Adding Maxwell calendar events in Sitefinity

Introduction

Creating events in Maxwell's Sitefinity calendar system will be similar to how this was done in our previous CMS but we now have incorporated better integration into SU's Community Calendar from Sitefinity.   Because of this integration, we have also added an approval process to all events to ensure content is complete and correctly formatted for display on both Maxwell's and SU's calendar tools.  

Weekly events digest

Public Maxwell events will also be included in a weekly events digest email which is sent out Friday afternoons during the fall and spring semesters.  Each event in this digest will include:

• Title
• Time and location details
• Summary field
• Event contact and phone number
  
  

Example

Logging into Sitefinity

• See this page for login instructions

Creating an event

1. From the Dashboard go to Content > Events

   
   
   
   
   

2. Click the green "Create an event" button on the right side of the page:

   
   
   
   
   

3. Enter event details into their respective fields.  These fields include the following types of information.  
   
   

   Title Full Event Description Summary Date and time Add Event to Unit Calendars Location Event category Type Audience	Accessibility Cost Registration information Organizer / co-organizer Learn more link Parking information Minors present Publish to SU calendar Contact information

Required fields

The following fields MUST be filled out prior to trying to save or send the event for approval:

• Title
• Full Event Description
• Summary
• Add Event to Unit Calendars
• Contact email, name and phone number
• URL (automatically generated from the event title)

Sending for Approval

Given the extra complexity of integrating our Maxwell events into the SU events calendar, all events will go through an approval process being reviewed by the Deans Office before they are published to either the Maxwell or SU calendar.  This approval process begins by clicking the Send for Approval button on the top-right of the page.    

Next, you will be presented with the option to add extra notes regarding your event to have the Maxwell Deans office review as part of your event submission.  These notes will NOT become part of the event details when published.

Deleting events

Currently there is a bug in Sitefinity that prevents website maintainers from deleting content (such as events) that are part of a workflow approval process.  If you need to remove or cancel an event, please email maxcomms@syr.edu with the event's title and date.

Individual field descriptions 

Title

This will become the clickable link into more details of the event and is limited to 100 characters.   This limitation is to ensure that it will fit across all Maxwell digital platforms (web site, newsletters, digital signage, etc).   Do not put the sponsoring department in the title.

Full Event Description

This is the "body" of the event that people will see when clicking on a link to view more details regarding the event.  Please do not use ALL CAPS and limit use of bolding. 

Summary

This field appears below the event title when presented in the main Maxwell calendar.  The summary should be written to complement, but not be redundant with the title.  The use of acronyms should be avoided. 

As in the example below, the summary should include who is speaking or presenting, and any additional contextual information.

Calendar

Ignore this field.  The "Default Calendar" is the correct and only choice.

Event start, end and time zone

Use the icons which are adjacent to the date and time fields to choose and enter the proper starting and ending times.   Only change the time zone for events that take place in other time zones.

Add Event to Unit Calendars

Click the "+" icon to choose which pages this event should appear on.  Multiple units can be selected.

Click on "Show all units and programs" to see unit options:

Browse to the desired (academic) Department or Research unit.  Alternatively, you can use the search to "Narrow by typing".  Please ignore the Administration and Certificates options in this context.

Check the box adjacent to the department.   For some research units (i.e. Moynihan), you may need to go deeper into the hierarchy to select the correct unit.  

Here the "Center for European Studies" is selected which is under Moynihan:

Channels

This section is for the Communications Team only.  

Topics and Issues

This field is primarily used for News Article content, but has been added to Sitefinity events to allow for categorizing events that part of Maxwell's Centennial celebration (Audience interests >> Centennial). 

Geographic Location

Use the dropdown menus to select the proper location and building.  When entering the Room Number, do not include the building name or abbreviation.  

Note: there is another location field lower in the form for entering specific addresses outside of the main SU campus. 

Event category, type and audience

These selections will be used in the Maxwell and SU calendars as filters to help site visitors find relevant events.  If no audience options are selected, then a generic message will be presented saying that the event is simply open to the public. 

Accessibility 

Depending upon the size of your event, specific accessibility accommodations may be required.   Please see this site for the University's live events policies.  Check the boxes for the specific services that will be offered at your event. 

Cost and registration

If you are charging an entrance fee or asking people to register for your event, enter the cost, choose the appropriate wording from the Registration Label dropdown and enter the link to your registration page.

Organizer(s) and Learn More link

Choose the appropriate  Maxwell unit(s) who organize / co-organize the event.   

If you want to link to another web page for event viewers to learn more about your event, enter the full url into the Link to Learn More field. 

Click the "+" icon below the Calendar Organizers heading to reveal a list of recently selected organizers.  You may click into the blue box to search for the organizer name  or click "Show all calendar organizers" to see a full list of available choices.  Please note that this list is very long since it pulls its choices from the SU  Calendar's list of organizers.  

The first organizer that you add will be the main event organizer.  Any  additional organizers will be considered "co-organizers".  

Doing a search for "max-" will present the Maxwell choices:

Parking information 

Use this field for specific parking instructions.  If needed, reference SU-hosted information from the https://parking.syr.edu/ web site.  

Minors Present

Indicate if you know if minors will be present at the event. 

Publish to Maxwell School and Syracuse University calendars

Check box to indicate if your event is to be  also published to the Syracuse University Community Calendar.  When you choose to have your event be published on the SU calendar (https://calendar.syracuse.edu/events/) the event is considered public and will be also be put on Maxwell's main calendar.

Location (specific map address)

If needed, please enter the specific address of the event. 

Contact information

Enter contact information for someone who can answer further questions regarding the event.   This must be a individual with working knowledge of the event.  This person will also be listed as the contact for any accessibility accommodations.   For this reason, this MUST be actual contact information.   Please enter phone numbers with dots and not hyphens (315.443.XXXX)