Targeting vs self-registration for sessions

In the Sessions module, you can configure the workspace sessions in order to personalize the agenda for your users.

There are two main approaches that can be used in order to do this, with additional options available depending on whether or not you know in advance what sessions your users will attend. You can:

• Use targeting for your sessions if you know in advance what sessions your users will attend, in order to pre-define a static agenda for all users. 
  
  
• Use self-registration if you do not know in advance what sessions your users will attend, and allow users to build their own agenda by signing themselves up for sessions.

To note, targeting and self-registration can also be combined. For example, you may wish to target certain sessions to a specific group of users, yet not register them systemically for those sessions, and instead allow them to self register to those targeted sessions.
More information on this is available in the Appearance if targeted/registered sessions section below.

To identify which approach is better suited for your workspace, take a look at the chart below:

More information about each configuration is provided below.

Session targeting

Targeting based on user profile information

Definition

Targeting is the processes of pre-defining what sessions will display in the users' agenda, based on their profile information.

Use case

This can be used when you know in advance the sessions that each user will attend, and wish to register them automatically. Or, when you wish to make only certain sessions visible and optional to certain app users, and allow them to self register themselves to those targeted sessions.

Configuration

You can configure targeting for individual sessions so that only specific users (or user groups) can see the targeted sessions in their agenda. To apply targeting to a session, you will first need to create a metadata in the User module that will be used to identify the users who can see the session:

With this user metadata you can for example add a free text field to the profile of your users and use this value as a criteria for targeting the sessions. This could for example be "Table 1", "Table 2", etc. for seating arrangements at a session.

1. Navigate to Content > Sessions and select the session you’d like to target.
2. Under the Visibility targeting option select the respective metadata criteria (for example Table seating).
3. Fill out the exact value (for example Table 1) to create the criteria of who will be able to see the session in the app.

This would ensure that the targets are applied correctly and specific user groups will only see the sessions relevant to them.

Targeting based on user form responses

Definition

Targeting based on form results is the process of:

1. Collecting the users’ preferences in terms of which sessions they want to attend, via filling out a form, and
2. Using the collected information to manually predefine the agenda for each user using targeting.

Use case

This can be used when you have a short list of sessions that you’d like to let the users choose from, with no option to change afterwards.

Configuration

1. Create a form listing all the potential sessions from which the users can choose from.
2. Set an expiration date for the form, in order to plan when you will have the final results.
3. Add a metadata field to the user profiles, and use the final results from the forms to populate the field:

With this new metadata you will be able to transfer the preference of each user and use this value as a criteria for targeting.

1. Navigate to Content > Sessions and select the session you’d like to target.
2. Under the Visibility targeting option select the respective metadata criteria (for example Attending_Session).
3. Fill out the exact value (for example Session A) to create the criteria of who will be able to see the session in the app.

This would ensure that the targets are applied correctly and only specific user groups will see the sessions relevant to them.

Self-registration

Definition

Self-registration refers to the process of allowing users to register for attendance in the app for any session of their choosing without restrictions.

Use case

• When you want to give full freedom to your users and let them curate their own agenda at all times.
• The size of the rooms is large enough so you will be able to accommodate any last minute changes in attendance (people changing their registered sessions).
• The registration process is more for you to see who attended/registered for each session and not as much for you to plan for space and restrict / organize users.

Note: Session registration will also determine whether or not participants can join a video breakout that is associated to that session. With session registration configured, only participants who have registered to a session will be able to join the associated video breakout.

Configuration

You can open registration individually for each session and also keep the default Unlimited capacity option (allowing for unlimited number of registrations at the same time) or set up a Managed capacity (allowing for a limited number of attendees that can register for each session). The registration process is entirely user-managed, so once you open the registration, each user will be able to self-register for the opened sessions, and cancel their attendance at any time until you close the session registration. All registered sessions will be automatically showing up in the users’ personalized agenda. 1. Navigate to Content > Sessions and select all the sessions you would like to open for registration. 2. Click on Open registration to allow users to start registering to their preferred sessions in the app. 3. To close session registration, click on Close registration. 4. To review the registered user list  for each session, export the registration report.

Targeting & Self-registration combined

Definition

The process of pre-defining the mandatory agenda sessions for users, while still listing other sessions as optional and open for user self-registration.

Use case

When you have a list of mandatory attendance sessions that you’d like to ensure all targeted users will see in the app, while still providing the option to the users to organize their own agenda via self registration. The self registration period should be set with a firm deadline so users can't change their session registration during the event.

Configuration

By targeting the mandatory sessions you ensure that each user will see only what they are supposed to see, and won’t be able to inadvertently remove it from their agenda.

For all optional sessions you can use the session self-registration functionality. You can open registration individually for each session and also add the Managed capacity option if attendance should be limited to a certain number of attendees (for example, Session 1 – 10 participants, Session 2 – 25 participants, etc.).

Targeting is considered as a “registration” when filtering the session for the custom My Agenda sessionlist, and selecting Registered or targeted. The Registered only option can also be selected to display only the sessions that the participants actually registered to (and not the ones that were targeted)

Appearance of targeted and self-registered sessions

For each session, whether targeted or open for registration, or both, you can configure how the session will look to the app user. More specifically, you can select whether a checkmark should appear for a registered and/or targeted session.

This is done by using the Appearance when targeted or registered options in the session. You can choose among the following options:

• Default: The session will be visible to targeted participants in the app, and a checkmark will always appear next to the session by default, whether they have registered to the session or not.
• Hidden: If you select this the targeted session is hidden from participants in the app.
• Without registration checkmark: Here you can choose to disable the checkmark for registered participants or targeted participants, so that it does not appear at all.
• With registration checkmark only for registered (regardless of targeting): Selecting this option will mean that a checkmark will display for only the sessions that the participant has registered to. If a session is targeted but the participant has not registered, the checkmark will not appear.
  This can be useful when you wish to target specific sessions to users, but keep them optional for them by allowing them to self register.