration. 

Ticket availability and visibility

Webex Events Registration now has an option to automatically hide a ticket from the Registration page when it’s sold out, past the close date, or isn’t on sale yet.

Where can you find this new option? Simply edit the ticket, expand the Advanced Settings section, and select ‘Hide ticket when unavailable” from the Visibility drop-down. 

Share a direct ticket link

This nifty new option in Ticket settings lets you share a unique link for each ticket after you publish Registration. When registrants click the link, the ticket is the only option on the Registration page — no distractions, no confusion.

Simply go to the Tickets page in the Webex Events platform, click the ticket’s Settings (⋯) icon, select Share link to copy the unique URL, then send it to the people who need it. 🔗 

Hide the option to reserve for someone else

You can now choose to hide the option to let purchasers enter separate contact information during registration. This is helpful if you don’t expect registrants to purchase tickets on behalf of others. Simply head to General Settings and deactivate the Accept purchaser information option. Easy peasy!

Filter orders by ticket

We want to give you the tools to manage orders efficiently and find what you need quickly. That’s why you can now filter tickets on the Orders page by Ticket Name, in addition to Status, Ticket Type, and Promo Code.

More notable Registration improvements

• After publishing Registration, you can now delete the tickets no one has registered with. 
• People have sometimes been confused when a ticket shows "Closed" on the Registration page before its scheduled 'Sales open' date. Now, the button says, “Coming Soon” until the ticket becomes available.
• On the Tickets page in the Webex Events platform, tickets that are sold out, past the close date, or yet to be opened have a status of “Closed” to help you quickly discern which ones are currently on sale.
• When an attendee enters an access code on the Registration page, the associated ticket moves to the top of the list and is highlighted briefly. No more scrolling to find the right ticket!
• After clicking “Read More” to expand a ticket description, attendees can now click “Show Less” to collapse those descriptions.

To learn more about all of these registration features, read our Create Tickets article and our Registration Settings Overview article. 

Webex Events Onsite improvements

Sometimes the Onsite App has trouble finding a printer automatically even though it's connected to the same router as the check-in device. To overcome this problem, you can now choose to enter the printer's IP address manually. With this alternative in your toolkit, check-in and badge printing is more seamless than ever.

When attendees arrive at your event check-in desk, a locked iPad is an inconvenience at best and a barrier to entry at worst. To ensure your iPad doesn’t take a nap during check-in, we’ve introduced a new setting in the Onsite App that prevents the iPad from auto-locking, and it’s active by default. 

If you want to turn the setting off, open the Onsite App’s Settings, tap Appearance & Display, then deactivate Prevent Auto-Lock.  

To learn more, read our article about Onsite Event Check-in hardware setup.

Reorder External Links and Attachments

A well-ordered Event App is a great Event App. That's why we now let you drag and drop External Links and Attachments to rearrange them in the following feature items:

• Sessions
• Speakers
• Sponsors and Exhibitors
• Custom List
• Single Item

GIFs in Webex Events Production Studio

We know how important branding is for your live streams — your logos, backgrounds, and images aren’t an after-thought. They tell your story, showcase your sponsors, and give your viewers a taste of your unique style. To help you create an even more dynamic, engaging, and downright fun experience for your attendees, we’re excited to share that you can now upload GIFs to the Webex Events Production Studio! 

Grab GIFs from the internet or craft your own using your favorite GIF maker and upload them as logos, Images, or backgrounds.

To learn more about all the fun branding opportunities for your live stream, read our Getting Started with Webex Events Production Studio article. 

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? Sign up for a free account to get started!

Platform: 6.1
Event App: 34.0
Studio: 2.1.0

Today's update includes some improvements to a couple of recent releases, a quality of life upgrade for branded app updates, and a change to streaming provider options. Watch the video below and read this post to learn all about the changes!

Widget Item Details

Earlier this year, we introduced embeddable Event App widgets. These widgets let you embed session details, sponsor and speaker lists, and more in your event and partner websites.

We're excited to announce that Sponsor, Speaker, Exhibitor, and Custom List widget items are now clickable, revealing the item's image, title, subtitle, and description in a pop-up!

The pop-up automatically pulls information from your Event, and it updates automatically if you change any of the fields mentioned above — no code update required.

If you’re not already embedding Event App content widgets in your external sites, then now is a great time to start!  Learn more in our article about embedding Event App content with widgets.

Pre-filled Privacy & Consent question options

Getting explicit consent from registrants establishes trust, protects consumer privacy, and maintains compliance with global privacy regulations. Last June, we released a new custom Privacy & Consent question type and Privacy report on the Webex Events platform to help you gather and track registrant consent data. We've added Privacy & Consent question options with pre-filled text to help you create custom consent questions faster.

These pre-filled questions are intended as a starting point for creating certain types of consent questions. Your legal team knows what’s best, so always consult with them for specific wording before you publish questions. 

For more information about creating questions in the Webex Events platform, read our Create Questions article. 

