Understanding Events

Please also see our step-by-step basic training video series: Basic Training for Reader Boards

The Events module is used where you have Room Signs and or Wayfinding based Digital Signage where you want to show what Event is happening in the room and/or the next Event to take place in the room where the display is installed. You are also able to create a summarized list of Events within the Layout Designer.

EngagePHD supports 3rd party integration from SalesPro and Ungerboeck and ICS based URL calendars. For more information about 3rd party support, please contact your EngagePHD representative.

Layout Designer View:            

How the event will appear on the screen:

First we’ll need to create “Rooms” which will be assigned to the Players as a “Room” or location where we want event information to show when scheduled.

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Creating Rooms

When importing events from 3^rd party integration, Rooms will already be created or imported to the software.

When adding Events one at a time or through an excel spreadsheet, Rooms will need to be created manually.

Rooms will be assigned to Players and tell the software which events should show on those Players. Often, Room names and Player names might be the same for consistency.

The steps below will walk through creating Rooms and adding event information manually:

1) Click on ‘Rooms‘ from the ‘Events’ page.

2) Click ‘Create New‘ and enter the name of the Room that your player(s) will be associated with, then click ‘Save‘:

 

Give your Room a name:

 

3) Click on ‘Players’ from the Home page and click on the player to open the Player Record.

4) Use the ‘Room’ drop down to select the Room that will be associated with this player. Click ‘Save”

 

 

Creating Events

When creating an event, each attribute is a dynamic field that can be used when building a Layout.

To create a new event, click on the ‘Create New’ Button. This will then allow you to create a new Event and set the following attributes for the Event:

 

• Title: The title works as both the name of the Event and the active Title, if you wish to show the Title as a part of your layout.
• Description: This is optional if you would like the description to show in the layout.
  Room: This will allow you to select Rooms that you created before the event. Each Player assigned with the Room will show the event information when scheduled.
• Room Name Display: This will allow you to change the way the Room displays on the live screen.
• Start Date: This is the start date you will want your event to show on your players.
• Start Time: This will be the time that you want your event to start showing on the screen. If your event starts at 11:00AM and you want your event to show a half hour in advance, you would make the start time 10:30AM.
• End Date: This is the day you would like the event to stop showing on the screen.
• End Time: This will be the time you want the event to stop showing on the screen.
• Show on Summary: Check this box if you have a screen that will be showing a summary of multiple events.
• Show Start and End Time: This allows you to show or not show the Start and End Date.
• Logo: If you would like to display a logo in the layout, you can add the logo to your event. The ‘Choose File’ button will allow to upload a new file from your computer. The ‘Asset Library’ button will allow you to choose a file from your asset library.

 

Upload Events Tab

 

If it’s easier, you are able to import multiple Events from a spreadsheet. Clicking the ‘Download’ button will allow you to download a template spreadsheet which you can edit and upload once complete.

Once downloaded, open and edit the spreadsheet as required and once you have saved your changes, upload the file. Once you have finished editing the spreadsheet, you can save it as a regular XLS/XLSX file (no need for a CSV file). To update your Events simply drag the file onto the area shown below or click the area to below which will open your Windows Explorer window to locate the file.

 

Adding Events Table to a Layout

 1) From the Home page, click on ‘Layouts’.

2) Create a layout or open an existing layout be clicking on the ‘Designer’

3) From the control panel, click on the ‘Add Events Table’ This will add a new zone and open the table properties window.

 

4) By default, the table will have the Title as a part of the new table. Click on the + symbol to add cells to the same row, or click on the ‘Add Row’ button to create new rows. Click on the cell to activate properties for that cell.

5) Use the ‘Field’ drop down to select the Event attribute you would like to show in that cell. For example, you can add the event Description, Room, Start Date and End Date; etc..

6) Use the ‘Cell Style’ to apply font styles to each cell. Be sure to click on ‘Apply Table Cell’ to apply any changes to that cell before moving on to the next cell.

7) Check the box for ‘Summary’ if you would like to show a summary of all of your events in your table. ‘Row Spacing’ will space the cells out as you provide a higher number. The ‘Room‘ mapping field that allows you to show the summary for different rooms within different zones to allow more creative Layout design.​

 

8) When you are done, click on the ‘Apply’ button to close to properties window.

 

Scheduling Your Event Layout

Once your events have created and your layout has been set up, you can Schedule your layout to your Players. With an event layout, you only need one layout for multiple players. The layout will determine which Players to play on based on the Rooms that you’ve created and assigned to each Player.

To Schedule your layout, click on the ‘Schedule’ icon from the Home page. Click here for a step-by-step guide to Scheduling your layout.

 

 

Previewing Your Event Layout

Once your layout has been scheduled to your players, you can preview your layout by clicking on your event and select the Room (Player) you would like to preview from the Preview drop down. The preview will open in the same tab. Click the back button in your browser to go back to your event detail.