2022 Updates
- January Roundup: PWA and Expanding Agenda Cards
- February Roundup: Video-On-Demand Streaming Service and Simulive
- March Release: Meeting Booking
- April Release: Smart Sessions
- June Release: Custom Page Builder, Suffixes et. al.
- August Release: Business Cards, Alerts Notification Re-design et. al.
- November Release: New Meeting Booking, Redesigned & Improved Video Breakouts and et. al.
January Roundup: PWA and Expanding Agenda Cards
A quick roundup of the January 2022 release
Happy New Year 2022!
We would like to kick off this year with two exciting new features.
These two features will be in our upcoming release at the end of January 2022. If you have any questions or would like a demo before that, please get in touch and we'll be happy to train or support you in using the new functionality for your upcoming events.
Here's what's on the way...
Installable Application - Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
Click here to go to training guide
If you've spoken to any of our team over the past few months you'll know this feature is one we've been very excited to launch!
Allowing any event app in the CrowdComms platform to become a mobile or desktop application in seconds is a game-changer for user engagement, brand value and delegate retention. Well, from here on, whoever uses your app can install your event app onto their device for easy access whenever they need it. Longer-term community platforms, the flexibility of updates and ease of access mean becoming part of your delegates day-to-day experience is now a reality.
What's a PWA? Think: Native desktop and mobile experiences without the hassle of App Store submissions!
You no longer need to go through lengthy and complicated app store submission approvals. By filling in just three fields in our dashboard, users will be able to download your event app, come out of their browser and enjoy a native experience in seconds.
Regardless of device, your users now have the freedom to jump in and out of your event with the ease of our progressive web applications.
Flexible, expanding Agenda listing cards
Click here to go to training guide
The Expanding Agenda List card design is our take on improving the delegate experience when using our platform. Instead of having to click on each session individually to find out more, they can now simply expand each card to read a brief description, see the list of speakers and access any reading materials attached. It will also tell them if the session includes a live-stream and which Engagement Panel features are included.
In terms of the Dashboard, the set-up is super simple. We’ve included a small preview on the Features tab of the Agenda Module where you can see the layout when various components are added to your session card.
February Roundup: Video-On-Demand Streaming Service and Simulive
Video Library is Here... and We're Excited!
Are you looking for an elegant, responsive, and ultra-organised way to display on-demand video content for your attendees to access throughout your event?
The innovative CrowdComms Video Library Module brings the functionality and familiarity of video streaming technology alongside real-time session viewing to provide users with an engaging and accessible content hub.
Let us walk you through the details...
Video Hosting and the Module Builder
Click here to go to training guide
Our Video Library and the Module Builder will enable you to upload your videos without having to rely on 3rd party providers such as Vimeo or YouTube. These videos can then be used in various locations within your event app, such as your Agenda Module, Company Booth, and most importantly the Video Library Module, where your delegates can watch on-demand videos in one location. All housed within the CrowdComms ecosystem.
What is the difference between the Video Library and the Video Library Module?
The Video Library is the place to store all of your videos, from finished live streams to videos that are uploaded directly to your Dashboard. From here, these videos can easily be re-purposed throughout the platform, such as your Home Page, or you can build in a Video Library Module.
The Video Library Module will add a whole new level of intuitive navigation, with easily discoverable on-demand content, which delegates can watch whenever they want: before, during and even after the event.
As the event organiser, you'll be able to add as much content as you like to this module simply by uploading more videos to your library and then linking them to the Video Library Module. You can attract even more delegates to sign up for your sessions by allowing access to your on-demand content before your event starts.
The module format of this feature enables you to apply the module privacy setting, allowing only certain delegates to view specific content.
You also have the flexibility of choosing between two distinct library options, either single scrolling with a main hero video or a more curated, tiled option, which enables you to organise and feature videos precisely as you need to. Both formats are designed to promote attendee engagement and provide a high-quality user experience. As attendees interact with the library's media through views, likes and comments, this is reflected in the thumbnails, highlighting popularity and promoting discussion.
Pre-Produce Your Videos - Run Them as Live!
Click here to go to training guide
We all know that pre-recording your sessions creates slick, error-free video content and gives you the option of dropping in post-production, video-enhancing effects. Our new Simulive feature enables you to pre-record your live stream ahead of time and schedule it to play so that all of your delegates can watch it at the same time, regardless of when they have joined the session and without the need of a tech support team.
Another big bonus of using the Simulive feature is that video content automatically becomes on-demand and available for your attendees to watch (or re-watch!) as soon as the session finishes.
March Release: Meeting Booking
Clear Your Diary for the Arrival of Meeting Booking (Now Available in Beta)!
