Before You Begin
The event you create will be automatically included in your calendar (and visible to the public) when you:
- Add the mandatory fields:
- Title
- Duration
- Category
- Notes (Description)
- Share To your site
- Save your event
This means that it's easy to create and publish an event, but there are two very important implications:
- Never create an event (or any other content) that shouldn't be public. Once it's out there, it's impossible to take it back, so don't hit Create if you're not sure.
- You need to "Share To" to make your event appear on your site.
If you miss this step, your event will never have a chance to be seen on your site. You have to "Share To" to make your event appear on your
site. You'll know you've done it when the paper airplane of sharing
turns orange.
Be Aware of System-Wide Events
Some common, system-wide events (e.g. Spring Break dates) have been created in a central events list and shared to all associated schools. These events are identified as system-wide in their description, as well as indicating which calendar they apply to. Be aware of these events as you create your school-specific entries so that you don’t duplicate them. Don’t modify or delete system events.
Overview
This video shows the basic steps needed to create an Event for your school. These steps, along with more options and tips, are outlined in more detail on this page.
How To Get Started
To create an event, launch SiteGovern from the Site Actions menu, and choose the Event tile to open up the New Event wizard.
Add the event details using the wizard (including the Share To) before clicking Create. The details for each field are outlined in the following sections.
Title (Required)
The title will be displayed on the home page and in the calendar as the main identifier for the event. Make sure it’s clear and concise. Event titles should always be in Title Case.
Duration (Required)
The duration step in the wizard is used to define when the event will occur.
Use the calendar and time drop-downs to indicate the date and specific start and end time of your event. Your event can’t start in the past, and can’t end earlier than it starts (even if, in some cases, you wish it would).
All-Day Events
If your event does not have a specific start/end time (like vaccinations, which may occur throughout the day), just choose the date, and then use the All-Day Event toggle. Note that you can’t modify the date/time values once an event is marked as all-day. If you need to change the date, turn off the All-Day Event toggle, modify the date as needed, and then set it as an All-Day Event again.
Multi-Day Events
Multi-Day events (like Outdoor Education trips) appear more intuitively in the calendar when entered as several individual full-day events, rather than a single event with the start and end times on different days.
Repeating Events
If your event is a repeating event (Soccer practice that occurs every Tuesday after school for 10 weeks), you can set the recurrence as you would in Outlook or other calendars by clicking on the arrow beside Repeat Event.
Date To Remember (Optional)
If you’d like your event to be listed in the sidebar of the print view of your calendar, you can include it by toggling the Mark as Date to Remember on:
Category (Required)
Users can filter the calendar items to see only the types of events they're interested in, and will eventually be able to subscribe to calendars using those filters. Add the appropriate category as you’re creating events so that when your visitors filter, they see the correct events on your site:
| Category | Examples of When to Use |
|---|
| Academic | -Semester Begins or Ends*
-Classes Resume*
-Last Day of School*
-Math 10 Final Exam
-Report Cards Go Home*
-Appeals Day*
-Kindergarten AM or PM Attends* (usually Fridays)
*set as all day event
|
| Administration | -School Office Notices
-Deadlines/Form Hand-in
-Fee Payments
*set as all day event
|
| Athletics | -Team Practices or Tryouts
-Games
|
| No Classes | -Non Instructional Days*
-Holidays-No School*
-Teachers' Convention*
-Early dismissal (ex:12:15pm)*
*set as all day event
|
| Clubs & Activities | -Chess Club |
| Meeting | -School Council Meetings
-Parent Society Meetings
-Parent-Teacher Conferences
-Student-Led Learning Workshops
-Volunteer Orientation |
| Off-Site Activity | -Swimming Lessons
-Trips to the Zoo |
| Open House | -School Open House
-Designated School Open House |
| Performance & Celebration | -Drama Performance
-Band/Music Concert
-School Opening
-Magician |
| Presentation | -School has a Guest Speaker
|
| School Event | -Events that involve the entire school, includes one or more of the categories above
-Fundraisers
-Sports Days
-Fun Lunch |
| Other | -Immunizations |
Event Notes (Required)
The description holds all of the additional information for the event. Note that the date and time are part of the event post themselves, and so don’t need to be repeated in the description.
You can use the same basic editor functions for your event text as you can when creating a post.
If your description would be the same as your title, just add three dots ... instead.
Additional Content
Add Topics (Not Recommended)
Our system doesn't use Topics to display or filter events, so don't use this when creating events for your school.
Add Links (Optional)
Use the links tool to create a link list in the event (useful for linking to the news story about the event, details about the venue, or other related online information). Be sure to include the full URL (with “http://”) when adding a link.
Note that for links on CBE sites, the function to automatically retrieve the title doesn’t work. For any links from the CBE corporate site or within the school site, enter the title manually, rather than clicking the refresh icon.
Add Attachments (Optional)
If your event has a document or other file related to it that isn't already available online, you can add that document as an attachment.
When using attachments, the file name will be displayed in the right sidebar as a link to open it, and can’t be edited manually. This means that if your science fair poster is named “document1-final final version”, that’s the link your users will see. So before adding attachments:
- Choose the right file format (PDF is better than Word or PowerPoint since it will work on almost any device)
- Name it clearly and concisely so the user knows what to expect. Include the topic and indicate what type of document it is (like a poster, form, or notice).
- Spaces in the filename will be removed, so use dashes to separate words in your file name before adding your attachment (thisisthefilename is much tougher to read than this-is-the-file-name)
Link or an Attachment?
It's easy to determine if you should create a link or upload an attachment: if the item is already published somewhere online (like the CBE website, Alberta Education, or any other site), then link to it. If it's not, then upload it as an attachment.
If it's yours, attach it; if not, link to it.
Add Video (Optional)
Use the video tool to attach a video (hosted in a video provider like YouTube or Vimeo) in the right sidebar of the page. This tool is found a little lower on the page (in the advanced functions section).
Share To (Required)
This function allows you to select the site the event should be added to. If you only have permissions on one site, you can simply click the “Share to School Websites” checkbox, rather than expanding it each time to check the box beside your school.
It's critical to remember to Share To. If you don't the event will not be displayed on your site or added to your calendar. Always Share To before you save your event.
You'll know you've done it when the paper airplane of sharing turns orange.
Save it Or Say Goodbye (Required)
Once you've made your changes and your Share To airplane is orange, click Create to save your work and publish your event.
It can take anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes for
your event to be published to your home page, and you'll need to refresh
the page to see it.
Note: your Create button should be a dark, rich, blue like the one above, but sometimes looks more like this:
You may be able to increase the saturation by turning off nearby lights, but it's even better to make sure that you've completed all of the mandatory fields. If you don't have at least a title and description, your Create button won't be active.
Schedule Post (Optional)
This one can be confusing, so read it carefully before you modify it. The Schedule Post function DOESN'T impact when your event starts or stops. It only impacts if it will be visible in your calendar right away (the default behaviour) or not until some later time. It's not the event date or time - it's the publication period.
It is not usually needed, unless you are creating a surprise event that you don't want anyone to know about until a week before it takes place. Unless you have a grand unveiling planned, it's usually safer and easier just leave the Schedule Post field alone.