Improved Branded App update notifications

Is it just me, or is it easy to forget to do something that’s not right in front of us? If you can relate, then you’ll appreciate this update! Until today, you had to open the ‘My Apps’ page to find out if any of your Branded Apps needed to be updated. Now, we’ve added a new alert icon next to ‘My Apps’ in the Webex Events platform navigation bar. With this alert, you’ll know right away if a Branded App update is available as soon as you log in to the Webex Events platform.

Remember, keeping your Branded App up to date gives you and your attendees access to the latest features and improves the app experience. What’s more, if your Branded App needs an update, you must start the update process before publishing an Event App to it. 

Even though today's release doesn't require a Branded App update, keep tabs on the new notification so you and your attendees never miss out on the latest and greatest!

Branded App Event visibility improvements (Rolled back)

On 10/3/2023, we rolled this change back. Read the rollback post to learn more.

Not all Branded App users should have access to every event in the app, especially if certain events are intended for exclusive attendees.

Previously, attendees who downloaded a Branded App could easily access every Event App associated with it under ‘Current & Upcoming Events’ — even ones they hadn’t joined yet. With today’s release, only Event Apps with the 'Public' privacy setting are immediately visible in a Branded App. Attendees can't find Event Apps with the Event Code or Invite Only privacy setting until they enter the code or search. This way, if a Branded App user doesn’t know about an event, they won’t find out about it unless you tell them. 🤫

Webex Events Production Studio focus

Since we released our very own Webex Events Production Studio, we've continued to add a steady stream (see what I did there?) of improvements and new features to make it the best integrated streaming solution for any Webex Event. With the Production Studio's rich feature set and proven track record of stability, we now want to hone our focus to this single solution.

As of today, Restream is no longer available for new Event Apps or Communities or for new Sessions or Live Stream features. If you selected Restream as the stream provider in a Session or Live Stream feature before September 28, 2023, you can continue to use the Restream Studio until the Event ends or you select a different stream provider.    

With only one studio solution to focus on, our amazing engineering teams can bring faster enhancements to the Webex Events Production Studio. A single solution also means a more simple, streamlined experience for our customers and support team. To learn more about Webex Events Production Studio, read our Introduction to Webex Events Production Studio article.

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? Sign up for a free account!

Platform 6.0
Event App 33.0.0
Lead Retrieval 1.8.0
Onsite App 2.0

Today's update is jam-packed with lots of great changes that will make your experience with Webex Events simpler, more intuitive, and more versatile. Watch the video below and read this post to learn all about these changes.

Introducing: Onsite Session Check-in!

That's right! The excellent Onsite app you're used to using for Event Check-in and badge printing now does Session Check-in too. 

Here's how it works:

When you add or upload your Event's Sessions, you'll configure the brand new Session Check-in options for each Session. This includes check-in and check-out policy, check-in flow and information customization, and access limitations based on tracks, personal agendas, and our brand new location capacity setting.

Next, configure the Onsite App as normal, then publish, and it's time to check attendees in!

After you download the latest version of the Onsite by Webex Events (Socio) app on a check-in device, log in, and choose your Event, a mode selection screen appears where you'll choose either Event Check-in or Session Check-in. Select Session Check-in, then tap on a Session. Launch check-in right away, or lock the device to only one or more Sessions if you don't want users to access the full Session list.

Checking attendees in couldn't be easier! If the welcome and confirmation screens aren't active, check-in staff simply scan attendees' badge QR codes to check them in to and out of the Session. Otherwise, you can set up a check-in iPad or iPhone at the entrance to each session, and attendees can check themselves in with either the QR Code or Search options, kiosk-style.

If an attendee doesn't have their QR code handy, search for them by name, email, company, or title, then review their information before checking them in.

During and after check-in, explore check-in metrics and trends to track session performance, award Continuing Education Credits, and inform future decisions. On the Sessions page, click the 'i' icon next to a Session's 'Attendance' count to access the counts for all time checked in, checked out, currently checked-in, capacity, and remaining capacity.

There's much more to explore about Webex Events Onsite Session Check-in, and we have several brand new and updated articles to guide you through everything:

• Configure the Onsite App
• Configure Sessions for Session Check-in
• Session Check-in Device Setup
• Using Onsite Session Check-in
• Onsite App Settings Overview
• Onsite Metrics

Bonus! 

These changes to the Onsite app also include some improvements to the Event Check-in experience and the app in general, including:

• Smarter attendee search
• Better in-app setup instructions
• iPhone compatibility with Event Check-in and Badge Printing
• Dark mode
• Revamped app settings

Unified Attendee list

Previously, there were four separate attendee lists in the Webex Events platform — two in the Registration product, one in the Event App product, and one in the Onsite product. Managing different parts of a single attendee's information in multiple different places could be confusing, so we've now unified all attendee lists into one in the Webex Events platform. The new Attendees page dynamically shows columns and statuses relevant to each product you've activated for your Event with corresponding filters, individual actions, and bulk actions.

Revamped attendee profiles

As you probably guessed, each attendee now has a single profile page, so you can review and edit all attendee information in one place. The tabs in an attendee's profile let you quickly and simply access and edit their basic information, Event App and social activity, and Registration data. No more bouncing back and forth between different profiles in different products!