Whether you're organising a virtual, hybrid or in-person event, giving your attendees, sponsors and exhibitors the capability to easily book meetings and maximise their efficiency during a hectic event schedule is key.
By utilising the CrowdComms Meeting Booking feature, all event participants can book and attend meetings either virtually within the event platform or in-person at a designated physical space at the event.
There's no need to negotiate times or places when using Meeting Booking; each individual sets their availability and location, enabling potential contacts to choose from a selection of time slots. With one click, the meeting is arranged and in the diary!
Extend Your Event's Networking Opportunities
Our new feature will give attendees greater flexibility and control over their schedule regardless of whether they're attending in a physical or virtual capacity. Free time between sessions can be used productively for networking, and meetings can be booked ahead of time.
Missed an opportunity to connect? Not anymore! With the Meeting Booking feature, meetings can be arranged post-event. Perfect for a follow-up discussion or to make contact with people, companies or sponsors after the main agenda is over.
April Release: Smart Sessions
Get ready to become an audience again!
We would like to kick off the second quarter of 2022 with an exciting release.
Attendee networking has been one of the biggest challenges at virtual events. Events with thousands of delegates attending at the same time, but attending alone. No excitement, no buzz, no engagement. Each experience as isolated as the next.
Our latest feature, Smart Sessions, is here to revolutionise the way we network at virtual and hybrid events.
Virtual Networking
Smart Sessions is offered as part of our industry-leading virtual event platform and recreates the serendipity of in-person networking, online.
Dedicated networking rooms give attendees intuitive and engaging spaces to effortlessly join video conversations with other attendees, and watch event live streams as small groups together once again.
Watch Live Streams Together
Become an audience again, rather than a set of individual viewers. Your attendees can join their team or make new friends and sit together while the show takes place.
Allow your audience to navigate from the main live stream page to the networking area for an uninterrupted experience. Find colleagues or new connections all whilst watching and engaging with your event.
Engagement & Accountability
Whether you want to keep your audience engaged or need them to be ready to get involved, Smart Sessions is built with the flexibility to control the narrative of the room, drop-in on breakouts, guide users through an experience and encourage participants to make more of their profiles.
Branding & Sponsorship
Whether you give your sponsors an independent networking area in the main menu or include them in a networking module, each room can have a different name, logo, background, colours and poster image, making them entirely unique and on-brand.
June Release: Custom Page Builder, Suffixes et. al.
... And we are back with even more exciting features
We've got so much to tell you about this month that we'll keep the intro short so we can try and keep this email down to a reasonable length!
All these features will be in our latest release in June 2022. If you have any questions or would like a demo before that, please get in touch and we'll be happy to train or support you in using new functionality for your upcoming events.
Here's what's on its way...
Create your own home page with our Page Builder
A new feature we are excited to launch is our Page Builder module. This feature will allow you to create your own home page (or any page) without having to write a single line of code. Best yet, it is responsive on both desktop and mobile devices, and we also throw in free asset images in the templates in case you’re stuck on design.
As with everything we build at CrowdComms, flexibility is at its core. With this feature, we’ve crafted six different design templates for you to choose from. There are further variations in each of these templates, so there’s something for everyone.
Suffix field on delegate's profile
We've added a new field called 'suffix' to the delegate profile. Your delegates can use this field to add their pronouns, qualifications or any other title or status they'd like to share with other delegates. Your delegates can add this detail to their profile information themselves, which will be displayed for other delegates to see.
Updates to VOD and Meeting Booking
Earlier this year, we proudly and successfully delivered two very exciting features – the Video-on-Demand Streaming Service and Meeting Booking. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve added some enhancement to these features.
On VOD, you are now able to re-order your videos in your VOD module’s list. This is a small feature but it brings a big impact! You can reorder your videos to respond to your delegate’s demands, such as arranging your most viewed and liked videos to the top of the page.
Our Meeting Booking feature now enables delegates to amend their existing meetings. Perhaps instead of meeting virtually, they can now amend their meeting with the invitee to meet in person to network over a cup of coffee or two.
Integrate your Aventri registration platform with our platform
Another platform to add to our plugins library! This month we bring you integration with Aventri. If you have or are planning on using Aventri as your event registration platform, you no longer need to manually import your delegate and session lists to our platform, our API will do it for you.
Simply fill in a couple of fields and your delegate and session lists from Aventri will be synced automatically to your event’s dashboard. With the manual import eliminated, you can concentrate on delivering a great event.
August Release: Business Cards, Alerts Notification Re-design et. al.
Easily exchange details with our Virtual Business Cards and enjoy greater flexibility over the delivery of in-app alerts.
With the arrival of August, we are excited to be sharing our latest feature release, which will enable event attendees to quickly and easily swap contact information within the platform.
