What are Announcements and how do I use them?

Announcements are a great tool to keep your attendees in the know about any updates and reminders that will help them to get the most out of your event. These can be sent to everyone, People groups, or specific individuals to help you with targeting the right people at the event.  

The most recent announcement will pop-up as soon as you send it out (or when the attendee next opens the Event Space, whichever happens first). On the Event Space, all recent announcements appear in the bell icon located to the top  right. A View All option will also be available to bring the attendee to the Announcements section of the Event Space. 

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Attendees that have downloaded the EventMobi app from the Apple App Store or Google Play will also receive these announcements as push notifications (provided you have selected the checkbox for this option while creating the announcement).

Note: The user must provide permission on their device in order to receive push notifications. They will also need to have downloaded the app prior to the announcement being sent.

Sending an Announcement


1. From the Announcements section, click Send Announcement.
2. In the "Send To" area, select between: All People to send it to everyone, Specific People Groups to send it to specific people profiles, or Individuals to target certain People profiles. 
3. Fill out the Subject, which cannot exceed 150 characters, and the Message.

Note: If you want to send targeted announcements to People Groups, you will have to establish these groups in the People library first. 


Schedule

4. If you want to create the announcement now but have it sent out later, select the Schedule announcement box and choose the date and time. Otherwise, the announcement will go out immediately and users will receive a pop-up with the announcement title and a link to the announcement in the Announcements section. 

Note: The time zone selected in the Event Details area of the Experience Manager will impact when your announcements are sent out. 


5. If you would like to send an accompanying email, under Additional Options select the Also send as an email checkbox

6. If you would like to send as a push notification to iOS (iPhones, iPads, etc.) and Android users, select the Send as a push notification checkbox available.

7. Click Send Announcement and confirm on the subsequent pop-up.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are available for users that are using the EventMobi app and are shown when the app is closed or another app is in use. Push notifications ensure that attendees using iOS and Android devices will get your announcements and updates, even if they don't have the app open when you send them out. However, it's good to keep the following in mind:

  • Users can download the EventMobi app from the Apple App or Google Play stores.
  • Only users who have downloaded the EventMobi app before your announcement was scheduled to go out will receive it as a push notification.
  • Push notifications are sent to all iOS and Android users who have downloaded the EventMobi app. 
  • Attendees can opt out of push notifications, so it's not a bad idea to send an accompanying email with your announcement, which you can do within the Announcements area.

Bulk Upload Announcements

To create multiple announcements at once, we recommend doing so with the bulk upload option available from the Import/Export button located to the top right. 

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Select the Import option to download a template that can be used to create and schedule your announcements. This pop-up page is also where you will need to upload the file once it is complete. 

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The Export option will act in downloading a template that includes any announcements that you have created, but have not yet been sent out.  

Creating your Announcements in Bulk

When creating your announcements using the template, you will notice the following columns available: 

  • Subject*
  • Message*
  • Also send as native push notification
  • Also send as an email 
  • Date (yyyy-mm-dd)*
  • Time (hh:mm)*
  • Announcement External ID

Note: Any columns indicated with an asterisk are mandatory and will need to be populated in order to create your announcements.


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The Subject  and Message columns is where you want to outline the content of the announcement that will be sent out. The text that you are adding to the Message area can be formatted using html (i.e. <b>) or you can update the formatting by editing the announcement after it has been imported. 

You will also have the option of sending the announcement though additional methods such as Native Push Notification and Email. Within these cells you will need to enter Yes  to apply these options to the announcement you are creating.

The Date and Time  columns will need to be populated in the format that is listed in order for the system to determine when the announcement should be sent out. The time that you are listing will need to be entered in 24 hour format in order for the system to recognize if the time is AM or PM. 

Note: The time zone that applies to the date and time fields will be determined by the time zone that you have set in the Event Details area of the Experience Manager.

 The Announcement External ID column can be left blank when you are creating the announcement, as the system will automatically assign one when the template is imported to the Announcement area. When exporting your announcements, you will notice that this column has been populated with an alpha-numeric code. It is important to keep this External ID as is to ensure that the information is saved correctly in the system. 

Deleting Announcements

Announcements can be deleted by clicking on the announcement that you would like to remove and selecting the Delete Announcement option displayed on the pop-up window that appears. After selecting this button you will receive a pop-up notification to confirm that you would like to proceed with deleting the announcement. 

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Note: Announcements cannot be deleted in bulk and must be deleted one at a time within the Announcements area of the Experience Manager.