[Deptheads] Special Events Box and Marketing Workflow

Wed Aug 14 12:36:54 PDT 2019

First, the good news, Event Schedule can be searched for Special, Sponsored, and Seminars. And they appear on the Approved and Unapproved pages now.

No idea when I fixed it, but I’m glad it works. 

Miniatures, please fix the Formula De event, as in make it “Special” and get rid of the repetition.

“Play with the creator” is for events that any GM including Special Guests were involved in creating. When I find events run by special guests I add a link to them on the Special Guests page. I’m loathe to add a Special Guest specific search function in part because some guests don’t get their events listed until the last second. I like to think by the time pre-reg is turned on, that every filter not involving typing will return a handful of events when used by itself.

Don’t rule Eric D. out on the website marketing, he is technically in charge. His approval or input will elevate a task’s priority, if it’s not just content updates. My past experience with this group and our marketing personnel, if you give marketing the info or request, it will get reviewed and probably sent to me. If you give the info to me, if it’s a major change, I will typically send it to marketing for review before putting on the website.

Ok, I’ve managed to shoe horn a link without an image on the Special Events on the home page.

I think it would be useful if we had a generic image or a sample photo for each event type. I have no problem adding some form of event descriptor after such an image or I can try superimposing (after I declutter the html from WP). I just have an issue with too much text in the Special Events Section. I would also prefer not to repeat what is in the event description on the Special Events page. The description on the Special Events page should give more info, expand on what makes it special, which is where a number of departments fail. And, starting Orccon, I might enforce, no event scheduled, no event in Special Events; kinda reinforces your idea of pulling the base info from our Events Schedule.

Here’s my issue on rotating information, I have to wait for the info to rotate through to see it all. I’ve been toying with the concept on our other pages, but I want the home page to have it there, now. If you have a sample of the type of rotating banner you have in mind, please send it or the link to me. To me, rotating banners are anything, but simple to code.

Last I checked, every page has links to our social media, and Twitter is active on the home page. What did you have in mind? Visual examples work best for me.

Ah, the age old (and I’m very serious about that phrase) every department/event type having it’s own section/page. That requires people (not me, though I might for Kids Only gaming, or the Family Area) putting something together. i.e. Words and pictures. I can format, but I’m not a content generator, or a marketer, or a graphic artist. I believe I’ve received one or two since we last requested info. It’s not getting a higher priority until at least half the departments have submitted updated and more verbose content. My head is sore from beating it against this wall, you are welcome to try.

Submission form, Event Search or Run an Event? I’m open to ideas, and especially adding info. What did you have in mind?

Trying to keep track of any requests over the summer is overwhelming. The suggestions and requests, not so much. :)

