The Webinar enhancements created by Refined Training allow event-driven businesses to collect registrations / enrollments for live meetings, seminars or other events both online and offline. This feature will create a registration form or option allowing new and existing users immediate registration for the event using the Refined Training platform.
Powerful constructs such as email reminders, calendar display, My Meetings display, Sign-in Reconciliation (for in-person events) and minimized log ins allows the Refined Training platform to offer a complete webinar solution.
For complete information on email reminders, refer to the Refined Reminders articles.
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Webinars Front-Page Display
The ability to minimize the steps required for enrollment into a webinar can be added by RDS developers to those sites whose primary business is hosting webinars.
This allows users to view listings of webinars prior to logging in. They can review the webinar description and then register for the webinar all from one screen, with a minimum number of steps. When the user returns to the LMS, they need only their email address to register for additional webinars.
For users to see the list of webinars before logging in, the site security must be set to allow non-logged-in users Front Page access. This setting is found in the Administration>>> Site Administration>>> Security>>> Site policies:
Ensure that the setting Force users to login is not enabled (the default is no):
Then from the Site Administration menu go to Front Page Settings>>> Edit settings:
Set the front-page to display a List of webinars:
This action lists webinars on the front page of the LMS before the user logs into the system. When a user selects a webinar from the list, they are brought to the webinar registration page. This page displays the course summary (created inside the Course Settings) along with the option to log in or to register for the webinar:
Another way to display webinar events is to turn on the front page Course Calendar. See the article on the Front Page Course Calendar for more information. For clients who market their courses / webinars outside of the LMS you can use links to direct potential clients to the webinar form, use the following format: http://(INSERT URL TO LMS)/local/webinars/view.php?id=(enter course ID found in the URL).
Webinars Form Fields
The webinar form used for registration can be selected to appear when a user is both logged or not logged into the system. The advantage to having the webinar form appear for both logged in and non-logged in users is that the system can collect and update users' profile fields from the information provided from the webinar form.
These two examples capture the benefit of displaying the webinar form:
1. When a user is not logged into the system, the webinar form displays registration profile fields which provides the user's information to the system. The webinar form will look to see if the user already exists before the user logs into the site. If the account does not exists, an account is created for the user with the information from the form. If an account does exist, the registration will be associated with the existing account and any changes to the registration fields will be updated on their profile, with the expectation of the email address.
2. When a user is logged into the system, the form displays and updates the user's information as necessary while registering the user in to the course.
Both these examples ensure that the system has the most accurate user information.
Displaying the webinar form to users who are logged in or not logged into the system is a setting that can be adjusted to the needs of your site.
Navigate to Site administration >>>> Plugins >>>> Local plugins >>>> Webinars.
By default, the webinar form will only display to users who are not logged in, and users who are logged in will only see a "Register Now" button. Check the box to enable this setting so a logged in user also views the full registration form.
If a user is logged into the site, and the form is selected not to display, only the Register Now button appears for the user.
Password Field Option
For added security, you have the option to add the password field to the registration form, forcing new accounts to create a password and existing accounts to use their current password. This option should be used if you require users to login to your LMS with a username and password.
To enable the password field go to Site administration >>>> Plugins >>>> Local plugins >>>> Webinars
Once enabled, the password field will be a required field on the webinar registration form. Upon submission, the system will check if the users email address already exists in the system and:
- If a user does not already exist, they will input a password and this will become their password for logging in to the LMS
- If a user already exists, they will need to enter their existing password. If they enter an incorrect password, a message will display indicating they have an existing account and to enter the corresponding password or reset their password, with the link to the password reset form provided.
Minimized Log in Option
Once registered, the user does not need to log in again. They will receive one or more Refined Reminders containing links that take them directly to their event, logging them into Adobe Connect automatically. If they are required to log into the LMS, and you are not requiring a password, the system can be set to have a minimized (email no password) login:
The simplified sign in option is available to be turned on or off at the main domain and sub domain level.
Please note: This feature is not something that should be turned on and later switched to off, as users need to be created using the Refined Training Webinar registration tool, which generates a random password.
If a user manually changes their password, they can not use the simplified log in option, but instead will need to log in with their username and password.
This feature is not recommended for companies who charge for their webinars. For detailed information on security options, contact a Refined Training Specialist.
About My Meetings
Using the My Meetings Refined Tag produces on the Front Page a customized listing of Adobe Connect meetings that the logged-in user is invited or authorized to attend within a set period of time. To learn more about this tag, see the Refined Tags article.
Webinar Reporting
The Workbook and Dashboard reports are available for webinars. To enable these reports, go to Site Administration>>> Plugins>>> Local plugins>>> Webinars. On the Webinars page, click on Enable Workbook and Save changes:
This ensures that the Refined Tools block in any course will show the options Workbook and Dashboard:
The Workbook downloads as an Excel file that includes user data on one tab, such as name, email, company, phone, address, course (what web site they registered from) and whether they attended or not. On the other tab, the users who attended the webinar are shown as well as their answers to any polls conducted inside the webinar meeting room.
The Dashboard provides a visual display of Registrations Leading Up to Webinar, Countdown, Direct Links, Visits by Source, Registrations by Source and Timezones:
The Dashboard also has a Listing of names with sources and time zones:
