Lights. Webcams. Action!

As a digital event platform powering virtual and hybrid events, we know how critical live streaming is to your event's success. Providing a simple, reliable, integrated streaming solution has been one of our highest priorities over the years. Until now, we've only provided Webex Events Streaming which integrates Restream's studio with the Webex Events platform.

Now, to provide you with an additional streaming experience that integrates more deeply with your Event App and Community, we're proud to announce the arrival of the Webex Events Production Studio beta! Keep reading or click the video below to learn more.

Designed and built by Webex Events

We've spent months researching, designing, building, and testing this brand new studio experience, and we'll spend years continuing to add more features and make the Studio your best streaming solution. Now, we want to give everyone the opportunity to use the Studio and share feedback. 💬

The features you're used to...

If you're used to the Restream studio's features, you'll feel right at home in the Webex Events Production Studio. Features like brand folders, custom banners, videos, images, and private Studio chat are all available in the right menu's tabs.

You can also show stream content in different layouts, queue layouts to automatically switch when screen share is added, and control who's in the stream and where they appear onscreen.

...and more

In addition to chat integration, the Studio features integration with the Q&A feature and Custom Tab content, so it's easier than ever for speakers and presenters to read and respond to questions and Slido polls!

Guest speakers can join the Studio from their mobile device using the speaker link. Speaking of guests, you can have up to 13 people in a Studio at once. Up to three of these people can be hosts who can control graphics, banners, and other stream content.

⭐️ Keep in mind, hosts must always join the Studio from a computer.

Next steps

Webex Events Streaming by Restream is still available, so keep using it if that's what you're comfortable with. If you want to try out the Production Studio, use it for one or two live streams in your event to get a feel for it! It's all covered with a single Webex Events Streaming credit. 👍

If you're ready to learn more, here are some additional resources to get you started:

• Introduction to Webex Events Production Studio
• Getting Started with Webex Events Production Studio
• Webex Events Production Studio vs. Webex Events Streaming by Restream comparison

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

Platform 4.35
Onsite App 1.1.9

Can you believe it's almost December? Wait! It IS December?!! Time is flying, and so are improvements to the Webex Events Platform. To help you get into the holiday spirit, we have some early presents that we think you’ll really enjoy. Grab some hot cocoa, snuggle in, and unwrap these with us. 🎄 ☕

Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations for Simulive

In July, we introduced Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations for Webex Events Streaming and the Webex Events RTMP Player. Today, we're pleased to announce that Webex Events Simulive now provides the same great captioning and translation experience. 

If you've used Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations for Webex Events Streaming or RTMP, then enabling it for Simulive will sound very familiar. Simply select Webex Events Simulive in your Agenda session or Live Stream feature, select your video, activate captions, and select Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations as the closed caption provider — for free!

Read our Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations article for more details.

Onsite Badge Reprint Limit

Attendees sometimes losing their badges is a fact of the hustle and bustle of an event. While Onsite lets you reprint badges an unlimited number of times, you may not always want to let attendees reprint their badges as often as they like.

We now let you choose a Badge Reprint Limit in the Platform on the Onsite App > Other Settings page and under Printer Settings in the Onsite App. By default, reprint are unlimited, so use the slider to set limit. 

Read our Onsite App Configuration guide to learn more about customizing the Onsite App.

Order message customization improvements

In the Webex Events Platform, your Registration's Settings > Checkout page is where you go to customize and preview the confirmation, refund, and cancellation messaging attendees and purchasers see after buying a ticket. We've overhauled this page and added loads of awesome improvements. There are so many great changes that we had to wrap them all individually. 🎁 Keep reading to learn all about each one.

Unique Confirmation Page and Confirmation Email messages

Previously, you could add a custom confirmation message to the Registration checkout page and choose to include the same message in the confirmation email. Now you can make unique messages for the confirmation page and the confirmation email!

Now you can keep the checkout confirmation sweet and simple and provide much richer information in the confirmation email.

Variables and CTA buttons

Before this release, you could only add call-to-action (CTA) buttons for the App Store, Play Store, or a custom destination to the custom confirmation message. Now you can add CTA buttons and use variables in all message types, including the confirmation page and confirmation, cancellation, and refund emails.

