We are really excited to introduce our speaker Backstage: an easy and powerful tool to power your streams. 

With this in-house backstage, Swapcard becomes even more all-in-one, so it reduces the set-up time and the number of providers you need to deal with. 

From everyday in-person streaming to professional keynote broadcasting, Backstage can do all this and more.

Using our best technology and our HD low latency stream RTMP protocol (Swapcard streaming), Backstage is closing the gap (and the need) for a third-party studio or streaming app.

The goal of Backstage is to provide a tool to generate and edit live streams into Swapcard by inviting speakers to the session and deciding which speaker takes the stage.

Up to 99 speakers can be invited and 16 at a time can share the center stage!

To enrich the streams, Backstage allows users to share moderator and participant screens.

Two versions of Backstage are available right now: one for moderators and one for speakers. Moderators are the creators of sessions and therefore have the option to create a Backstage session and invite speakers. Speakers can then join to start participating in an event app session.

Professional hardware can be used to enhance our 1080 HD videos by selecting any connected hardware like mics and cameras. This equipment can be selected and swapped out while on a stream.

Seamless live streaming with high-definition video and crystal-clear audio is of course at the center of Backstage, allowing a low-latency stream with integrations for the community to quickly participate and interact.

Full and easy integration with Swapcard Studio allows users to create a session and start streaming in a matter of seconds.

To access Backstage as a creator, simply create a session and select “Live Backstage” : 

Users added in the studio session as speakers can participate as they join.

Speakers can easily join via an invite link or by simply opening the event app and navigating to the session. Once in the session, invited speakers will see a button prompting them to join the stage. Clicking on the “Join Backstage” button will redirect the speaker Backstage. Now, the speaker only has to wait for the moderator or directly join the Backstage session.

Speakers and moderators alike have the option to select hardware while in the waiting room or when in the stream. They can also toggle mute or unmute and turn the camera on or off.

Moderators can decide who takes the center stage and who is on the stream by simply toggling the user switch to on. A default layout template will be available for now, and different ones will be available at later dates.

The option to go live or end a stream on the event app is also for the moderators to decide by simply clicking the “Go live” button in Backstage. There is no need to be present in Studio. If moderators wish to have control of ramp credentials, stream data, and so on, they can continue using all of the existing features in Studio for RTMP.

Both Speaker and Moderator versions are accessible at any time from mobile and web.

Screensharing into the Backstage

As a moderator or a speaker, you can share your screen with Backstage.

On the Backstage platform, a new button just below the main stage allows you to share your screen:

Once you click on it, a pop-up from your browser will ask which screen or window you would like to share, and then it will appear in the bottom list as shown below:

At any time, while any speaker is sharing their screen, the moderator (and moderator only) will be able to invite the person screen-sharing on the main stage.

The Main Stage layout will then automatically adapt to allow for maximum space of the screen sharing.

Available features now in our first version

Moderator view with functionalities:

• Toggle speakers on or off stage
• Mute/unmute self
• Mute/unmute speakers
• See participants in speaker reel
• Set moderator on or off stage
• Add up to 16 speakers to live canvas
• Set up a studio session with Backstage functionality
• Go live on event app from Backstage
• Invite users within a community from Studio to participate in Backstage session
• Stream to event app using Swapcard RTMP
• Option to select a third-party provider if Backstage is not a preference
• Closed captioning in stream through Backstage
• Screensharing

Speaker view with functionalities:

• Jump from event app to Backstage as speaker, if invited
• Mute/unmute self
• Stream to event app using Swapcard RTMP
• Closed captioning in stream through Backstage
• Views depending on if speaker is on live canvas or in waiting room
• Waiting room
• Waiting view for speaker
• Screensharing

Upcoming features

Backstage will continue to add features in the future

• Private chat among moderator and speakers
• Display the session live discussion (chat, questions, polls) in backstage
• Select from a list of banner formats and be able to enter text to show in stream 
• Select from a list of template formats to change the format of the stream 
• Upload a logo and a background to the stage
• Upload a video file to stream it live
• Backstage as a sandbox (for pre-recording a session)

As you may know, we are actively working on the redesign of email management from the studio. In this first phase of the redesign we have improved email editing with the following changes :

• Redesign of the navigation which is now on the right of the preview with tabs to be more easily usable
• Clicking on a block now opens the associated tab in edit mode
• The list of available blocks is now clearly visible and each block can be added with a simple click
• You can now drag and drop the blocks to the desired location
  

Previously, we’ve updated the Studio to ensure that every time a session is updated, it’s automatically reflected in real-time in the Event App.

This new release provides the same real-time functionality that now includes any updates to the session’s streaming schedule including date and/or time.

Now, users won’t have to refresh the session details page to see the updated session’s streaming availability date and/or time.

See the example below and watch the session’s length update in real-time:

What is RTM?

RTM stands for “real-time monitoring”, a method of observing and analyzing different types of data as it is being accessed, manipulated, and viewed by another party. Once accessed, the information is accurate at the moment it's viewed.

Swapcard is working to implement RTM at different levels in all available apps.

