The Gradual dashboard is the access point for setting up all of your events. Let’s get started with setting up a new Livestream event for your community!
Sign in to your dashboard and select Events from the drop down menu on the Gradual dashboard.
Select the Create an event button in the upper right and enter all necessary information & select Submit to save your work.
Event type: Select from the four types of events available in Gradual: Livestream, In-Person, Meeting, and 1:1 Match.
Learn more about each type of event here.
Title: Enter a title for the event.
This will be visible to users on the front end.
Timezone & Date: Select the timezone and date when the event is being hosted.
Users will see the date and time adjust to their local timezone on the front end.
Complete the General Information section with all of the important details that will be needed for a successful event.
Admit Attendees: Set what date and time 'doors open' or the event page goes live.
If 'When Event Begins' is selected, the event page will go live at the date and time entered in 'Date' above.
If 'At Specified Time' is selected, you will select the date and time that the event page will go live and attendees can access the live event. This is great if you want to allow folks to join a few minutes early. This will result in the 'Join' button being available at the time you specify so attendees can join, but doesn’t change the published start time or other information about the event.
Registration Method: The platform will automatically build a Gradual Standard registration page for this event, but if you'd like to collect registration for this event on a site outside of Gradual, you can load that URL into the Custom Webpage field.
If a URL is loaded into the Custom Webpage field:
Users will be redirected to that URL when they select the "Register" button, and will leave Gradual entirely.
Any registrations collected on that site or form will not be counted, registered or reflected in Gradual.
You can bulk-upload attendees into Gradual following this method.
Event Link: The event URL is created by default in the event setup but can be changed or customized by admins in the dashboard or event admins who are collaborators.
Default Event URL: The platform will create a default event URL using the event title and a default unique identifier. We recommend using the default URL as it won’t be affected by changes to your event title, and will dynamically change if the title changes. All default URLs associated with the event (from past titles) will remain valid, too.
Custom Event URL: Dashboard admins, or Event Admins (collaborators) can make changes to the event URL in the General Info tab. If you use a custom URL, the previous default URLs will remain valid but other custom URLs will not.
Note: Special characters cannot be used in default or custom event URLs, but using '&' will change to 'and' in the URL slug.
Watch On Demand: This is enabled when the event has ended and allows you to enter a URL for users to watch a replay of the event.
💡 Pro Tip: Follow these steps to publish post-event replays.
Cover: Upload an image to stand as the graphic for the event. It's recommended as a JPG file that is no more than 5 MB.
Tags: Tags are used to group events, and power recommendations to the user. You can select from a previously added Tag, or enter a new Tag.
Keep tags short and sweet, and add as many as you'd like. They will populate as hashtags on the landing page.
Organized By: Select who's listed as organizing this event. The system will automatically list the community as the organizer but if you'd like to list an organizer other than the community, select the edit icon and select individual(s) from the list of members, or add organization(s) to promote partnerships, etc.
Once this is done, it's time to complete setting up your Agenda on the next tab - add sessions, speakers, and engagement opportunities for your attendees.
Learn more about building your agenda here.
The Stage Settings menu item is where you find all the information to conduct live streaming into your event. The default Stage for your event is ‘Stage 1’. Once you click on ‘view’, you’ll see the streaming URL’s populate. This is what you’ll be plugging into your video streaming software. The ‘Stream URL’ and ‘Stream Key’ are what you’ll need.
Note: Your Stream Key is private and should not be shared and should be treated as a password.
From there, you’ll be able to navigate through the tabs, to see Speakers, add Sponsors, and see who has registered and who is logged in under Attendees. From the Channels tab, you can review, edit and pin messages.
Final step—click Publish!
Video Guide
Note: Gradual does not record your livestream. You will need to be sure your session is recorded in whatever service you are using to stream to Gradual.