Read our article about adding and uploading attendees for up-to-date instructions on adding attendees to your Event.

Read our article about accessing and editing attendee information for a complete overview of the Attendees page, attendee profiles, and all the ways you can edit attendee data.

New 'Attendance' tag

We've now added a new 'Attendance' tag to attendee profiles that indicates whether the person is attending in person or virtually. When you create a new attendee profile or upload attendees, you must now specify how they'll attend. In Webex Events Registration, you must also set an attendance type for each ticket you create, and attendees who buy a ticket are automatically assigned that ticket's attendance type.

For now, this new tag is a great way to identify if an attendee will be on-site or not when viewing their profile in the Webex Events platform. This tag also opens up new opportunities for us to improve the attendee and organizer experience in the future. Stay tuned!

Event-level groups and exclusive groups

Groups let you categorize attendees, tailor content to different personas or interests, and personalize the attendee experience. Since attendees and groups go together, you'll now create and manage groups from the Attendees menu instead of the (now removed) Users & Groups menu in the Event App.

This means that assigning attendees to groups with tickets and questions in Webex Events Registration doesn't require you to first publish the Event App!

Exclusive groups

There's a new kind of group in town — exclusive groups. These have all the same benefits as the regular groups you're used to, except attendees can only belong to one exclusive group at a time. That's because exclusive groups are meant to uniquely identify different types of attendees. For example, you might make exclusive groups for attendees, speakers, sponsors, and staff.

With the introduction of exclusive groups, keep these concepts in mind:

• Create new exclusive groups from the 'Groups' page and in the 'New ticket' modal in Webex Events Registration.
• Attendees must belong to an exclusive group, and they can only belong to one exclusive group at a time.
• Tickets must be associated with an exclusive group, and attendees who buy a ticket are automatically assigned to the ticket's exclusive group.
• Exclusive groups now replace 'Attendee Types' in Webex Events Onsite.

Our article about groups has everything you need to know about creating and using groups and exclusive groups.

Event-level questions

We want everyone who uses Webex Events to have the best experience possible, even if they choose not to use all of our services. As part of the attendee profile consolidation, we've added the 'Questions' page to the new Attendees menu. For those of you using Webex Events Registration, you can still create questions from the Checkout Forms page in Webex Events Registration.

For folks who don't want to use Webex Events Registration, this is great news because you can now import attendees with their question answers without activating Webex Events Registration. Simply create the questions in Webex Events, then import attendees with the answers to each question. 

💡 Keep in mind, with this release, you can no longer create questions when importing attendees. You must first create the questions in Webex Events, then import the data.

Read our article about creating questions for complete information.

Event-level Sessions and tracks

Just like we moved the Attendees and Groups pages to the event level, we've now also moved Sessions and Tracks out of the Event App's Agenda feature to the event level. Why? Because Session Check-in! I said it once, and I'll say it again: we want everyone who uses Webex Events to have the best experience possible, even if they choose not to use all of our services. With Session creation outside the Event App, anyone can now use Onsite Event Check-in and badge printing and Session Check-in without touching the Event App product. It also opens up some great opportunities for future product improvements.

For everyone who uses the Event App, this change really isn't much of a change. Besides moving the menus, the only difference now is that when creating or uploading Sessions, you'll specify which Agenda feature a Session should belong to.

Like attendees and groups, Sessions and tracks are made for each other, so they came along for the ride when we moved Sessions. Tracks now live in the brand new Sessions menu, and they still work like they always have.

Read these new and updated articles for complete information about Sessions and tracks:

• Add Sessions to Your Event
• Manage Sessions in Your Event
• Configure Sessions for Session Check-in
• Use Tracks to Categorize Sessions

Event-level locations and location capacity

If you thought we were done movin' and improvin', we have one more surprise. Even though you can associate locations with Map shapes and pins, Sponsor, Speaker, and Exhibitor profiles, Custom List items, and the Single Item feature in the Event App, locations are critical to Sessions, too. With the introduction of Onsite Session Check-in, we've now added the 'Locations' menu to the 'Sessions' menu and added the 'Location capacity' field to locations.

Read our article about adding and using locations for more information.

Lite Check-in removed

Now that Webex Events Registration no longer has a separate attendee list, we've removed the Lite Check-in feature.

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events Platform and explore these new changes for yourself. As always, all Webex Events knowledge base articles are 100% up to date for these changes, so you can get accurate instructions and more information when you need it. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

In January, we updated the Webex Events platform interface to a cleaner, more streamlined design, which was a big change. In the months since then, we've continued to make improvements, and now it's time for the next big change.

On August 10, 2023 starting at 11:00 pm EDT, we're releasing several major updates to the Webex Events platform and brand new Onsite functionality that's sure to delight our on-site event planners! 🎉 We expect to complete maintenance by August 11, 2023 at 06:00 am EDT. During this time, the Webex Events platform and all of its components will be unavailable. 

