Hosting an Event

Keep reading to learn about:

Common Events in SchoolSpace

Pre-Planning

Design, Customization, and Access

Planning

Testing

World Settings

Troubleshooting

 

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Common Events in SchoolSpace

SchoolSpace events can help bring your school community together in fun, informative, and engaging ways.

Schools have hosted:

• School Assemblies
• Science Fairs
• Career Fairs
• Student Presentations
• Parent Teacher Conferences
• Orientation for Students or Parents
• Club Showcases
• Talent Shows
• Spelling Bees
• Social Events (e.g. Spirit Week, Game Night, Fall Festival, Class Party)

 

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Planning your Event

Excited to bring people together but unsure where to start? Use the tips below to guide you through the whole process.

 

Phase 1: Pre-Planning

Define your Event Objectives

Identify your Primary Goals

Is this an event to increase engagement, teach attendees, share a presentation, or give opportunities for networking, etc? Being clear about the purpose of the event can help with success.

Determine your Target Audience

Who is attending the event? Who is it for? Knowing your audience can inform design choices.

Set a Date and Time

Avoid Holidays or Conflicting School Events

Scheduling conflicts can impact attendance. Check your school calendar and aim for a date and time with the least amount of conflicts.

Choose a Time that Accommodates Attendees

Consider your attendees' time zones and aim for a time that works for the majority.

 

Phase 2: Design, Customization, and Access

World Design

Outline your Needs

It can be helpful to draw out what you envision your world to look like or write a list of all the spaces you need before you get started. You can do this on a piece of paper or use a digital tool like Miro to create a basic layout.

Start with a Template

Search through the SchoolSpace Scene Library and see if there is a template that will work for your event. Templates are a great place to start and will keep you from having to create your world from scratch. Templates can also be easily customized to incorporate your branding. 

 

Customize your World

Add Collaborative Tools and Interactive Apps

Embed online tools like Miro, Google Docs, games, surveys, resources, and more to make your world and event interactive.

You can also embed images, videos, and PDFs.

Add Branding and Custom Assets

Create a custom asset of your school's logo, mascot, or anything else you want to include in the world.

Add Landmark Zones, Teleports, or Portals

Landmark Zones can help event attendees easily identify particular areas of your world and teleport to those areas. You will also be able to see who is in each Landmark Zone in the Current Users tab in the Users Menu.

Teleports also help event attendees navigate the world quickly. When an asset is set as a Teleport, an attendee can click the asset to jump to the preset location. Signs and directory boards work well as Teleports.

Portals are used to quickly move a person to a different world. If your event needs multiple worlds, consider creating a "hub" world with portals to all other event worlds. Make sure to include portals back to the "hub" world in all the event worlds!

Add Private Zones, Broadcast Zone, or Mute Zones

If you plan to have multiple people presenting simultaneously in different areas of your world, we recommend creating multiple Private Zones. Place a Broadcast Zone set to Broadcast - Private Zone in each Private Zone area and the presenter will only be seen an heard by others also in that Private Zone. 

Mute Zones automatically mute the microphone of anyone inside the Mute Zone. Use Mute Zones when you want to prevent conversation in a particular area of your event.

Link to the Events Page or World Map

Add assets to your world that, when clicked, open the Events Page or World Map. This makes it easy for attendees to quickly reference them during the event. 

Add Video Content

Include a pre-recorded Welcome Video, place spatial video in key areas, or add a video that plays in the world itself!

Determine World Settings

Review camera and microphone controls, chat messaging controls, screenshare access, and raise hand access to ensure your needs are met.

 

Set Up World Access

Determine who needs access to the world

Add a Password

You can choose to add a password that attendees use to enter the event. Make sure to share this password with all event attendees!

 

Phase 3: Event Planning

Identify your Event Team

Align on event goals and brainstorm activities and itinerary.

Consider incorporating an Icebreaker

Icebreakers are a great way to get new users comfortable with SchoolSpace and talking with one another. Asking participants to dance or throw an emote is also an easy way to check participants’ comfort levels, especially when you can’t see everyone’s faces (e.g., "If you are ready to get started throw a heart!")

Assign Roles and Create an Itinerary

If there are multiple team members assisting with the event, it’s essential to assign specific roles and outline how the event will go. Creating a schedule will ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and that only one person is making changes to the platform settings, placing users on broadcast, etc.

Event Calendar

If you plan on having breakout sessions, keynotes, discussion groups, etc., consider creating events in SchoolSpace for participants to easily view and navigate. Be sure to add events AFTER your world is built to avoid duplicating any work.

Send Attendees Invitations or Calendar Invites

When you send out the invitation for your event it can be helpful to include a Zoom or other meeting link for participants to access in case they experience any issues accessing your world. Have a member of your team in the Zoom room until all of your attendees have entered the world.

 

Create an Event Communication Plan

Broadcasting

If you are planning on doing a singular broadcast to the entire world, consider switching to Broadcast mode manually (must be an admin) rather than using a Broadcast Zone. Why is this recommended? When you have a large event with primarily new users, attendees can unknowingly wander into your Broadcast Zone and disrupt your Broadcast.

