Events

Events are needed so that something can actually happen in an event room. Events can happen in different rooms but also in one and the same room in parallel. For example, there can be several virtual café tables in a café room or two workshops can take place simultaneously in a workshop room. You won't disturb each other through our virtual sound walls. We promise!😉

Events are usually connected with a video function. However, events cannot be created in every room type; after all, not too much happens on the list of participants and in the results project. Events can be created in the lobby but they are only used as gap fillers for the agenda and do not have a video function, e.g., if you want to schedule a general break.

Adding new events

Before you can create events, you must have already created rooms.

There are two ways of creating a new event. If you are in the process of creating the conference, you are probably already on the Admin page. From here, navigate to the tab "Manage conference rooms". There, you will see the list of your created rooms on the right in the order of their numbering. Each entry can be expanded on the right by clicking on the arrow pointing downwards. In this drop-down menu, next to "Edit" and "Delete", you will find the option for creating a new event.

The second option is available from the conference view. If you are an admin in an event room, a button for adding new events is displayed below the room description. You can also edit and delete existing events from here. In the following, we briefly describe which settings can be made when adding new events. As with rooms, all settings can be changed later.

Event settings

Title

The title of an event should clearly reflect its content - at least when it comes to events in workshop rooms. In a café room, you can of course name the "tables" as you wish. For example, an event could be called a lecture by Dr Smith on the topic of German-Russian relations or a group discussion on digital democracy, etc. There are no limits to what you can do.

Setting an event as a break (optional)

You can also set the event as a break. In this case, it has no video function and only serves as a gap filler. In this case, it is useful to call it a (lunch/breakfast) break.

Date and time

This is where you assign a time to the event. The events are then sorted in the conference centre according to date and time and grouped by day in tabs. Events currently taking place are highlighted for the participants.

Description (optional)

The event description can briefly summarise the content of the event. This will then be displayed in the agenda and next to the event in the corresponding room. However, the room description is better suited for this purpose, as there is little space for longer texts in the event overview.

Presenters / Speakers / Moderators (optional)

Events often have one or more speakers or moderators. They may need extended rights in a video conference, e.g. to share their screen, manage participants, create breakout rooms or start surveys. Via the event options you can easily give participants of a meeting extended rights for the corresponding event. To do so, enter the name of the person(s) in the input field and select them from the drop-down list.

The extended rights of the selected persons apply exclusively to the BigBlueButton video conference of the corresponding event. If you would like to appoint additional administrators for the entire conference, you can do so via the participant management. Conference administrators automatically have extended rights in every video conference.

Uploading presentations (optional)

DINA offers a practical option for uploading a presentation prior to an event which is displayed to the participants in the video conference and can also be downloaded, if desired. PDF, images and Office files are accepted as formats. However, presentations can also be uploaded by presenters or administrators during an ongoing video conference.

For viewing, BigBlueButton converts uploaded documents into PDF. PowerPoint presentations therefore lose their animations and transitions. No problem though, an animated PowerPoint presentation can be shown via the screen-sharing function😊.

Once you have filled in all the required fields, you can save the event. It will immediately be displayed in the conference view in the corresponding room.

Editing events

If you want to change one of the event settings at a later stage, e.g. the title, the time or the person(s) presenting, you can do this without any problems. There are two ways of doing this:

From the conference view, enter the room in which the event is taking place (or has taken place or will take place). In the right-hand corner of the event you will see a small pencil icon that can be used to open the editing page.

If you are on the admin page, first navigate to the tab "Manage conference events". All you need to do is click on the relevant event to open the editing page.

Deleting events

Deleting an event is similar to editing it:

From the conference view, you enter the room in which the event is taking place (or has taken place or will take place). In the right-hand corner of the event you will see a small rubbish bin icon that can be used to delete the event.

If you are on the Admin page, first navigate to the tab "Manage conference events". Here you only have to open the drop-down menu next to the event to be deleted in order to be able to see the button.

Deleting an event cannot be reversed. You should therefore consider carefully whether it might not be sufficient to edit it.