Here's what we're releasing:

One attendee list, one attendee profile

Right now, there are three separate attendee lists in the Webex Events platform — one in the Registration product, one in the Event App product, and one in the Onsite product. Managing information for the same attendees in three different places can be confusing, so we're fixing that. After the August 11 release, there will be only one attendee list in the Webex Events platform, and each attendee will have a single profile page, so you can review and edit all attendee information in one place.

Event-level Sessions

As the central hub for session information and live streams, the Agenda feature is the backbone of many Event Apps. To add sessions to an Event App today, you must first add the Agenda feature, then edit it, and sessions aren't used for anything outside the Event App. 

On August 11, we're moving the ability to create Sessions out of the Agenda feature to the Event level, so you don't have to activate the Event App to create them. Long-term, this opens the door for exciting future updates. For now, creating Sessions outside the Event App will let you use our brand new Onsite Session Check-in by itself or with any other combination of Webex Events products.

Session Check-in

Yes, I said Session Check-in!

On August 11, the Webex Events platform will get new Session and Onsite functionality to support Session Check-in. Within a few days of release after Apple approval, the Onsite by Webex Events (Socio) app will be updated to include Session Check-in functionality in addition to the Event Check-in and badge printing you're used to. We'll save all the juicy details for the official announcement — meanwhile, here are some screenshots to whet your appetite. 🤩

💡 Keep in mind, some elements in the screenshots above may change before release.

That's all for today, folks! Click the Subscribe to Updates button at the top of this screen so you always know what's happening with Webex Events products. Follow the Webex Events status page to stay up to date on maintenance status.

Registration Platform 5.5
Studio 2.0

This month’s release brings some awesome enhancements to the Webex Events platform and the Webex Events Production Studio. Watch the following video for an overview, or keep reading to learn more! 🎉

Custom consent question type and Privacy Report

Silence isn’t consent. When collecting personal data in the digital world, asking for consent establishes a dynamic of respect and trust, protects consumer privacy, and maintains compliance with global privacy regulations. Webex Events Registration now has a custom consent question type for checkout forms to make it easier for you to manage attendee data and privacy and keep a record of explicit consent or refusal.

Add one or more custom consent questions and customize them to fit your needs. This is great when you need to ask questions like, “Would you like to subscribe to our monthly email newsletter?”, “This event will be photographed. Do you grant us permission to capture and use any photos with your likeness for commercial purposes?” or “Do you consent to us sharing your data with a third party for marketing purposes?”, to name a few.

To learn more about custom consent questions, read our article about creating checkout forms and questions.

Collecting data is only helpful if you have a way to analyze that data. That’s why there’s a new Registration export report in town called Privacy Report, and it has all the data you need to easily find out which registrants provided consent or refusal to consent questions. Let this report be your source of truth in handling attendee privacy and data!

To download the report, head to your Registration Metrics page and select Privacy Report from the Export Report drop-down menu.

To learn more about the Privacy Report, read our Webex Events Registration Metrics article.

Activate or deactivate group registration

Speaking of metrics, we’ve crunched the numbers and found that more than 90% of completed Webex Events Registration orders are for a single ticket. Additionally, some organizers may prefer that attendees purchase one ticket per order. Every event is different, so we’ve decided to let event organizers choose whether to restrict registration to one ticket per order or to let registrants purchase multiple tickets in one order.

To manage this setting in the Webex Events platform, go to Registration in your Event navigation bar, click Settings, then General, and activate or deactivate the 'Allow group registration' toggle. You can update this setting at any time if needed, too!

When you deactivate the group registration setting, registrants simply click the ‘Select’ button for the ticket they want to purchase. This removes the step of selecting ‘1’ from the ticket drop-down and improves the registration experience for attendees purchasing single tickets.

💡Keep in mind, this option is active for all current Registrations. The option is inactive for all Registrations activated after June 21, 2023.

To learn more, read our Registration Settings Overview article.

Webex Events Production Studio layout animation

Producing a live stream can involve an intricate dance of switching layouts and managing which speakers and shared content are on stage at any time during the stream. With all the activity on stage, we’ve updated Webex Events Production Studio layout transitions to seamlessly adjust as you add, arrange, and remove speakers and content. This subtle enhancement creates a visually pleasing effect that’s smooth as silk. Here’s a GIF to illustrate:

Want to learn more about Webex Events Production Studio? Our Introduction to Webex Events Production Studio article is the perfect place to start. 🌈

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

Platform 5.4
Event App 32.0.0
Studio 1.4
Onsite 1.1.11

This month's batch of updates brings lots of new customization to some popular Event App and Registration features! Click the video below or keep reading to learn all about what we've cooked up. 👩‍🍳

Customize checkout messaging by ticket type

In a world of hybrid events, early bird specials, VIP passes, sponsor registration, and other ticketing nuances, one-size-fits-all messaging can be difficult to craft. That's why we're excited to announce that you can now create checkout messages and confirmation, cancellation, and refund emails that are unique to each ticket type in your Registration form! 🌈

In your Webex Event or Community, the Registration Checkout Settings page now has three tabs — Confirmation messages, PDF tickets, and Emails.