This particular deployment implements real-time updates for the Session date in the Session details. Now, when the organizer edits Session dates in the studio, it reflects immediately in the event app for attendees without the need to refresh their page.

• This first version implements ONLY the start date and end date including the time of the session.
• Dates are automatically updated when you view the Session details in the event app. This feature is not meant to update the dates of a specific Session when you’re viewing the list or using the grid view.

Still to come:

• Session banner placeholder dates with RTM
• Session streaming dates with RTM

A new tab in My Event to discover all your recommendations!

Trying to find what you’re looking for can lead to unnecessary time spent scrolling when you could be meeting the right person, chatting to the right exhibitor, or going to the right session. Swapcard understands and has added a feature to help cut down on wasted time.

You can find this feature in your My Event tab.  By clicking “Explore event”, you will find various recommendations, including:

• People matches
• Exhibitor matches
• Session matches
• Item matches

💡 Additionally, by clicking on a People match, you will discover details and explanations about why this person is recommended to you.

For organizers, by default, you will always find this new tab in My event. However, you can also disable it by clicking Studio > Event builder > Content display > My event (edit) > Data. You can also select which matches you want to display.

If you can’t find relevant recommendations, there could be a few reasons. First, if you’re a new event member, you’ll only be able to see accurate recommendations after completing your profile and using the app by bookmarking or making connections. Your first recommendations will be based on the popularity of these elements, so if you want personalized recommendations, use the app!

We are happy to announce that organizers will soon have Newsfeed statistics available directly from the Analytics Dashboard. This will provide value as organizers will be able to see how users are interacting with the Newsfeed. 

The following data points will be available:

We look forward to your feedback on this improvement, as we continuously strive to improve our analytics on the Studio Dashboard!

There's been significant improvement in the email notification manager: Users will be able to manage their email preferences per community and not per event anymore. 🔥

The email preferences per event will be replaced by the email preferences per community.

How does this work?

The email settings are located in the same place:

From the event page, click on the profile icon to access the drop-down menu, and then choose “Settings” to be redirected to the event settings page.

Under “Email notifications”, a community member can manage their email preferences.

⚠️ When an option is checked, the community member will set this new preference for the community and all the events linked to that community.

We are introducing another option within Studio for lead retrieval when scanning badges onsite. Currently, if an event organizer **enables lead retrieval rights for an individual exhibitor or a select group within Studio, badge scanning will be available on both iOS and Android devices through the Swapcard Mobile App. When an exhibitor with these rights scans an event attendee onsite, a two-way permanent connection is created immediately with contact details shared between the two.

With this new upcoming enhancement, organizers will be able to decide, at group and exhibitor level, whether badge scanning at a physical event creates a traditional two-way permanent connection between the two users, or if a brand new one-way connection is created instead.  A connection is considered one-way when the contact information of the individual who’s badge was scanned is shared with the person who initiated the scan. Only the individual who’s badge was scanned will appear in the scan initiator’s contact list.

This new enhancement will allow organizers to have full control of how information is shared when scanning badges during onsite events.

How will it work?

When the one-way connection option is selected, a contact will be created only for the individual who scanned the badge, by duplicating information of the person scanned including their first and last name, email, and phone number on display in the event profile at the time of the scan.

This logic is similar to business card scanning, in that the individual who’s badge is scanned will not receive a notification and will not have the contact details of who scanned their badge. If the scanned individual’s profile is updated (either by them in their event profile or by the organizer) after their badge was scanned, these changes will not appear for the individual who scanned them prior to the changes.

How to enable one-way connection in Studio?

An option will be added in two places in the Studio to allow event organizers to decide, at group and exhibitor level, whether the badge scan will create a traditional two-way user connection, or the new one-way contact record.

The new option can be found here:

1. Event Builder → Groups & Permissions → Group setting → General → Lead retrieval
2. Content → Exhibitors → Edit individual exhibitor → Lead retrieval

By default, once “Onsite badge reader” is enabled, when a badge is scanned at an event, the contact details of both the person scanning and the person who’s badge was scanned, will be shared with details available to both.

In order to restrict contact sharing and have a one-way connection with the contact details of the scanned person only available to the scan initiator, the organizer will need to select this option: “Scan Initiator”.

Please note that this setting can only be selected by the event organizer.

Additionally, organizers will now have the ability to access related Help Center articles directly from the “Learn more” buttons presented under Onsite badge scan and Virtual booth visits. This will allow for quick and easy access to additional information related to these functionalities.

Dynamic values in an email text editor are a powerful tool that can help you personalize your emails and make them more effective. 

These values are now displayed as tags, which can be inserted into your email text to automatically insert information such as the recipient's name or the date of the email and more.

After the release of Groups and Permissions at the Community level, we can now use these groups to define who can see the Community View, but also which People should be showcased in a Community People View.

Using Groups to define Community View Visibility

In the “Visibility” tab of any Community View, you can define which Community Group can see the content:

Any People member of an Event Group linked to a Community Group toggled in this menu, will have access to the content.

Using Groups to define Community People View Content

In the “Data” tab of any Community People View, you can define which Community Group’s members should be displayed in the view: