MS Connection User Guide - Events

Search for events

Enter keywords into the search bar and click the arrow. The results returned can include members, groups, events, blogs, blog posts.
Note: Actions are available based on the search results. These can include add a member as a friend, join a group, or RSVP to an event.
Use the tabs to sort the search results. Click Events.
To sort the events search results, select a Sort By option.
Members can use the search bar to narrow their searches. Enter the keyword or member name and click search. The events page lists all the events in MS Connection with a public profile. Hidden groups are not returned. From this page, a you can sort by date, view an event, and attend an event.
Tip: You can enter a date, or select a date from the calendar to search by date. The returned results display the event profile image, title, and additional information about the event.
Note: Profile images are also known as avatars.
Click Attend this Event to attend the event. Click the event’s name or profile image to view the event profile page if privacy settings allow.

Attend and participate in an event

The event profile page displays the profile image, name, and description. The name and profile image of the event owner/administrator also displays. Attendees of the event can make comments, invite friends or upload photos if enabled. Attendees can interact with the event's social space in a number of ways through the About, Blog, Photos, Documents, etc. tabs.

Non-Attendees can click Attend this Event. A request confirmation message appears.
The member can click Yes to join the event immediately if the event automatically accepts new attendees. If the event requires the owner/administrator to Accept or Deny requests, then the visitor must wait to be accepted.

Profile	Description
About	Click the About tab to see information about the event. This includes the event description; number of attendees, RSVP responses, and when and where the event will be held.
Blog	Click the Blog tab to go to the event blog. The most recent blog post shows first. Each post shows the title and date the post was made. Click on the title of a post to read it. If the event owner or administrator enables members to post to the blog, then you can select Add Comment and enter text into the box. Click X to delete a comment you have started or select Comment to post.
Photos	Click the Photos tab to see albums that have been created by the event owner/administrator. The album name and number of photos in the album are displayed below the album cover. Click on the album cover to see photos. To view a photo in a larger size, click the image. Below the photo, the date the photo was uploaded, the photo’s current rating, a share link, and the username of the member who uploaded the photo is displayed. To view all photos in the album, click All Photos. Click Next Photo to view the next photo in the album. Click the Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down icon to can rate a photo. You can only rate a photo one time. A group member can comment on a photo. To post a comment, enter text and click Post Comment. If comments are enabled, it appears immediately; otherwise the group owner/administrator must approve the comment before it can appear. Each photo album provides an RSS feed so it can be syndicated elsewhere. Click Share to share photos through various social media. You must be an event attendee to post a comment on an event’s profile. If the event enables photos to be uploaded, click Upload a Photo to upload a photo to the event. Supported file types are .gif, .png, and .jpg.
Documents	Click the Documents tab to see all the documents that event owner/administrators and event attendees have posted. If enabled, a list of documents displays. The size of the document, its title, description, date and time it was uploaded, and comment information is displayed. Click on the document title to go to the document’s page to download and comment on the full document. An event attendee can leave a comment on a document. Enter text and click Post Comment. If the event owner/administrator enables comments to be automatically accepted, it immediately appears; otherwise it must be accepted before it appears.
Activity Updates	Actions that an event attendee takes within the group, appear in the Community Activities feed according to the event settings that are enabled. Activities appear with the most recent first. Click on a name in the activity feed to go to the member’s profile. Activities are privacy enabled. Activities for hidden events do not appear on the community activity feed roll.
Event Attendees	This widget shows who has been invited to the event and their responses. You can sort through the responses. If more attendees exist than shown in this space, select View All.

Note: The Photos tab does not appear until the event owner/administrator has created at least one album and uploaded at least one photo to that album.

Create an event and send invitations through your member dashboard.

If your organization has enabled events, Manage Events takes you to your My Events page. You can see a list of events that you own. You can click an event to visit that event’s dashboard or to create a new event.

Click Manage Events. The My Events page appears.
Click Create Event. The Create Event screen appears.
Enter the event’s name, optional venue, optional address, and description.
(Optional) Select the date and time that the event begins.
Click Next.The Send Invitations screen appears.
Select your attendees and enter a message for their invitations.
Click Send.

Approve/deny attendee requests

When a member of MS Connection wants to attend a public or private event, they can send a request to the event owner. A message appears to confirm the request was sent. Based on event settings, the event owner may need to accept the member for the member to join the event.

Attendee requests are received on the event’s dashboard. Event requests do not appear on the event owner’s dashboard. New requests appear along the top of the page or they can be accessed from the side navigation menu.

From the event dashboard, click the Attendee Requests link to view the request.
- Click Accept Request. A confirmation message appears. The member is an event attendee.
- Click Delete Invitation to decline the member’s request to attend the event.
Confirm that you want to delete the invitation. A confirmation message appears.

Manage Event

The event profile page displays the profile image, name, and description. The name and profile image of the event owner/administrator also displays. Event owners/administrators should click Edit the Page to go to the event dashboard.