• Confirmation messages - Customize the confirmation page that appears after attendees purchase a ticket.
• PDF tickets - Choose whether the Event date, location, ticket QR code, ticket description, event description, or checkout confirmation message are included in the PDF version of the ticket that attendees receive after they register.
• Emails - Customize the confirmation emails attendees receive after they purchase a ticket and the cancellation and refund notification emails attendees receive after you cancel or refund their orders.

When you create a new message, ticket, or email, assign one or multiple ticket types to them, so if a single message makes sense for multiple tickets, you don’t have to duplicate your work. Have lots of different tickets? No problem! Create up to 50 unique messages, PDF tickets, and emails of each type.

Things to know:

• Attendees who buy multiple tickets in the a single order are shown a generic confirmation message, which you can customize.
• Newly created tickets are automatically assigned to the default confirmation message, PDF ticket, and emails.
• When you delete a custom confirmation message, PDF ticket, or email, its assigned tickets are moved to the corresponding defaults.
• All custom messages, PDF tickets, and emails are automatically translated when language selection is activated.

Excited to start crafting some amazing communications? Read our brand new article about customizing Registration checkout messaging for complete instructions.

Other email improvements

From name, Reply to, and Subject customization

Email messages customized to each ticket type are awesome, though there's more to an email than the message. That's why we've also added the ability to customize the From name, Subject, and Reply to email addresses for checkout, cancellation, and refund emails!

Because you can now customize emails by ticket type, this means that tailoring these fields to each type of attendee is now possible. Want to make sure speaker or VIP questions are routed to exactly the right person for quicker response? Easy! Create a confirmation email for the VIP ticket and enter the 'Reply to' email that will get their questions answered pronto. 

Use the variables below the email message to easily customize the message, 'From name', and 'Subject' to individual attendees, too.

Include PDF ticket and Web App buttons in custom Registration Emails

We've also added the ability to include the PDF ticket in the emails you create in the Promote > Emails menu. This is perfect for "See you soon" emails that help attendees who registered months ago find their tickets when your event is only a couple of days away.

Automatic App Store and Play Store button links

Previously, when you added the App Store or Play Store CTA buttons to an email, you had to then open up your Event App's promo page, copy the URLs one by one, and paste them into the 'Button Link' fields. That's a lot of work for something that should be easy.

Now, we automatically fill in those fields with the correct link to the Webex Events App or your Branded App. Less work? Yes, please!

Read our article about creating and sending Registration emails for complete information. 

Maps feature improvements

The Maps feature is one of the most popular features for in-person events, so maps should be visually appealing, fit with your brand, and help attendees find their way around your event venue as easily as possible. This release will help you achieve those goals!

New shape options

Previously, drawing a clickable region on a map was only a matter of drawing a blue rectangle. Maps of venues with curving or angled rooms tended to look odd. Drawing shapes on very small spaces such as exhibitor booths could also be a poor experience. So, we're adding three new shape options:

• Custom shape - Click to start drawing a line around an area of the image. Click again to add a corner. Click the point at which you started to complete the shape.
• Circle - Click to start drawing a circle around an area of the image. The place you click is the center of the circle. Click again to finalize the circle.
• Pin - Click to add a pin icon on the map image.

Customizable colors

Before, those rectangles we mentioned only came in blue. No offense to you blue lovers out there, but it doesn't fit every brand. Want to add shapes or pins for each of your exhibitors, customized with their unique brand colors? Now you can!

When you add a location to a map image, you can customize the fill and border colors for shapes and pins. Use the opacity slider in the color selector to control how much of the map image is visible below the shape.

Multi-map list view

Attendees sometimes didn't realize that an event had multiple maps because the map selection menu wasn't automatically presented when attendees clicked the Maps feature. To address this, we now display the list of all maps when attendees first click the Maps feature, and attendees can tap the one they want to view.

Other Maps feature updates

We've also made some other updates to the Maps feature, including:

• When you draw a location, the location's edges can now snap to the edges of other locations you added previously.
• The zoom effect when an attendee taps on a location doesn't zoom in as far now.
• If a feature item is associated with a location, the Location section now appears in that item in the Mobile App and Web App, regardless of the Event type.

💡 Keep in mind, app versions older than 32.0.0 will display all shapes and pins in the default blue, regardless of custom color selection, and circles will be displayed as pins. Be sure to update your Branded App to the latest version as soon as possible and advise your attendees to update the app on their devices.

To learn all about using the Maps feature, read our Feature Guide: Maps article.

Mirror my video in Webex Events Production Studio

When you look in a mirror, you see an inverted image of yourself. When you raise your right hand, your reflection appears to raise its left hand. We humans are used to this effect, so when a webcam video of you doesn't behave like a mirror, it can be disorienting.

We've now added the Mirror my video feature to the Webex Events Production Studio's camera settings. Activate the toggle to flip your self-view video so that it behaves like a mirror.

💡 Keep in mind, other people in the Studio will always see the non-mirrored version of your video, regardless of your selection.

Read our Introduction to Webex Events Production Studio to learn all about this Webex Events customer exclusive streaming solution.

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events Platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? Sign up for a free account to get started, or request a demo!

