We have some exciting updates coming to the PathFactory platform in our maintenance release this week that will make the initial version of our new Virtual Event Experience (VEX) Module nearly complete! We’re so proud and excited about the possibilities with VEX so we decided to inform you outside our regular release schedule of all the good things released for VEX as well as a few small updates for Campaign Tools and the general platform.
Moving forward, you can expect to see the release notes sectioned off by general platform updates, and updates that pertain to specific modules: Campaign Tools, VEX and soon to include Website Tools.
Platform Updates
Reorganization of the Cog Menu
Based on your feedback, we too felt the cog menu was getting tooooo loooonnnnng and somewhat challenging to navigate, especially as we continue to add new features. So, you will see a new and improved organization structure and layout of the cog menu in this release. Don’t worry, all the same features are still included, we have just done some house cleaning, so it’s easier for you to find what you are looking for.
CSV Upload Encoding Error
We have updated the CSV upload process to notify you of an encoding error before the upload process begins when uploading a CSV file. If you get this error message, it will be within the loading screen in the platform rather than an email sent to your inbox. This will allow you to fix any issues with the file before waiting for the upload process to be complete.
Track Protection Deanonymization
We’ve made an improvement to the new track protection feature that was recently released, to make all visitors known in PathFactory when they enter their email address in a protected track. When the visitor clicks on the verification email in their inbox, the email address will automatically be passed over to PathFactory so the visitor’s session will be tracked back to their known email address.
Campaign Tools
SEO Enhancements
We have introduced additional enhancement to the SEO functionality within our platform. This will allow you to set values for the og:url, og:description, og:title, twitter:title, and the H1 tag. It will also add alt text and title text tags for thumbnail images.
- Og:url – Previously, this tag used to show the subdomain on which your content tracks are served.
This has been changed so that the og: URL tag has the same value as the canonical URL, as opposed to just the subdomain.
If you set the canonical URL to be the underlying asset source URL, then OG: URL would be the asset source URL.
If you set the canonical URL on the content track to be the track URL, then OG:URL will the asset track URL.
- Og:description will be populated by the description of the content. If no description is added, a default message will be used.
- Og:title – there has been a new field that is added called “SEO Title”. This will override the content title that is currently used. If the SEO Title field isn’t completed, the content title will be used. The SEO Title field has a character limit of 65. If you exceed that, you will get an error and will not be able to save the field value you have filled.
- Og:description and og:title in Explore: the values will be picked up from the Title and Description fields of the Explore page. If nothing is configured in either of the fields, the name of the Explore page will be the default value.
- Thumbnail images – if the underlying content URL has an og:image and an og:image:alt tag, they will now be displayed in the content track page source of the asset. Previously this information was not carried over into the page source of the asset in the content track.
- H1 tag: if the underlying content URL has an H1 tag, that will now be displayed in the content track page source of the asset. If there are more than one H1 tags, the first one will be displayed.
VEX
You may recall from prior release notes and through our marketing efforts, PathFactory announced VEX as a virtual event experience. We know many are using webinars to engage customers and prospects but they felt one dimensional and didn’t allow attendees to engage in multimedia content at their own pace. It felt and still does, very prescriptive. And we know virtual events will be around for a long time and not everyone wants to or needs to build an expensive, avatar focused event. VEX sits squarely in the middle of these two options. We have several customers who are actively using VEX as are we and so release notes have not been shared broadly to date. Now they will be as we believe you might be interested in understanding content engagement in your virtual events – which is really just another marketing channel.
New Features This Release
Chat Configuration
PathFactory offers a native chat widget within VEX that you can add to any live event. You can configure the chat within the authoring environment for a session. Included in the Chat functionality is:
Enable or Disable Chat For Any Live Session
This feature allows you to toggle on or off chat for a specific session. The chat functionality is only available to be enabled for live sessions, and not for On-Demand sessions. If you have added chat to a session and no longer want it included, just toggle it off to disable it!
Add Moderators to The Chat
With this functionality you can set specific people to be moderators for your sessions. They will have their own view of the chat that opens in a new tab, expanding the chat widget into a larger window to make it easier to manage. If the moderator is moderating a number of different sessions at a time, they will be able to toggle between session chats in the same window to easily stay on top of all conversations that are happening.
