Tutorials for Publishing Article and Creating Events

It is worth taking the time to learn how to use the app and web-app well so that it benefits you and your members. You may be set as a Group Manager / Admin and/or an Event Publisher within a group(s) depending on your role or activity within the community.

To publish news articles or updates within a group you must be a Group Manager / Admin - click here

For help managing larger events such as dinners use the event admin features - click here
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To publish an Event within a group and on the What’s On tab you must be set as an Event Publisher - click here

Posting an Article as Group Manager / Admin

If you have been set as a Group Admin the Manage Group button will show for you within the group. When you want to create an article you click this button then select either News, then +Create.

On Phone:

On the Web-App:

Article Tips

An article can be anything from posting a photo to sharing a press article or embedding a link to download a newsletter.

Please note, articles should not be long and should not include too many pictures or bulky images. To attract a broader audience, try to make the content concise and well presented. It is better to keep content shorter and more regular than having too much text in one go. Even if you have lots of photos or lots of text you should avoid using all of it for App articles.

Images with Articles

You always need to put a header image with your article - for most articles this is normally the only imagery you need. But if you want to add others, try to keep other images to a maximum of one or two extra - otherwise you will create bulky articles that take a long time to load.

Be aware of image size - do not load large image files that you have taken from a high resolution phone or camera. Try to only use image files that are less than 1MB otherwise it won’t create a good user experience. By right-clicking on an image or opening it in your phone you can normally select to see information or details to see how big the file size is. Files on your phone that have been downloaded from WhatsApp or Google images are normally small in size, or if you are using a laptop / computer it is easy to reduce image size using a website like this https://compressjpeg.com . Or you can do it on Preview on a Mac by selecting Tools > Adjust Size, then select “Resample image”

Header Images

Header images tend to work better on both phone and laptop devices if they are landscape. If you don’t have a header image for your article we have provided a Branch Update image that can be used if needed. Examples here:

Using your phone to publish and article

Publishing an article from your phone is quick and easy and recommended if the article is small and simple. For example this video shows an article which is sharing a photo and a comment from a walking group event with a breakfast afterwards.

Using the web-app to publish a more complex article

Here are more things to consider if you are going to publish a more complex article with embedded web links or additional formatting to consider. If you are publishing articles for larger audiences you should definitely take the time at the start to learn how to do this efficiently. Here is a full tutorial video using the web-app that should help you learn all you need to know.

Sharing Group and Event links within a news or support article

You can now add group or event links within a news or support article. This will help group admins share news of activity within their larger community groups.

Simply create the article as normal and now you will see two new icons on the right of the toolbar. One is for GROUPS and one is for EVENTS. As an admin you can click to add a link button in your update. (note: you will be able to add links to groups and events you have permission to share)

This functionality will mean you can raise awareness of activity because you can share a direct link within a news update that is sent via notification to your group members.

Please see the tutorial video below.

Creating and sharing Events

Here is a video explaining how to Create an Event in the App - please take the time to watch this in detail.

Visibility on Event Adverts

When you publish an event advert you will get the option to set visibility. If you are an event publisher in multiple groups, you will be given the option to share your event advert in any of those groups. For larger events you will want to get as much visibility as possible, so this will be helpful.

Posting your event advert to the "What's On" tab

The What’s On tab acts as a type of Events Noticeboard for the community so it is really important to share event adverts here if you want more people to see them. When you select Visibility settings in your event advert, at the bottom, you can set What’s On visibility. For anything public (like a Coffee Club, Veterans’ Hub or Walk+Talk) select ALL here. If the event is just for your regimental community then select the appropriate primary group from the list.

Adding an image to an event advert

Use the same principle for images for an event advert that you would for an article.

1) Small size
2) Landscape image
3) Something that works well for the event

If you don’t save an image then a placeholder will be added, but this won’t help your event get good engagement.

Adding files to your event advert

You can now add documents to your event advert if you need to share more information. You can add any standard file type such as Word or PDF and when the event advert is published members will be able to download the file in the app or web-app.

Simply create the event advert as above and then scroll down to the attachments section to add a file.

See the video below for a tutorial.

Giving the right information in an event advert

Give as much information as will be helpful to the reader. It should not be pages of text. Remember, if you have more info to share you can always just add an email address as a link in the event details and ask people to contact you if they want more information.

It is a good idea to add a written address for an event in the event details as well as putting the location into the map location. This is because some members may not be familiar with using Google Maps or What3Words.

Always put your event address into the Location Settings in the event advert. This is how the event shows in the correct region in the What’s On section. If you don’t want to put an exact address here, then still put the town or region.

Setting event questions in event advert

You can set any number of Event Questions within your event advert and the member will have to answer these questions before they can submit their RSVP if they are coming.

The default question is ‘Are you coming?’ But you can add extra questions if needed by typing in the text and selecting the type of answer.

For example, the question… Are you bringing a plus one?
This may just be a Yes / No answer

For example, the question… What is the best way to contact you (please give email or phone number)? Or Do you have any dietary requirements?
These may be best to have a Paragraph as the type of answer so the member can type their details.
(if you want to have contact details for your RSVPs that you can export outside of the app be sure to add this as an event question)

Viewing answers in an event advert

As the event organiser you can view all the RSVP details by clicking View Results. You can also send these results to you via email as a CSV file. If you want more than one person to have access to this information then you also need to add them to the event advert as an additional organiser.
(if you want to have contact details for your RSVPs that you can export outside of the app be sure to add this as an event question)

Full admin of your event from the Web

The web view of the event details via "view results" provides you with increased functionality to manage your event. Not only can you get a view of all the RSVPs and event questions, but you can add in any other question/data that may be useful for your internal management - for example tracking if someone has paid for a ticket.
In the control panel you can add in guests linked to the host, manually RSVP on behalf of members and guests as well as download the full data into Excel.
Filters and search allow you to keep track of your event and the inbuilt messaging features enable quick and easy communication to your guests.
  • Add notes to each Host or Guest coming to your event
  • You can now manage in-app RSVPs alongside offline (email, phone requests) and public link RSVP
  • Edit responses and RSVP
  • Add custom "columns" to track any information you need, this is not visible to the members, such as payments received
  • Add Guests, these remain linked to the Host that you enter them next to
  • Search - large events can be searched quickly by name/email
  • Direct Message - either individually or in bulk, use this to quickly chase up people or notify them of a change etc
  • Export - easily export the entire list, or filtered list, to Excel to manage or create guest lists for security
Excel Exports include all the columns of information, this allows you to manage everything about your event in one place, particularly useful for larger events and multi-organiser events.

Using the Public Link from an event advert

When you publish an event advert it will generate a Public Link. You can copy this link in the top right corner of the event advert.
This is a link to a stand-alone webpage that holds the information about your event (without sharing any private app data about members). (for App members) If you click on the link and have the App or Web-App open on the same device it should divert you back to the platform. However, people who are not registered on the platform can also view and RSVP using this link by adding their name and email.

This means you can create your event in the App but are still free to share it on other digital channels like email, WhatsApp or Facebook and it doesn’t need everyone to be on the App to see it.

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