Live message previews

When you edit any message type, you'll now see a live preview so you can view the results of changes you make as you make them!

Pause order emails

Have you ever wanted to keep confirmation, cancellation, or refund email notifications from sending automatically? Now you can! Simply click the Settings (⚙️) icon next to an email type and click Pause. 

The Status column will show 'Paused', and attendees won't automatically receive emails of that type until you un-pause them. 

⭐️ Keep in mind, you can manually send confirmation emails. Cancellation and refund emails can't be sent manually.

Hide order summary for free orders

Before we move on to a special sneak peek, we have one last little gift. You can now hide the order summary section from the confirmation email when all tickets in an order are free. When editing the confirmation email, click the Hide order summary for free tickets toggle.

See? I told you we made a lot of improvements. 😊 For a complete overview of these customization options, read our article about Registration Settings.

Sneak Peek! 👀 Platform Experience Redesign (Early 2023 release)

We don't usually condone peeking at presents before it's time to open them. In this case, we simply had to make an exception. 🤫

A lot of our happy customers have publicly ranked us as one of the easiest to use event management solutions in the industry. Even with all of this praise, we won't stop improving the Webex Events Platform planner experience. Today, it takes about 23 clicks to create an event, and linking the Onsite, Registration, and Event App products can be a little confusing.

With this change, coming in early 2023, you'll always create an event first — in only 11 clicks. You'll then add and manage the products you need for your event using the brand new overview page. Since you activate the Registration, Event App, Onsite, Lead Retrieval, and Live Display products from within the event, we'll never ask you to link one product to another again. 🎉

We're also updating our navigation menu into a single, unified sidebar with expandable sub-menus. 🙌

We're excited to put these changes in your hands next month, and we have even more big plans for Platform improvements in the coming year. We'll send out an update on a specific release date next month.

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 4.34
Event App 27.0.0

New Onsite Metrics page 

We know you love data. And what’s not to love about pretty charts and graphs that provide digestible and actionable insights? That’s why we’ve added a charcuterie board of Metrics to the Webex Events Onsite menu, dedicated solely to these data-filled doughnuts, pies, and other delicacies sure to satisfy your metrics cravings. Clearly, I'm hungry, but don’t worry — I’ll eat some leftover Halloween candy after finishing this post. 🍬

With Onsite Metrics, track check-in activity during and after your event to inform and improve check-in processes and the attendee check-in experience! Ever wonder when check-in is busiest? Want to know how many badges your check-in staff reprinted? How about badge printer usage? Now you can find these answers and more at a glance on the Onsite Metrics page. Drill down even further with charts sorted by Attendee Type or Badge Name, and filtered by time intervals and date ranges to keep you in the know about attendee check-in patterns. 📈 

Hungry for more? We have a very appetizing article about Onsite Metrics just for you!

Access and discount code import

End the monotony of manually entering and updating promo codes with our new Promo Code import template! If you have a buffet of discount and access codes that you need to add to Registration, you’ll really appreciate this new addition to the Event Registration Promo Code page. Simply download the template, add your promo codes to it, import the updated template, and you’re done. 

Need to edit a bunch of promo codes? No sweat! Export your promo codes, make updates, and import them again. 

What will you do with all the time you just saved, you ask? Maybe you should have a piece of Halloween candy.

For more information about how to use the Promo Code import template, read our Create Registration Promo Codes article.

Registration page event timezone display

This is a subtle yet clarifying update to the registration page. Now attendees can see your event’s timezone when they order tickets on your registration page. This will help alleviate potential confusion for those who live in a different timezone and ensure they don’t miss out on any part of your event. 🙌 

Third-party accessibility opt-in

We’re continually improving the built-in accessibility of our products. In Webex Events Registration and the Web App, we also offer an optional overlay with selectable accessibility profiles and adjustments, powered by a third-party AI solution. However, organizers previously couldn’t opt into or out of using this third party.

Now, we’ve also added a toggle to let you choose if you want to offer this to your attendees in our Registration and Web App products.

Facebook Sign Up and Log In Option sunset

To streamline our Branded App publishing and updating processes, we're sunsetting the Facebook Sign Up and Log In Option and profile image source as part of this release.

