Setting Up Digital Sessions

Setting Up Digital Sessions is a help topic in the Certain Support Center.

Introduction

A digital event is:

An event where the entire event is provided as a webinar, as described in Setting Up a Digital Event.
An event with individual sessions provided as webinars, as described in this topic.

Certain provides out-of-the-box integration with webinar providers Zoom and ON24. You set up the webinars using the provider of your choice, with integration via Certain Signal. You can do this directly from within Certain Platform, or in Zoom/ON24.

If you use a different webinar provider, talk to your Customer Success Manager at Certain about contracting Professional Services to set up a custom integration for you.

See Digital Events Overview for a brief overview of the entire process, including Certain Signal, Zoom, and ON24.

For details of the Certain Signal and webinar provider configuration, see:

Items Covered

Jump down to a section in this topic:

Prerequisites

Before setting up any digital events, you need the following, as explained in Digital Events Overview:

1. The following modules enabled in your Certain account: 1. Certain Signal 2. and its Zoom or ON24 sub-module 2. Digital Events 3. An account with your chosen webinar provider: Zoom or ON24 4. One-off preparation in that platform. See: 1. Digital Events Using Certain Signal with Zoom 2. Digital Events Using Certain Signal with ON24 5. Account-level Management Tags set up in Certain. These management tags will be used to activate Flows in Signal. 6. A Connection, Source and Flows configured in Certain Signal. See: 1. Digital Events Using Certain Signal with Zoom 2. Digital Events Using Certain Signal with ON24 7. The following modules enabled in your Certain account: 1. Speaker and Session Management 2. and its Conference Sessions sub-module. This sub-module makes the Session Catalog available.

If you choose to connect to an existing webinar instead of triggering that setup from within Certain, you need the following before setting up each digital event or session:

1. Set the webinar up in Zoom or ON24. Note: The Webinar host cannot be an event registrant in Certain. 2. Select Registration Required for that webinar. 3. Copy its Webinar ID for use when setting up the event or session in Certain. See step 7.2.3 below.

Steps to Follow

1. Per Event (if one webinar for event) 2. Per Session (if one webinar per session)

If the whole EVENT is digital: One Webinar

1. Best Practice: Do not open the registration form(s) until this process is complete. 2. Enable the Digital Events module and (optionally) its Join Emails sub-module in Configure Options 'Functional Areas'. 3. In the Forms (form) Registrant Details section of the registration form, select Enforce email uniqueness within this event. Zoom and ON24 require a unique email for a webinar registration. 4. If you are going to trigger the webinar creation in Zoom or ON24 directly from within Certain Platform, follow the instructions in step 6 below. 5. Note: If you are instead going to connect to a webinar that you already set up in Zoom or ON24, skip step 6 and go to the instructions in step 7 below. 6. To create the webinar in Zoom or ON24 directly from within Certain: 1. In Event Setup Overview 'Event Webinar', click Create webinar/meeting and complete the details. 2. Select a webinar/meeting Service configured for your account. Probably select Zoom Webinar, Zoom Meeting, or ON24. 4. Select a Presentation Type 5. Select Hosts 6. Click Next 7. If you have skipped Step 6 above (creating the webinar), then connect the event to the webinar that you already set up in Zoom or ON24: 1. In Event Setup Overview 'Event Webinar', click Connect webinar/meeting and complete the details. 2. Select a webinar/meeting Service configured for your account. Probably select Zoom Webinar, Zoom Meeting, or ON24. 4. Enter the Webinar ID. The Webinar ID must be copied from setting up the Webinar in Zoom or ON24. Note: You cannot use the same Webinar ID in more than one event. Note: You cannot use the same Webinar ID for a session as well as an event session. The Webinar ID must be unique within your Certain account. 5. Note: The event name, date & time, and registration capacity should match those of the webinar. 6. Warning: You cannot change the webinar link after you have confirmed it. 7. Caution: If the webinar schedule changes after you have linked to it, remember to change it in the event. 8. Caution: If the webinar is later cancelled on the webinar platform, you will need to cancel the event and registrations in Certain. 8. Optionally, configure the email template created on Communicate > Digital Event Templates. Each attendee receives an automatically generated email with a link to join the webinar. These emails are sent once an hour to include new attendees who have not yet been sent one. 9. Apply Management Tags to the object(s), such as Custom Registration Statuses. These management tags will activate your Flows in Certain Signal.

If SESSIONS are digital: a Webinar per Session

1. Best Practice: Do not open the registration form(s) until this process is complete. 2. Enable the Digital Events module in Configure Options 'Functional Areas'. 3. Enable the Conference Sessions sub-module (of Speaker and Session Management) in Configure Options 'Functional Areas'. 4. In the Forms (form) Registrant Details section of the registration form, select Enforce email uniqueness within this event. Zoom and ON24 require a unique email for a webinar registration. 5. In Speaker and Session Management: 6. Select Conference Sessions as the Speakers and Sessions Setup (so that you can set up a Session Catalog). 7. Set up at least one Speakers and Sessions Locations. This location can be a dummy location such as 'Online'. A session instance has to have a location before it can be published. This publication makes the session instance available to attendees on the Registration Form or Session Catalog. 8. Set up each Speakers and Sessions Sessions and its instances. For each session, schedule the session instance for a date/time and location. The following step is not possible until the instance has been scheduled. 9. If you are going to trigger the webinar creation in Zoom or ON24 directly from within Certain Platform, follow the instructions in step 11 below. Note: If you are instead going to connect to a webinar that you have already set up in Zoom or ON24, skip step 11 and follow the instructions in step 12 below. 10. To create the webinar in Zoom or ON24 directly from within Certain: 1. In Event Setup Overview 'Event Webinar', click Create webinar/meeting and complete the details. 2. Select a webinar/meeting Service configured for your account. Probably select Zoom Webinar, Zoom Meeting, or ON24. 3. Select a Connection (as set up in Certain Signal). 4. Select a Presentation Type 5. Select Hosts 6. Click Next 11. If you have skipped Step 11 above (creating the webinar), connect the event to the webinar that you have already set up in Zoom or ON24: 1. Click Connect Online Session and complete the details: 2. Select a Webinar Service: Zoom Webinar, Zoom Meeting, or ON24 2. Select a Connection (as set up in Certain Signal) 3. Enter the Webinar ID. The Webinar ID must be copied from setting up the Webinar in Zoom or ON24. Note: You cannot use the same Webinar ID more than once anywhere in your Certain account. This means not for more than one session instance. This also means not for more than one session in a different event. Neither can you use the Webinar ID for an event itself; see 7.4.4 above. 5. Note: The Session Name, Date, Time, and Capacity should be the same as those of the webinar. 6. Warning: You cannot change the webinar link after you have confirmed it. 7. Caution: If the webinar schedule changes after you have linked to it, remember to change it in the Session Instance. 12. Set up a Speakers and Sessions Catalog List Add Catalog called Session Catalog. Note: For the session thumbnails to appear, use the banner template design, best used with the tiles layout. Attendees use the catalog to register for and join sessions. Having their personal 'join' link here is instead of the automatic emails used for the one-webinar digital events described above. 13. Set up an email template with an 'Auto-Login-URL' for the Session Catalog, for attendees to land automatically in the catalog. Make this email a scheduled email. 14. Apply Management Tags to the object(s), such as Registration Statuses. These management tags will activate your Flows in Certain Signal.