We've also improved in-app alert design and functionality, allowing event organisers to tailor notifications more specifically to their audience.
Lastly, we've carried out some housekeeping in our Dashboard to make our features even more accessible.
Share contact details with Virtual Business Cards
Improve delegate engagement with customisable business cards that can be left virtually anywhere around the event app. Cards can be scanned or swapped with other delegates, or left behind at exhibitor stands. Attendees, sponsors and exhibitors can build up a list of contacts to download and take away from the event.
Delegates will be able to design their own card and customise what information appears on it within the parameters set by the event organisers. The event organisers have ultimate control of the design offered to attendees and what information should appear on their business cards, all of which can be set up in our Dashboard.
Alerts and Notification Re-Design
Custom alerts and notifications will soon be a lot more flexible. There will be a choice of three different types of in-app alerts, all with native push notification support so delegates will never miss another message. Large pop-ups with or without embedded surveys, flash notifications and a persistent notification with a call-to-action will give maximum control.
This re-design includes the ability to embed surveys from the survey library into the large pop-up alert notification. This will enable event surveys to be collected more swiftly and effectively.
To avoid bombarding delegates with the 'in-your-face' type alert, the more subtle flash notifications can be used, which will appear on the top right-hand corner of the event app screen for five seconds. Alternatively, the persistent notification can be used, which is a similar design but continues to be displayed until the user dismisses it or perform the call-to-action.
Dashboard Housekeeping
November Release: New Meeting Booking, Redesigned & Improved Video Breakouts and et. al.
In this release, we're bringing enhancements and updates to some of your favourite features.
We've freshened up Meeting Booking with exciting feature additions and given Video Breakouts a makeover. We've also launched brand new templates on the Page Builder module, and introduced tagging into the Activity Feed and Session Chat.
Excited to know more? Let's dive into the details.
Organising Group Meetings
Probably the biggest and most exciting feature this month (and one of our favourites), the Meeting Booking feature just got a whole lot better with the addition of Group Meetings!
Your delegates can now arrange large group meetings with up to 50 people in one call, thanks to the improved and redesigned Video Breakouts feature (keep reading for more on this). Additionally, with a switch of a toggle in the Dashboard, virtual meetings can be quickly organised and held in a Smart Sessions room.
Meeting Booking Additional Features
We're pleased to announce that you can now limit the Meeting Booking feature to only a small number of delegates, exhibitors or sponsors.
We have utilised our existing component, the people's group, and made it adaptable to Meeting Booking. We've added the People's Group field to Meeting Booking, allowing you to limit the usage of the feature to a specific group, such as exhibitors only or delegates only.
We have also added options on the Dashboard for you to indicate where your delegates can host their meetings. If you're running a virtual event, you can select the virtual-only option, enabling your delegates to conduct their meetings on our one-to-one Video Breakout feature or a Smart Sessions room.
Alternatively, if you're running an in-person event, you can select the physical-only option, and your delegates can choose one of the pre-set physical venues when arranging their meetings.
If your event is hybrid, you can select both options, allowing your delegates to have the freedom to choose where they would like their meeting to be.
The final feature we have added for Meeting Booking is the Subject field. It will enable your delegates to summarise the reason for a meeting in 128 characters and will appear for the meeting recipient to see when they receive their invitation.
New Redesigned (and Improved) Video Breakouts
This feature is probably the most exciting this month (and another favourite of ours). The new Video Breakouts feature has had a makeover and has benefitted from improved functionality. The latest version will handle up to fifty users in one session, allowing you to host large meetings easily.
A new toggle has also appeared in the Dashboard, allowing you to embed this feature into your session, ensuring that all of your chat, polls and Q&A functionality is still available.
Additional Page Builder Module Templates
We have expanded the offering of Page Builder templates with five additional templates.
We have one new Home Page template called the Workspace, which fits perfectly as a home page for your internal comms hub. We've also added four new content templates, ideal for blog-style information pages or listings, designed to provide an alternative view and link through to other content.
Activity Feed, Session Chat Tagging and In-App Notifications
Last and certainly not least, we have added the '@' feature to the Activity Feed and Session Chat, meaning your delegates can now tag or mention other attendees in the Activity Feed post, comments and the chat feature whilst in a session.
Once a person has been tagged, they will get notified via the new flash in-app notification feature and via an email, prompting them to check out their mention.
On top of this, we have released many other new in-app flash notifications. These will be triggered when your delegates perform specific actions, including; liking and commenting on Activity Feed posts, starting Meeting Booking virtual calls or when a favourited session is due to start.
Meanwhile, you can sit back and focus on running your event whilst the CrowdComms platform works behind the scenes to send out all the reminders!