We’ve made sure that this change will be smooth for those who used Facebook to create their account on a Branded App. We've sent an email to the few Branded App customers that have the Facebook option enabled with simple instructions for attendees.

Image hosting change

We've changed our image hosting provider for the Webex Platform and all products for more security. We're already in touch with customers with Branded Apps to make sure they update their apps to the latest version. No action is needed for any other customers.

Platform 4.32
Mobile App/Branded App 26.0.0
Onsite App 1.1.6
Lead Retrieval App 1.7

Minimum supported iOS version: 14
Minimum supported Android version: 9

Webex Events rebrand update

In this phase of our rebranding journey, we’ve swapped "Socio" with "Webex Events" in a lot of places on the Webex Events Platform and our Knowledge Base, and we've renamed our apps. One of the most exciting parts of this rebranding chapter is our new launch icon. It’s new. It’s chic. It’s gradient. It’s orange! 🎊 

We aren’t changing any URLs in this phase — simply the launch icon, app names, and wording in our products. Check out the old and new app names in the table below.

Registration language settings

Registration now supports multiple languages! That’s right, Registration lets you control the Registration page’s default language for hardcoded text (that’s the text you can’t customize on your own). Check out the Language Settings section under General in Registration Settings and choose from over 30 languages. It's up to you to fill in your event name, description, ticket names, and other customizable text in your chosen language.

Anticipating a multi-lingual audience? Turn on Machine Translations so that folks ordering tickets to your event can translate the entire Registration page into their preferred language. They simply select a language and, like magic, the Registration page displays everything in that language instantly – including customizable text. They’ll receive confirmation emails, tickets, and other registration communications in the language they chose, too. Not only is this super cool, it also expands your reach to a wider audience and paves the way for a multi-lingual experience!

Check out our Registration Settings article to learn more.

Lithuanian language translation

Speaking of languages, we also added Lithuanian to our growing list of 30+ supported language translations. Find Lithuanian as a translation option in Registration, the Event App attendee language settings, and Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations!

File uploader and antivirus scanning

Our new file uploader has plenty of goodies you'll love. Its user-friendly interface lets you easily and quickly crop, rotate, and preview multiple images. What’s more, the new file uploader is so smart that it scans files and tells you if it detects malware. Pretty neat, right?

Free, Order Now, and Place Order label customization

This small yet mighty update lets you change the default "Free", "Order Now", and "Place Order" button text on the Registration page and ticket widget. This is especially useful for company-sponsored or internal events, where you may want to change the button text to better fit your event and the kind of tickets you're offering. Head over to your Registration event and customize these labels to your heart's content.

To learn more about customizing the "Free" and "Place Order" buttons, check out our Registration Settings article. For information on the "Order Now" button, our article on Widgets has what you need.

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

Platform 4.31
Event App 25.1.0
Onsite App 1.1.5

Introducing Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations 🎉

This one's so exciting, I don't know where to begin! No extra cost! Simple! Automatic! Mobile and web! Only the beginning! Ok... calm down. Deep breaths. You can do this. 

We're proud to introduce Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations for Socio Streaming and the Socio RTMP player! Included with your Socio Streaming credit, this feature lets you provide closed captions and translations from English into 30+ languages, visible to live stream viewers in the Web App and Mobile App.

Enable Webex Events Closed Captions & Translations in just three clicks, and you're ready. No captioner coordination. No widget codes. No sweat if you change a session start time.

Here's how it works:

We use the power of machine learning to automatically generate captions in 34 languages. When you start your live stream, we apply a delay of 30 seconds to the video feed so the machine translation can "preview" the stream and show captions in sync with what's being said.

This is just the start, and we're looking forward to improving this feature soon. 🧡 There's more to learn, and our knowledge base article has the goods!

Bulk Resend Order Confirmation

This change is small, but mighty. 💪 You can now multi-select up to 100 Registration orders and resend confirmation emails!

If you select orders with statuses other than 'COMPLETE', confirmation emails will only be sent to completed orders.

'Nuff said! Read all about managing orders in our knowledge base.

Onsite badge design improvements

If you thought we were done after last month's badge design improvements... Well, I won't hold it against you, because why would you have formed a theory about that anyway? *ahem* 

Anyway, this months batch of improvements is sure to please our productivity-minded users. We've introduced keyboard shortcuts, pinch/scroll to zoom on touch devices, and multi-selection! Here's a breakdown of the new keyboard commands.