Platform 5.3
Studio 1.3

Today, we have a fresh bouquet of changes to brighten your day. Keep reading or watch the video below to enjoy. 💐

Registration Page Tracking

Finding marketing campaigns that work, drive traffic to your event website, and boost registrations are a great way to make sure your events are a success. For registration, key data points like unique page views, average duration spent on the website, bounce rate, conversion rate, campaign source, and more are all critical insights to manage a marketing budget, increase conversions, and achieve event revenue goals.

Until now, you probably used outside tools that didn't talk to Webex Events to get this information. Today, we're happy to announce that we now support Google Analytics (GA4), Meta Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, and Google Tag Manager analytics tools.

Setup is easy! Simply add the tracking code from your analytics tool to the Webex Events platform. As attendees start interacting with the Registration page, review data in the analytics tool as it rolls in.

💡 Keep in mind, using these options may affect consumer privacy compliance. Consult your privacy team and the laws that apply to your locality. 

To learn more, read our article about UTM data and page tracking.

Studio Recordings in Video Center

When we designed the Webex Events Production Studio, one of the key goals was to provide Webex Events customers with the most integrated live streaming solution possible. In our efforts to integrate the Studio more and more deeply into the Webex Events experience, live stream recordings from the Webex Events Production Studio are now added to the Video Center automatically.

This change introduces two new pages in the Video Center — Uploads and Recordings.

This means that using session recordings for Simulive and Video on Demand (VOD) content is even easier! When selecting a video file for Simulive or Video on Demand, the drop-down now shows video files separated into 'Uploads' and 'Recordings' sections.

For more details on using Webex Events Production Studio recordings as Simulive and VOD content, read our Video Center article.

Closed Captions & Translations for Speakers, Sponsors, Exhibitors, and Custom Lists

A couple of months ago, we introduced the ability to add machine-translated Closed Captions & Translations to any video you upload to the Video Center. Attendees watching a video in a Session or Live Stream feature can toggle captions on, just like they can when watching a live stream.

In our continuing efforts to make events inclusive and accessible for everyone, attendees can now toggle on Closed Captions when watching Video Center uploads in Speakers, Sponsors, Exhibitors, and Custom List items. 

Learn more about this free service in our Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations article.

Table and Button Design Update

Is it just me, or is it...rounder in here? And maybe...tidier? 🤔

As of today, you'll notice that most buttons in the Webex Events platform now have rounded edges. 🟠 We've also done lots of work to make all the tables in the platform cleaner, tidier, and more consistent with the Webex part of our name.

This purely cosmetic update to our platform doesn’t introduce any new functionality, and it doesn’t affect the attendee experience on the Web App or Mobile App.

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events Platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

Webex Events platform 5.2
Event App 30.0.0

Registration checkout form follow-up questions

We're always on the hunt for opportunities to streamline the registration process and provide an even more robust and dynamic registration experience for you and your attendees. Today, we’re excited to introduce follow-up question functionality on checkout forms! Keep reading or click the video below to learn more about all of today’s updates.

We're all about personalizing the attendee experience, and a big part of that is making sure attendees only interact with content that's relevant to them. Instead of having attendees enter “N/A” for questions that don’t apply to them, configure follow-up questions to make the checkout process more efficient, conversational, and enjoyable for all. 

For example, if you’re hosting a networking dinner and you need to know how many people will attend, you may start with the question, “Are you attending the networking dinner?” If a registrant answers “yes”, you might ask a follow-up question like, “Do you have any dietary restrictions?” If they answer “yes” to that, you’ll also want to know what their dietary restrictions are.

With this new functionality, ask targeted follow-up questions that only appear if a registrant’s answer to a previous question matches the criteria you set on the Webex Events platform. If a registrant answers “yes” to the parent question in the networking dinner example, they’re prompted to answer the follow-up question. If they answer "yes" to that, a second follow-up question appears. Answering “no” hides the follow-up question, and they can proceed without answering an additional question that doesn’t apply to them. 

That was only one example, and the possibilities don’t end with “yes” or “no” questions. Follow-up questions are great for gathering information about travel plans, accessible accommodations, specific meal selections, and more! Add follow-up questions based on the answers to Checkbox, Dropdown, Single Select, Groups Dropdown, and Groups Multiple Choice question types. 

Read our Create Checkout Forms and Questions article to learn all about configuring follow-up questions in Webex Events Registration.

Event App red dot revamp

When you know, you know — and keeping attendees in the know is always a good idea! A red dot in the Event App lets attendees know when something's new. However, we may have been a little overzealous in our efforts to keep attendees informed.

With this release, we’ve curtailed which changes warrant a red dot so that Event App users are alerted when and where it matters. Red dots now appear exclusively for new Announcements and Wall posts, and newly activated Game Challenges, Video Rooms, Q&A, and Polls. They no longer appear when someone comments on a Wall post, or when you rearrange, edit, or delete a feature or item.

Read our brand new article about what notifications Event App users receive to learn more.

