Swapcard now offers the ability for someone not logged into Swapcard, or not registered to any of the Community's events, to access the Community and its content through the Guest Mode.

Each Community now has a new Guest Mode Group, and it's possible to set the permissions for this group.

It’s also possible to define whether Guests can view each Community in the “Groups & permissions” section.

The Guest Mode is a great way to open your Community to external people and allow them to discover your content and activities. It can also increase the visibility and engagement of your Community.

As we prepare for more Swapcard Registration features we're making some menu changes. 

Three items that used to be under the Registration section of the menu are moving to the Event builder section. That means that the Registration section is purely focused on our Swapcard registration. In the coming months you'll begin to see new menu items for new features, such as badge printing.

• Registration > Settings has moved to Event builder > Registration Mode
  This change better reflects the choice of registration modes an organizer makes during the setup process. Even if Swapcard Registration is not selected, the organizer will have access to the Registration menu to potentially configure registration before it is live.
  
  
• Registration > Terms has moved to Event builder > Terms
  Terms can apply to Swapcard Registration, to a person accessing the app, or both. You'll still manage your terms in the same feature, but now you'll find those terms in a centralized place.
  
  
• Registration > Integrations has moved to Event builder > Integrations
  Often the integrations used include the registrants, but it's also about exhibitors, speakers, and sessions. Now you'll manage your integrations outside of the context of registration.
  
  

An improvement has been made to the Page View Analytics section within the Studio dashboard, which allows organizers to not only view the number of “Total Views” per page, but also the “Unique Number of Visitors” per page.

The toggle between “Total Views” and “Unique Views” can be easily moved to present the two views. Also, the data is available in a graph view as well as a list view.

With this enhancement, organizers can easily determine page popularity based on unique views.

Note: Unique visitor numbers include visits per page.

If you have set up an RTMP Session using a third-party provider or through our own Backstage solution, and if you recorded it with the option enabled from the Session details in Studio, it is now possible to turn it into an On-demand Session.

How to turn an RTMP Session into an On-Demand Session?

When your Session is over, you now have a new “Convert to on demand” button just below the Format option in the Session details within Studio:

Clicking on it will open the following pop-up window:

From this window, you are able to select which recording you want to use, click on “Save changes” and it’s created like magic. Your Session has now been converted into an on-demand Session and it will display the recording you selected.

We completely revamped our Sessions editor in Studio to make it easier to use, clarify all the session formats we provide, and have a smoother session creation/edition path.

Session creation is now much easier, thanks to new format list options when creating one.

Depending on the format chosen, the pop-up window will ask you to upload a video, refer a video URL, etc. The creation path is now much more guided.

Once the session is created, all the session format settings are collected in a new tab “Format & video” which allows you to focus only on this information.

The session creator/editor layout has been turned into a two-column layout to make the navigation and comprehension easier.

We also added alert messages while updating and changing the session format. This way, potential mistakes are reduced:

Also, trying to update any session date (the session date itself or the streaming availability date), a brand new pop-up window will open that gathers all the date parameters to help make those changes easier:

In the Sessions list in Studio, we also added an indicator next to the session format value in the “Format” column with additional information.

This way:

• For an on-demand session, you can know whether it is:
  • A video file
  • An embedded video
• For a livestream session, you can know whether it is:
  • An RTMP
  • A Backstage Session
  • An embedded video
• For a prerecorded session, you can know whether it is:
  • A video file
  • An embedded  video

Several new exciting features have been added to the Swapcard platform, including the launch of Community. In order to stay consistent with the Community feature, we removed and added several columns to the contact export Excel file.

We removed outdated fields like Skills, Second job title, and Owners. Also, we added new fields:

• state: Part of the address.
• scoring: Score given to the contact.
• event of first connection:  The event where the contact was made.
• community of first connection: The community where the contact was made.
• other communities in common: Common communities, for example, “Community A, Community B, …”
• other events in common: Common events, for example, “Event A, Event B, …”

Attendees can export the contact list in Event App > My profile > My Contacts > Export my contacts.

This new information gives attendees more details about the contacts they’ve made at an event or a community so they can better organize their connections.

We are introducing the ability to disable session feedback. This means that the feedback block on the session detail page will be hidden, and attendees registered to the session will not receive a notification inviting them to rate it.

Collecting feedback is important to improve the quality of events. However, we recognize that some organizers prefer not to collect feedback for various reasons, like if the session is about a sensitive or confidential topic.

To disable session feedback, simply go to the “Preferences”  tab within your Session in Studio and toggle off the “Ask for feedback after the session” parameter:

This will remove the feedback block from the session detail page and prevent attendees from receiving the feedback notification.

We believe that this new feature will provide more flexibility for organizers and help create a better overall experience for attendees.

This feature will enhance the attendees’ experience during physical sessions. Now, organization members can access our web Event App to open poll results and session QR codes in dedicated full-screen views. This feature will enable physical attendees to participate in polls and take part in live discussions.

Full-Screen Poll Results

You can now view the results of the polls in a clear and concise manner. Additionally, we have included a QR code so physical attendees can participate in polls during the session. With this feature, attendees can quickly and easily scan the QR code to submit their responses.

You simply have to click on the new button “Present the poll”.

This will open the results as a dedicated view in a new tab:

Physical attendees can scan the QR code and participate in the poll during the live-stream.

Session QR Code

We have also introduced a dedicated view for the Session QR code. Physical attendees can now take part in the live discussion, ask questions, and participate in polls by scanning the QR code. This feature makes it easier for attendees to engage in the session and provides a seamless experience for everyone involved.

As an organizer, you simply have to click on the new button “Display session QR code”:

Physical attendees can scan the QR code and reach the Session in the app.

With this new feature, event organizers can now save time and effort by creating and saving their own custom emails as templates for future use.

Going forwards, you won’t have to waste time writing the same email over and over again. Simply craft your message once, save it as a template, and you're good to go!

How does it work?

• Select one of your emails
• Click on the new "Save as template" button
• Name your template
• Your template is now ready to be used with other events

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)