When you multi-select elements, you can move and resize them all at the same time. With User Info or Text type elements, you can multi-select and update the font, color, size, and other styling options for all selected elements. 

BONUS! You can now also add the Summary field to badges. If Onsite is linked to an Event App, attendee summaries will print on the badge! 

Learn all about designing badges in our Onsite Badge Creation article.

Upcoming Webex Events app name changes

On August 24th, the Socio Event App, the Socio Check-in, Badge Printing app, and the Lead Retrieval by Socio app will adopt the Webex Events name in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. We’re keeping "Socio" in the listings for all three of our apps so attendees can find the right app even if they search for "Socio". 

Additionally, the Event App display name on your device will change from "Socio" to "Webex Events" with our brand new launch icon.

⭐️ Keep in mind, the new Event App icon shown above is blurred because we're not ready to reveal our new icon just yet! 🤭

We’re letting you know so that you can provide updated app access instructions to your attendees for upcoming events. No matter what kind of event you're hosting, or when, our App Access Instructions for Attendees guide has everything you need. Branded Event Apps won't be affected by these changes. 

Look for more changes from "Socio" to "Webex Events" in our products over the coming months. 👀

It's a privilege to keep improving attendee and organizer experiences month after month, but that's all for today, folks! Hop over to the Socio Platform and take a look at these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

Platform 4.29
Mobile App/Branded App 25.0.0
Onsite App 1.1.4

Banner improvements

Everyone's favorite Event Layout just got even better! When you upload a new Banner image, you'll see two new fields: Visible To, and Activate Banner.

Visible To lets you select one or more Groups so that only attendees in the selected Group(s) can see the banner. This is an amazing way to keep event content relevant to each attendee type, and it offers new avenues for event sponsorship tiers.

Activate Banner is a simple Yes/No toggle. If you want to upload all your Banners and aren't ready to show everything right away, no problem! Simply set the toggle to 'NO', and the banner will remain hidden until you activate it.

BONUS: If no Banners are visible, the event mimics the Features Only layout, so attendees don't see a boring placeholder image.

Web App Propose Meeting and Mobile App Video button

Networking is one of the most important aspects of the attendee experience, whether the event is in-person, virtual, or hybrid. To make networking even easier, we called a meeting between the Web App and the Mobile App and told them it's time to share. 🤝

Attendees can now propose meetings in the Web App — something only Mobile App users could previously do. The Meet button now appears on a connection’s detail page, in the live stream side panel, and as an option in the connection chat. 

Onsite Badge design improvements

Our Onsite badge design process was already great. Any child can tell you there's always more room for icing on a cake, and we've added three sweet updates. 🎂

First, we've added smart guides to the badge designer, so aligning elements is a snap. Get it? GET IT?!

Anyway, when you drag and drop an element in the Badge Preview, red lines appear when the element is aligned with the edge or center of other elements. This guarantees a crisp, consistent design, every time.

We've also added the badge name to the page breadcrumbs so you don't forget which badge you're editing. 🧠 

Last, but not least, we've made it so that changing a badge's size no longer removes design elements. Always double-check that everything is where it's supposed to be after changing the size!

To learn more about designing badges in Socio Onsite, check this out.

Custom Invite Only Denial Message

Attendees sometimes forget which email they used to register for your event, or they simply aren't registered yet. When your event's Privacy Setting is set to Invite Only, and someone not in the users list tries to join, they see a message letting them know the email they entered isn't recognized.

We've now added the ability to customize the Denial Message!

A custom message is a great opportunity to help orient your attendees and direct them to helpful resources. 

To learn all about Privacy Settings, check this out.

That's all for today, folks! If you made it this far, you deserve a cookie. 🍪 Hop over to the Socio Platform and take a look at these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!

Mobile App/Branded App Version: 23.0.0

Agenda/Calendar View Update

Your community calendar and event agenda just got a whole lot better! Two awesome new features are now available for both the Web App and Mobile App. 🎉

First, we've introduced Month and Year views. It's now very simple for community members or multi-week event attendees to browse the Agenda/Calendar and find upcoming or past sessions quickly. 