Screen Item	Description
Edit Event Profile	Enables the owner/administrator to update basic information, location details, and event date and time. Click Save to save changes made to the event profile.
Create Event Blog/Edit Event Blog	If the event owner/administrator creates a blog for the event, this link enables him to add posts and make changes.
Edit Event Settings	Enables the owner/administrator to edit a variety of event set- tings such as access level, and what activities are visible to MS Connection. For information about event settings, see
Manage Photos	Enables an event administrator to upload or delete photos and photo albums.
Manage Documents	Enables an owner/administrator to manage document folders, uploads, and comments.
Create/Manage Discussion	Enables an owner/administrator to create a discussion or manage an existing discussion.
Manage News Feeds	Enables an owner/administrator to manage RSS or Atom compatible news feeds.
Manage Attendees	Enables an event owner/administrator to manage attendees, such as promotion or removal.
Manage Comments	Enables an event owner/administrator to manage event comments. If comments require approval, an event owner/administrator can approve or deny comments. An event owner/administrator can also delete comments.
Manage Attendee Requests	Enables an event owner/administrator to approve or deny attendee requests.
Post a Bulletin	Enables an owner/administrator to post a bulletin for event attendees.
Sent Bulletins	Enables an owner/administrator or access options for previously sent bulletins.
Send Invitations	Enables an owner/administrator to send invitations to others to join the event.
Sent Invitations	Enables an owner/administrator to view and delete previously sent invitations.

Edit Event Settings

From an event dashboard, an owner/administrator can click Edit Event Settings to access settings options for the event.

Event Setting	Description
Access Level	Decide if your group is Public, Private or Hidden.
Access Level: Public	Event details including attendees, blog, photos and documents are accessible to attendees and non- attendees from the event landing page, but only event attendees can post photos and documents. The event appears in the search function and community members can comment on the event. This is the default setting.
Access Level: Private	The event is visible on the community event page. Members and non- members can view high level information about the event,such as its purpose and number of attendees, but to see details about the event, a visitor must RSVP and be approved by the event administrator. A pri- vate event appears in the search function, but details are not revealed unless the visitor has permission to view them.
Access Level: Hidden	The event is not listed on the community events page. A hidden event does not appear in the search function. The event owner has to invite people to attend.
Do new attendees require my approval to join?	Decide if new members have to be approved by the event owner. No is the default setting for this option. If set to No, then when members visits the event’s public page, they can click Attend this Event to attend the event. The event is added to the member’s dashboard. If a member attempts to take an action within the event before he clicks Attend this Event, a prompt to attend appears. If this option is set to Yes, a member must click Join this Event.
Respond to the message asking to request to attend the event: Yes or No.	No: A message says “You must be an attendee …page.” Yes: A message indicates a request has been sent. The event owner receives a notification of a request within the event’s dashboard. To view, click on Attendee Requests and Accept or Delete the request.
Can attendees invite their friends to become attendees?	Select Yes to enable attendees to invite others to the event. The default setting is No.
Do comments require my approval?	Decide if comments are posted immediately or require review. The default setting is No.
Can attendees upload photos?	The default setting is Yes.
Can attendees upload files?	Decide whether or not files should be moderated. The default setting is Yes. Yes requires members to submit files for approval before they are uploaded. No enables files to publish immediately.
Email RSVPs?	Select Yes and an email is sent to the event owner for each invited attendee’s response. The default setting is No.

Manage Event Attendees

From the event’s dashboard, choose Manage Attendees in order to promote, demote, or remove attendees from the event. The Manage Attendees page lists members of the event, and provides settings for them. Any change to a member setting must be saved before the new settings will take effect. Click Save. A confirmation message appears. A message appears at the to indicate how many members were updated. You can also download a list of all event attendees. This exports the attendee usernames and types (event admin, attendee) into a .CSV file.

Note: The event owner’s settings for event administrators and blog administrator cannot be modified.

Screen Item	Description
Event Administrator?	Enable this for an event member to give the member event administrator permissions. This provides access to the event dashboard. event administrators can access the event dashboard from their member dashboards. Event administrators have the same rights as the owner, except they cannot demote the owner and do not appear in the founder widget on the event’s profile page.
Blog Administrator?	Check this to promote an event member to a blog administrator. Blog administrators can access the event’s blog from blogs on their member dashboards. For information about blog administration, see Blog Administration.
Send an email when a comment is added to the blog?	If enabled for a blog administrator, the member receives email notifications when comments are added to the group blog.
Remove from Event?	Select this to remove a member from the event.

Note: The member promoted to event administrator does not receive any notification. Remember to inform the member of the promotion. After the promotion, the event administrator can see the event on his dashboard.

Delete an event

From the event profile, the event owner/administrator can click Delete this Event to delete the event from MS Connection. An event summary appears.
Click Yes to confirm the deletion or No to cancel and return to the main event page. If you delete an event, a confirmation message appears. All elements of the event are removed when an event is deleted:
- Blog and Blog Posts
- Photo Albums and Photos
- Comments
- Bulletins
- Invitations
- Documents
- Attendee List

Warning: After deletion the event no longer exists in MS Connection. Deleted events cannot be recovered.

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