3 - Creating a workspace

Any app or event creation project in Backstage is called a workspace. The workspace will contain all the content and functionalities that will be used in the event.

Workspaces are created by organization administrators via the workspace creation wizard. The creator of the workspace is automatically added as a participant in the created workspace.

This article will take you through all the basic steps needed to create a workspace in Backstage.

Creating a workspace

In the Backstage home page, to the right of the screen, click on Create a workspace.

The workspace creation wizard will take you through the necessary steps for creating a workspace.

1. Selecting a workspace template

The first screen displayed allows you to select a workspace template.

Templates contain re-usable content, configurations, and default settings, so selecting one that meets your needs during the workspace creation process will save you time.

Here, using the buttons at the top, you can choose to display all the templates available to your organization, those that actually belong to your organization, or only the SpotMe templates.

Note: If you are a new user creating your first workspace, we recommend that you select the Onboarding template. This will take you through our tutorial/onboarding for creating a workspace in Backstage.

Tip: For virtual or hybrid events, we recommend that you select the Digital experience template.

For more advanced information on creating templates for your organization, you can refer to the Workspace templates article.

2. Adding the workspace information

Fill in the below fields in order to add the details of your workspace.

Based on the template you have selected for the workspace, and your organization's default settings, most of these fields may be pre-filled, in which case you simply need to check and edit the information as needed.

Name
Enter the name of the workspace that will be displayed in the app.

Start date and End date
Enter the dates during which the workspace will be used by the app users.
This could be the duration of a real-life happening, a virtual event or conference, or perhaps the duration of a course or e-learning, or anything that you are creating an app for.

Location
This is open text. You can enter a location where the vent takes place (such as a city) or add things like "virtual event" or "online conference".

This workspace has users in multiple locations
You can select this option if your workspace users will be logging in from multiple physical locations. This is frequent with virtual events. Having this information will help SpotMe optimize the app and content delivery to the app users.

Timezone
Select the timezone of the workspace. This is typically the timezone of the team or organisation creating the workspace. And will be used as a basis for scheduling agenda sessions, notifications, and generating reports. The times use in the event will automatically adapt the the partipants timezone via the app.

Data location
Select the country or continent where the workspace data will be hosted. This would typically be where the organiser's headquarters are. Data location is an important consideration for data privacy and law enforcement, as well as internal company policies. More information on data residency.

Privacy policies
Select your organization's privacy policy document(s) that the app users will need to acknowledge in order to access the app.

Container app
Select the mobile app that will house the new workspace (or event) that you are creating. The workspace will only be visible in this selected container app, as well as the web-app by default.
For virtual events, If you are using SpotMe registration, the container app you choose will determine the link to access the registration page. If you are not using SpotMe registration, select your usual container app.

Test workspace
Checking this box will create a "Test" workspace, where seats are not consumed, and where advanced/paid modules can be installed free for testing purposes.
Also, users can only be invited one-at-a-time to test workspaces, and test workspace will display a watermark on the side of the screen in the app (except for SpotMe users).

Note: All of the above settings, except data location and event start/end dates, can be modified if needed after creating the workspace.

Once you have added the workspace details, click on Proceed to move to the next step in the wizard.

3. Summary of the workspace

At this stage, a summary of all the workspace information that you have entered or selected is displayed.

You can review the information here and make any necessary changes by selecting the corresponding Edit links.

Once you have verified all the information, please select Create workspace. 

Backstage will now create the workspace. While the workspace is being created, feel free to click on the See more links in the screen to find out more about using Backstage.

Once the workspace is created, Backstage will take you to the workspace's dashboard, where these settings can be modified at any time.

NEXT STEP
Continue to the Workspace dashboard article.