Selecting a month in the Year view takes you to the Month view. Selecting a day in the Month view takes you to the Day view, which is the same view you and your members and attendees are used to. 

When you edit the settings for the Agenda/Calendar feature, you can choose a Default View to suit your needs. 

The default Day view also got some love! Your attendees will now see the Happening Now carousel when there are sessions in progress. Users can scroll the carousel to the side to reveal additional sessions if there are lots happening at once.

⭐ Keep in mind, to take advantage of these new features in your Branded Mobile App, you'll need to update your app using this process.

For a complete look at using either the Agenda feature in Event Apps or the Calendar feature in Communities, check this out.

Custom Refund Policy

Sometimes life happens, and people can't make it to your event. Socio Registration gives you the power to issue refunds, and you could previously select from a list of 3 preset refund policies to present in the registration form. We've now added a 4th option that puts the stated policy in your hands! 

When editing your Refund Policy, select the Custom Refund Policy option from the drop-down, enter your own refund policy, and click Save Changes. It's that easy. 😀

For a complete look at how to set your Refund Policy, check this out.

Promo Code entry update

Don't discount the value of this update! 🥁🥁 🐍 Registrants no longer have to click the Enter Code link to reveal the Enter Code field. The field is now always visible at the top of the Tickets list in the registration form and in Ticket widgets.

To learn more about using Promo Codes in your registation, check this out.

Lead Retrieval Export

If you've ever wanted to see specific data on each lead captured by your Lead Retrieval exhibitors, you're in luck! 🍀

We've added the new Export Scan Data button to the Metrics page of your Lead Retrieval event. Click it, and you'll get an xlsx file with the following data goodies:

• Attendee Id 
• First Name 
• Last Name 
• Attendee Email 
• Title 
• Company 
• Scanned by Exhibitor Name 
• Exhibitor User Id 
• Scanned by User First Name 
• Scanned by User Last Name 
• Scanned by Title 
• Lead Quality 
• Lead Status 
• Scan Date 
• Scan Time 

This is great for when you want to summarize how Lead Retrieval performed for your stakeholders, and to prove value to future exhibitors who may want to use LR at your next event.

To learn all about setting up and using Lead Retrieval, check this out.

Croatian Language Support

Zdravo! We're pleased to announce that we now support Croatian in the Web App and Mobile Apps. For our full list of supported languages, check this out.

That's all for today, folks! Hop over to the Socio Platform and take a look at these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo! 

More Languages

• Bulgarian
• Catalan (Spain)
• Croatian
• English (UK)
• French (France)
• Indonesian
• Norwegian
• Spanish (Spain) 

App Guide and Attendee Knowledge Base Retirement

On February 23, 2022, we’re retiring the Attendee App Knowledge Base at help.ea.socio.events.

We launched the App Knowledge Base to help answer attendee questions. However, it receives very little traffic — <1% of total feature clicks on average. Turns out, our products are pretty intuitive for end users! Instead of maintaining articles that few are using, we’ve opted to double down on the content that you are using, and empower you to create custom guidance for your attendees.

We encourage you to check out our article about creating an awesome Attendee Walkthrough and use it as inspiration for creating your own guides, whether a video, FAQ, or PDF. Using the examples from other organizers, you can create awesome content tailored to your brand, event, and attendees.

We've taken measures to ensure that anyone who happens to find a link to the App KB will be redirected after February 23.

Term Change: Branded App Custom App

"What's in a name? That which we call a Branded App by any other name would smell just as sweet." - William Shakespeare (sort of)

When you create a Socio Event or Community, your attendees on mobile devices can access it via the Socio App at no additional cost. If you want your mobile experience tailored more to your brand, we offer the add-on Custom App, formerly referred to as the Branded App. 

These great options remain unchanged! We simply wanted to let you know that we've changed how we talk about this custom version of the Socio App from "Branded App" to "Custom App". You'll see this change reflected in the Socio Platform, the Socio Platform Knowledge Base, and future communications from our team.

To learn all about making your own Custom App, check this out.

That's all for today! Hop over to the Socio Platform and take a look at these new changes for yourself. Not a customer yet? We'd love to give you a demo!