Tanya

> On Aug 14, 2019, at 2:28 AM, Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net> wrote:
> 
> Message From: Tara Leederman  taleederman at gmail.com <mailto:taleederman at gmail.com>
> I went back through and rechecked the special box on all my special events, and they seem to now be staying that way. Excellent--thanks for fixing it. The last time we checked, the box wasn’t staying checked, but now I see the word “special” on the schedule. It wasn’t appearing on the info receipt after I submitted edits nor is it in the list.
>  
> I hope we can add Special back to the search function. Another important search function/source of info is for events featuring or run by special guests—that way people can easily find games and seminars featuring neat folks they come here to see.
>  
> I have a lot of website-related market suggestions, though I thought that Eric D. was in charge of that. I do think using the submissions for information regarding special events would be excellent. If the only holdup is pictures, we should consider getting rid of them or having a better workflow for them. My games most often do not have a picture or a graphic associated with them that I could send you. If that’s keeping my four special events off the front page, that would be disappointing. Using the rotating picture banner to inform folks about special events, tournaments, sponsored games, new games, and special guests might be useful, since it’s eye-catching and the most obvious thing people see when they come to the site. Those banners are pretty simple; what we can do is use a current in-action picture of stuff going on at con, have it steadily shade on one side, and use sans-serif bold white font over the shadow to give quick, punchy promotional information about an upcoming event, along with a link which takes them to the event on the schedule (to encourage them to start getting registered). The front page should also feature links to our various social media pages so people can get connected as quickly as possible.
>  
> The departments and their information should be easier to find; placing them in tabs below the main tabs might make them easier to find for attendees, and might give people a better sense of what we feature prominently at the convention. Party Games, Pathfinder, War Games, and Artemis all need sections. Kids-only gaming could also use a department-like section here. I need to add more info to my section, especially for GMs; moreover, if I could add some info to the top of the page that people see above the submission form, that would be swell.
>  
> That’s probably enough to be getting on with, as I don’t want to overwhelm you with stuff.
>  
> Best,
>  
> Tara
>  
> Sent from Mail <https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10
>  
> From: Strategicon Department Heads <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2019 9:42 PM
> To: deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Deptheads] Special Events Box and Marketing Workflow
>  
> This is very important. Is anyone else having a problem making events ‘special’?
>  
> 1. I thought I fixed it. The special event check box works when I use it, and it remains checked when I edit the event again. And it is listed as Special on the schedule. So, I’m at a loss and a little concerned as to why it isn’t setting for you.
>  
> The word special is not appearing on the list on the Approved Events page. I will try to fix that.
>  
> 2. I thought there was something I forgot. I took the “Special” and “Sponsored” search options off the page because they weren’t working and having something that doesn’t work is worse in my view, than not listing it.
>  
> I will work on 1 and 2 tomorrow, when I’m finally kid free in the mornings.
>  
> 3. Oh, if it were only that simple, but I’m hoping it will get more like that. One thing you do have to realize, anything posted on the website (not including the twitter feed) is by me or Eric A. I’m more than happy to listen to and possibly even implement any website related marketing suggestions.
>  
> Eric D. has no access to the website files at this time. We tried offering easier access with WordPress, but it requires someone other than me to manage the Content Management System chosen and be able to handle the formatting of content too (i.e. CSS). I’d be more than happy to focus primarily on the back end code.
>  
> So, it’s Eric D. for marketing and me for website, which usually means tell us both. Also, the special events require an image to display on the home page, and I often don’t have the time, and in some cases can’t figure out the appropriate image to display, so it’s back to the department.
>  
> 4. That is up to Eric A., but Special Events does get it’s own space (more or less) in the con book. I think it’s that we need more such events to get a dedicated page. I’m hoping separating the Tournament part from the Special part will help with this. Time will tell.
>  
> We keep working on it.
>  
> Tanya
>  
> On Aug 13, 2019, at 7:49 PM, Strategicon Department Heads <deptheads at strategicon.net <mailto:deptheads at strategicon.net>> wrote:
>  
> Message From: Tara Leederman  taleederman at gmail.com <mailto:taleederman at gmail.com>
> Hi guys!
>  
> I don’t know if you saw this, Tanya, so I am resending:
>  
> The box one can check to make something a special event is not remaining checked when I edit the events. It is also not a searchable field in the schedule, so people cannot pull up special events.
>  
> Some thoughts:
>  
> We need to fix the bug. 
> Checking the box has to mean something. Special Events should be a searchable field/category of event so folks can look at them and see them as a tab. 
> Anything checked as a special event should then be part of our marketing workflow. Those events should go from the website to Eric Downing immediately so they can go on the front page of the website and into the marketing emails, as well as other promotional materials. If they don’t go to him immediately, making them searchable means he could at least harvest the information from the site easily. 
> Special events can then get a special page in the conbook that is easy for Eric A. to harvest from the website as well. 
>  
> I’d like to make the workflow for our marketing as easy as possible, so congoers can hear about the cool stuff we’re running and about what special guests are doing during the time when they are buying badges and signing up for games. This feature could make it easier for Eric Downing to get at that information as soon as it becomes available for promotional purposes.
>  
> Best,
>  
> Tara
>  
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