Moderators have the ability to pin messages, delete messages, mute attendees or remove the attendee from the room if necessary.
Add moderators:
When an attendee is in a VEX session that has chat, and their email address is on the moderator list, they’ll see the button highlighted below to open up the moderator view:
Moderator view:
Add Polling Through Chat
The moderators of the chat can add polls to the audience through the chat functionality. Easily add a poll by typing in this format in the chat box: /poll “this is where the question of the poll will go” “this is the first option” “this is the second option” and so on. When the moderator clicks enter to send the message, the poll will show on the screen to the audience for them to choose the option most applicable to them.
Max Attendees
For sessions where you want to limit attendance, we have added the ability to cap the attendees in a given session. When configuring the session, there is an input area in the Event Setup tab where you can enter a number for the max attendees for that session. Input the maximum number of attendees you would like for that session into the field, if there is no maximum leave the field blank.
When the maximum number of attendees is reached, any additional attendees trying to access the session will get an error message notifying them that the session is full and they can’t attend. If an attendee that makes the cut for the session leaves the session and wants to return, their spot will still be open to them.
Engagement Thresholds for Live and On-Demand Sessions
Engagement thresholds allow you to set a specific amount of time (in seconds) that you would like a visitor to spend on a live or on-demand session in your event to receive a certain engagement score – similar to the functionality in Campaign Tools (Target, Explore and Recommend). This will allow you to easily understand who has spent meaningful time engaging in the session in comparison to others. When this time threshold is met, the score will be associated with the visitor and sent back to your MAP through the webhook integration (Content List – Time Threshold Met and Content Count – Time Threshold Met fields) for you to action off of. The supplemental content in the session will inherit the time threshold you have set for the specific asset in the content library.
Landing Page Builder
Now you can really customize your event with the new landing page builder functionality. Build your own unique landing pages to allow your visitors to easily navigate through your event. For building sponsor specific pages, a page with all your breakout sessions or to separate localized events, the landing page builder can allow you to set up your virtual event however you see fit!
Customize Your Page
Add HTML blocks or session groups to your page and fully customize the style of the page with your style guides. The page will inherit any external styling added to the Appearance for explore that is set for the event. Add session groups in the order you would like them to appear that is specific for that page. You also have the ability to make the landing page the main event page, rather than using the default event homepage that is automatically generated when configuring the event. Just simply select the “Set as homepage” button on the landing page configuration screen to a public landing page.
Set Your Navigation
Fully customize the navigation for the event through the new navigation configuration tab. Set pages within the 3 nesting levels that are available. Add navigation items under the navigation tab in the event. You can choose from the following options:
- Landing Page: choose a landing page that you have created
- Link: choose an external link that you would like to link out to
- Session: choose a specific session you would like to link directly to
- Text: add text as a level that cannot be clicked, but that you can nest other navigation options under
Once your navigation items are created, drag the label to nest it in the level you want it to appear. The far left, level 1 nesting will add the item to the top navigation. As you pull them over to the right, they will be nested under the upper label.
What You Might Have Missed In The Last Few Weeks:
Event Configuration
Easily configure your event inside VEX adding specific sessions for each keynote, breakout out or general session you have running for that event. Group sessions together to make it easy for your event attendees to navigate through to the sessions they want.
You can fully customize the appearance of your event and even run registration through VEX.
Session Configuration
dd all the details around the session through the session configuration to let your attendees know exactly what they will be experiencing in the session. Whether your session is live, simulive or on demand, VEX can accommodate all types. With Zoom and WebEx integrations, adding live sessions is made easy. Streaming video through YouTube Live, Vimeo, Brightcove or Vidyard, to name a few, all work nicely inside VEX as well.
Easily pair supplemental content with your main session event to keep your attendees engaged throughout the session. Add chat capability to live events with polling capabilities to engage the audience throughout the session as well.
Analytics
Understand who has registered (if registration is through VEX) and who attended your event and sessions as well as their engagement in each session. Send all of this data back through the webhook integration from PathFactory to your MAP to easily action off of. We continue to build out the insights available on dashboards, so continue to look for them.
And Finally…
We want to acknowledge your feedback. We hear you and hope you see that we are implementing your recommendations and requests. Our team is committed to your success and together we all get better. Your Account Executive or Customer Success Manager are always ready to hear from you.