Platform and Event App user interface improvements

While the pomp and circumstance of a big update make us giddy (I’m talking about you, Registration follow-up questions), we also appreciate that sometimes it’s the little things that can make a huge difference. Here’s a list of user interface improvements we released this month.

• Get a few seconds back in your day! Use the new search bar in the Add Features modal to find what you need instead of scrolling through a sea of features. 🌊 We’ve also aligned the Add buttons for a cleaner, more readable interface. Ah, symmetry. 

  
  
  
  • Most of us are familiar with the adage, “Less is more.” We’ve taken this sentiment to heart by reducing the size of the “Powered by Webex Events” banner on the Event App Promo Page and Branded App Download Page.
  • We love it when attendees become event regulars. This improvement is a special treat for them, and it’s also great for annual events! Previously, the Mobile App always opened the last event the user was in, regardless of how long it had been since they used the app. Landing on last year’s event can be disorienting, so with this release, users who haven’t logged in for 30 days or more will now be taken to the Mobile App Events page. Here they can search for and join their next event.
  • We’ve also made improvements to the emoji keyboard in the web experience chat panel. Now the emoji icon has “Add emoji” hover text, and the revamped emoji keyboard opens above the chat box. Click an emoji to close the keyboard, or click anywhere outside the keyboard to close it without selecting an emoji. 😀

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events Platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

Webex Events Platform: 5.1
Event App: 29.0.0
Webex Events Production Studio: 1.1

We have lots of goodies in store for you today. Keep reading or click the video below to learn more!

Embed Event App content with widgets

You build a lot of useful and informative content in your Event App. Why not show it off in more places, like the event website? We’re pleased to announce that you can now embed Event App content in external websites with widgets. Let people know what they can expect at your event, including speakers, sponsors, and exhibitors, and get them excited about what’s to come before they even join your Event App.

No more manually adding and updating information on multiple websites. Simply create widgets in the Webex Events platform, choose the items you want to include, and add the widget embed code in a website. If you make any changes to items that appear in widgets, the widgets update automatically — no code update required!

After creating a widget, select ‘Preview’ from the Settings (⚙️) icon to customize and preview the widget appearance. Choose to display the widget in Carousel View or Grid View, Light or Dark mode, and manage widget settings.

Excited to get started? Read our new article about embedding Event App and Community content with widgets.

Webex Events Production Studio polling integration and network indicator

In case you missed it, last month we released our built-in live streaming solution, Webex Events Production Studio. We promised to add more bells and whistles to the Studio, and here’s the first installment of many to come. As part of this month’s collection of product enhancements, polling is now part of the Webex Events Production Studio! 

When you activate polling for a Live Stream feature or Agenda session live stream that’s using Webex Events Production Studio, polls now appear in the Studio. Polling results, percentages, and total votes update in real time based on attendees’ votes.

Just like with chat and Q&A, Webex Events Production Studio lets you display poll results in the live stream. Show live poll results as answers come in, or show results after the poll closes!

Read our Polling feature guide to learn how to set up polls in the Webex Events platform.

You're a little laggy — is that me or you? Never question your network strength again with the new network indicator. If the network strength or CPU usage changes, a message appears above the network indicator so you can take appropriate action if needed.

To learn more about all the awesome capabilities included with Webex Events Production Studio, read our Getting Started with Webex Events Production Studio article.

Webex Events Video on Demand Closed Captions & Translations

We’re all about enhancing the live streaming experience and promoting greater accessibility for attendees. Last year we launched Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations for Webex Events Streaming. Later, we added it to Webex Events Simulive and Webex Events Production Studio. Now, it's time for Video on Demand to join the club! 

When you upload a video to Video Center, turn on Captions & Translations to automatically add closed captions and translations in over 30 languages to your Simulive and Video on Demand videos. This functionality is completely free — no streaming credit necessary!

💡 Keep in mind, closed captions and translations become available when Video Center content is added to a Live Stream feature or live stream Agenda session. Video Center content doesn’t currently support closed captions and translations when added to speaker, sponsor, and exhibitor profiles and Custom List items.

Want to know more? Read our article about using Video Center for Simulive and Video on Demand for more details. 

Registration website and PDF ticket improvements

We’re continually making Webex Events Registration more and more customizable, and we’re happy to announce a new batch of customization options! 🍪 

We’ve made it easier for registrants to find out if your event is in-person, virtual, or both, and we now provide the option to add a zippy tagline about your Event or Community. Visit the Registration Basics page's Event details tab to add a tagline below your Registration page's title and show or hide your event type.

Are you using Webex Events Registration for your Community? Haven't quite decided on the event venue? Head over to the Registration Appearance page on the Webex Events platform to find the new ‘Show event location’, 'Show event date', and 'Show event time' toggles. To hide this information, change the toggles to 'No'.

We have one more Registration morsel to share. The PDF ticket preview now includes checkboxes that let you show or hide the QR code, event date, and event location on the PDF ticket. 🍬

Improved feature arrangement

And now for a short and sweet encore. In the platform on the Features page, you can rearrange features by clicking and dragging. Previously, rearranging features caused them to switch places, which wasn't very intuitive. We've now made it so that dragging a feature to a different position simply shifts other features to the right.

