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Your first event

This guide takes you from a signed-in account to a published event with invitations sent and a team watching the results. It is the shortest correct path through Backoffice. Each step stands on its own, and every screen you meet here has a full guide of its own when you want more depth.

Before you start

You need an account you are signed in to, with a confirmed email address. Every step in this guide is open to any signed-in account, so you need no package, no role and no payment.

Backoffice opens on your events list. The quick actions in this guide live on the event's own page, so keep that page open as you work.

Two words travel through this guide. Your package decides how many guests you can host and how many invitations you can send. Your event is the one you are creating here.

Prepare the event and its content

The wizard walks you through four steps: Basics, Details, Program and Review. You choose the package in the first step, and you can return to it until the event is created.

The Basics step with the Free package chosen, the event title filled and the start and end times set. The Basics step with the Free package chosen, the event title filled and the start and end times set.

Fill in the basics

  1. Open Add Event from your events list.
  2. Choose a package.
  3. Enter the event title.
  4. Set the start date and time.
  5. Set the end date and time.
  6. Choose the timezone.
  7. Enter the location.
  8. Choose between one and three interests.
  9. Leave Privacy off, or switch it on to keep the event invite-only.
  10. Add a cover image.
  11. Select Continue.

A few fields are strict. The end time must fall after the start time. The cover image is required before you can continue. The location field accepts only an address you pick from its list of suggestions.

Write the story

The Details step asks for the text attendees read.

The Details step with the short summary, full description and organizer company filled in. The Details step with the short summary, full description and organizer company filled in.

The Short summary shows in event lists and previews, so it accepts up to 250 characters. The Full description appears on the event page and accepts up to 2,000 characters.

You must choose a Company before you continue. Selecting a company fills the organizer details, and you can still change them for this event.

If the company you want is not in the list, type its name instead. The list offers Add company with the name you typed.

The Add company dialog with the Company Name field filled and the Address field empty. The Add company dialog with the Company Name field filled and the Address field empty.

The dialog asks for a logo, a name, a description, a website, a phone number and an address. Only the name is required. Select Create, and the new company becomes your organizer.

Check the review

The Program step is where you add speakers and sessions. The Free package has neither, so both sections tell you they are not available and let you continue.

The Review step collects everything you entered.

The Review step showing the event summary and the pre-publish checklist with every item ticked. The Review step showing the event summary and the pre-publish checklist with every item ticked.

The Pre-publish checklist is advice, not a gate. Nothing in it blocks publishing, and a complete event simply performs better. Select Finish later to keep the event as a draft, or Publish event to go live.

Your event now carries the status DRAFT.

Choose package and publish

You already chose your package in the Basics step, and the wizard told you what it allows. The Free package holds up to 50 guests and sends up to 150 email invitations.

Move to a larger package

Every event offers larger packages later. Open Upgrade Tier from the event page.

The Upgrade Tier dialog with Basic selected, showing the total package price and the upgrade difference. The Upgrade Tier dialog with Basic selected, showing the total package price and the upgrade difference.

The dialog shows your current package and every larger one, with its price and its allowance. Choose a package, then select Continue to Upgrade Payment and pay the difference. Your existing invitations and content stay as they are.

Publish the event

You can publish from two places that work the same way: the wizard's Publish event button and the event page's Publish button.

Your event is ready when it has a short summary, a full description, an organizer and a cover image. If any one of these is missing, publishing stops and tells you which.

The event page after a refused publish, with the message naming the missing description. The event page after a refused publish, with the message naming the missing description.

The button reads Edit Tier while your event is a draft, and Upgrade Tier once it is published.

The published event page showing the PUBLISHED badge, the event header and the quick actions. The published event page showing the PUBLISHED badge, the event header and the quick actions.

Backoffice confirms with Event published!, and the badge changes to PUBLISHED. Attendees can now find your event and register.

Invite participants

You can only send invitations once your event is published. The composer refuses a draft with the message Publish the event before sending email invitations.

Build a mailing list

Select Invite people on the event page.

The mailing lists page showing one list, its alias, its member count and its actions. The mailing lists page showing one list, its alias, its member count and its actions.

Select Create list, give it a name, and select Create. A mailing list is a group of addresses you can invite again later. Each list shows how many members it holds.

To add people, use Add members and enter an email address with each Add Member. You can also import a file of addresses instead.

Send the campaign

Select New email campaign on the event page.

  1. Choose the mailing lists your campaign reaches.
  2. Choose the Event invitation template.
  3. Write the email subject.
  4. Write the email content.
  5. Select the send button.

The Email Quota panel shows how many of your package's invitations you have used. The Free package allows 150.

The confirm email dialog listing the chosen mailing list, the recipient count and the subject before sending. The confirm email dialog listing the chosen mailing list, the recipient count and the subject before sending.

Confirm email lists your mailing lists, the number of unique recipients and the subject. Read it once more, then select Send email.

If you choose more addresses than your package allows, the composer stops and tells you the number your package permits.

Prepare your team and follow results

You cannot run an event alone. The event page offers Add team member as a quick action.

The Team tab listing the event team with the Name and Role columns. The Team tab listing the event team with the Name and Role columns.

A team member holds one of two roles, Moderator or Host. Enter the person's email address, choose the role, and select Add Team Member.

The person must already have a Backoffice account. If the address belongs to nobody, the team keeps the same size and the page tells you the user does not exist. Send that person an invitation to register first.

The person who created the event is its owner. Their row cannot be removed, and you cannot give yourself a second role.

Follow what happened

Every event page carries the results. The Email Funnel tab follows one invitation all the way through.

The Email Funnel tab showing the Sent, Delivered, Opened, Clicked and Joined stages. The Email Funnel tab showing the Sent, Delivered, Opened, Clicked and Joined stages.

The stages run from Sent through Delivered, Opened and Clicked to Joined. Delivery and open events arrive after you send, so give the numbers a few minutes before you read them.

Troubleshooting

The location field keeps saying Please select a location. Pick your address from the list of suggestions instead of typing it. The field accepts a suggestion, not free text.

The wizard says Please add a story before continuing. Type into the Full description box instead of pasting into it. The field registers typed text, not pasted text.

The event will not publish. Publishing needs a short summary, a full description, an organizer and a cover image. Backoffice names the one that is missing.

Sending invitations does nothing. Your event must be PUBLISHED first. A draft event cannot send invitations.

The send button is greyed out. Choose at least one mailing list. The button reads Send to 1 selected list once you do.

You cannot add a team member. The person needs a Backoffice account. Register them first, then add them again.

Package prices are not in my currency. Package prices are billed in RSD. Your header currency controls prices you browse, not what you pay for a package.

The email numbers stay at zero. Delivery and open events arrive after you send. Wait a few minutes and reload the tab.