That's all for today, folks! Head over to the Webex Events Platform and explore these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

Webex Events Platform 5.0

Event App 28.0.0

Onsite 1.1.10

Platform experience redesign

You've heard the saying "new year, new me", right? Well, the Webex Events Platform has taken that saying to heart and has become a better version of itself! It had a little help. 😉 

When you log in to our planner platform at platform.socio.events, you'll now find a new menu structure and improved design throughout the Platform. We've also greatly simplified how Webex Events products connect. Keep reading to learn more and watch this video for a tour!

⭐️ Keep in mind, although this post mainly refers to Events, these changes also apply to Communities! 🙌 The attendee experience is completely unchanged by this release.

Start with an Event

The Registration, Onsite, Event App, Community, Lead Retrieval, and Live Display products have always been separate. If planners wanted to use them all, they had to create a new Registration event, a new Event (Event App), and a new Onsite event and then link them so attendee data could sync between them.

With the Platform experience redesign, you always start by creating a single Event, and then you configure the products you need from within that Event. No more switching back and forth between multiple different "events" per-product. Want to use only the Event App? Start by creating an Event. Interested in using only Registration and Lead Retrieval? Start by creating an Event. Want to... Ok, you get the point.

When you create your Event, you’re not committing to buying any products. You’re simply creating a space with unified naming and branding where you’ll configure and activate the Webex Events products you need.

Creating an Event couldn't be simpler — our awesome team worked hard to make sure of that. Simply enter your event's basic information, pick an event type, location, and dates, then choose a theme color and dark mode choice, upload a logo, and you're done!

Cloning an old Event now clones everything all at once! No more cloning the Event App, then Registration, then Onsite.

New Event dashboard

After creating your Event, you're directed to the brand new dashboard where you can start configuring the Registration, Onsite, Event App, Lead Retrieval, and Live Display products. 

As your event progresses, the Activity section keeps you informed with key metrics that link to each related product's Metrics page. 

The Useful Links section dynamically shows links to helpful videos, articles, and learning courses based on which products you've activated and how close your event date is.

Simplified product management

Configuring and managing products is much simpler now. From the dashboard, click the Start button below a product or click the product in the navigation bar on the left side of the screen to start configuring it. You can customize Registration, the Event App, and Onsite with unique titles, descriptions, colors, and images so the attendee experience is just right at every phase of your event.

⭐️ Keep in mind, Lead Retrieval and Live Display still require a published Event App or Community.

As you configure a product, use the left navigation bar to switch between settings and features. Worried we moved stuff on you? Worry not! The menu structure and configuration you're used to in each product is still the same except in a couple minor areas.

The new navigation bar makes everything in the Event App accessible from a single source — no more pre-publish and post-publish menus on separate pages! 🎉

"So what happens to my current events?"

All linked Registration events, Event Apps, Onsite events and associated Lead Retrieval and Live Display have automatically been merged into a single Event, so you can pick right back up where you left off. 👍

If you're using multiple products for the same event, and they weren't linked before this release, they'll still each have their own Event. There's more to explore, so go visit the Webex Events Platform and start getting familiar! We've been working hard to get updates ready for all of the Webex Events Knowledge Base articles. We expect all changes to be published by 4pm CST today. At that point, all articles will be completely accurate to the new interface!

New Feature: Lobby

For a long time, the Overview feature has had pride of place with the Announcements and Attendees features as one of the default features in an Event App. Although the Overview feature has served us well, it's time to move on to bigger things. 👋

Enter: the Lobby feature!

Just like attendees walking into your physical event venue are greeted with signage, information, and welcome messaging, the Lobby feature gives your virtual and in-person attendees a space to get oriented and informed in the Event App. Because it links to your Event App's most important content, such as Agenda sessions, Speakers, and Sponsors, the Lobby is a great springboard to get attendees moving to other features.

Configuring your Lobby is a breeze! Choose from 11 different Modules to display in the Lobby, including an event countdown, cover image, custom description, and custom images, plus Agenda sessions, live streams, and Speakers, Sponsors, Exhibitors, and Custom List items.

Like most other Event App features, you can add the Lobby to your Event App multiple times. This lets you limit each instance to specific attendee groups to create customized experiences for different types of attendees.

⭐️ Keep in mind, the Lobby feature has replaced the Overview feature for all Event Apps and Communities created after January 26, 2023. All Event Apps and Communities created before that date can still use the Overview feature unless you delete it.

For complete instructions for using the Lobby, read our brand new Feature Guide: Lobby article.

Restrict Registrations by Email Domain

Want only people from certain companies to register, or make sure people register with their work emails by blocking @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, and similar domains? This option is for you! 

In your Event or Community navigation bar under ‘Registration', click Settings, then click General and scroll down to the 'Email Settings' section. 

Read our Registration Settings Overview article for a complete look at Registration settings.

That's all for today, folks. We're so excited about how these updates will simplify the planner experience! Go check out these awesome changes for yourself on the Webex Events Platform, and don't hesitate to contact support with any questions or concerns.

Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!