Reminders about Broadcast:

When you are Broadcasting others can see and hear you, but you may not be able to see and hear them. 

Broadcast All allows everyone in the entire world to see and hear you.

Broadcast Private Zone is only available in a Private Zone and will allow everyone in the Private Zone to see and hear you.

Chat

The Everyone in World Chat Channel can be a great place to direct attendees if they have questions or are experiencing technical issues. This way a member of your team can respond with a message or teleport over and speak to them. 

Chat Channels can be enabled or disabled by an admin.

Gallery Mode

Gallery Mode is great for events where everyone needs to attend the same session. If you prefer the Gallery Mode experience over Broadcasting but have multiple concurrent sessions for attendees, consider creating different worlds for these sessions and a central hub world where attendees can portal to the session worlds.

Have a Designated Support Team

To help attendees easily find help during your event we recommend that your team members add your company/school name to their avatar e.g., “Sam - SchoolSpace Team” to help your team stand out.

Consider including a Help Desk asset in your world design and make sure a support person is stationed there during the event. Make the Help Desk a Landmark Zone and instruct attendees to teleport to the Help Desk if they need assistance. 

Make sure your support team is aligned on steps to take (such as banning from chat or the world) if any behavioral issues occur during the event. 

 

Phase 4: Testing

Schedule a Test Run

Make sure your internal team is familiar with the world, the event itinerary, their role, and using SchoolSpace. If necessary, have them practice turning Broadcast on and off, using chat, teleporting users to them or teleporting to the user. 

Invite outside guests like presenters to join your world a few days before the event to ensure they can access it, share screen, etc.

Share the following technical recommendations with outside guests to ensure they can be heard in your environment.  Sample email template: 

Hi! We are excited to have you join our event. Below are a few tips to ensure that you can see and hear others while in our world. 

• Utilize Google Chrome. Alternative browsers such as Brave, Firefox, and Edge also work well.

• If you are using a VPN, please disconnect before logging into our world. 

• If you have any privacy-centric browser extensions, please make sure they are disabled, i.e., Adblock, DuckDuckGo, etc. If you're unsure whether you have extensions on your browser, please enter the world via a private or incognito window.

• When you log in to our world for the first time, be sure to grant your browser access to your camera and mic (you will be prompted and need to click “yes”)

 

Phase 5: Review your World Settings

Check Guestlist

If you're using a guestlist, make sure it's turned on and all attendee email addresses are spelled correctly and added to the guestlist.

Update General User Controls

These settings include requiring or disabling cameras or microphones, hiding the “share screen” button, and viewing a list of all guests in the world.

All these settings are found in World Settings → General User Controls in the left sidebar.

Review Messaging Settings

If you want attendees to have access to chat channels, ensure the appropriate channels are toggled on. 

Messaging settings are found in World Settings → Messaging in the left sidebar.

Update the World Map

Update the world map so it accurately reflects your world design.

To update the World Map, click World Settings → Layout & Location. Scroll to the bottom and click 'Create Map.'

Update the Spawn Point

The Spawn Point is where attendees will land when they enter the world.

To update the Spawn Point, walk your avatar to where you would like everyone to drop into your world. Then click World Settings → Layout & Location. Scroll to the bottom and click 'Set Spawn Point Here.' 

Check the World Password

If you are gating your world with a password, make sure that you have added it to the world and it is turned on. All attendees will need to use the password in order to enter the world.

 

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Event Troubleshooting

Someone says they can’t hear Broadcasts. 

• Ask the person to reload the world in an incognito browser.

 

Someone in my world can’t unmute their microphone.

• Make sure they are not in a Mute Zone. Ask them to walk to a new part of the world and see if a notification saying that they've left the Mute Zone appears in the bottom left of their screen. They'll be able to use their mic as normal when they leave the Mute Zone.
• Ask them to check their browser settings and make sure SchoolSpace.io has permission to access their microphone. 
  • Chrome instructions
  • Edge instructions
  • Brave instructions
• Make sure microphone access is on in the world. You can check by clicking on the Users Menu and looking at the Overview tab. This will tell you what settings are on or off.
• It's possible a someone disabled their individual microphone access. Admins can enable and disable microphone access for individual users. 
  

 

My presenter can’t share their screen.

• Check the Screenshare Access setting and update it to fit your needs.

 

My presenter can’t put themselves on Broadcast.

• Only world admins can Broadcast. A user with admin permissions will need to manually turn Broadcast on for the presenter.

 

My guest presenter is Broadcasting, but their video/audio keeps going in and out.

• Ensure only one person is manually turning Broadcast on for this user.

 

My guests can hear broadcasts, but can’t connect with anyone.

• This person is most likely on a VPN. Ask them to disconnect their VPN or join from a different device.

 

Guests outside of my organization are not receiving a 6-digit code to log in with email.

• Reach out to support@schoolspace.io. Email access must be enabled for users without an SSO login to access your world. 
• If you've confirmed email access has been enabled, it's possible the user's email domain is blocking the verification code email from SchoolSpace. Ask them for a different email address without domain restrictions. Add this new email to the guestlist.

 

When one of my attendees joins the world, the world is solid white.

• Ask them to access your world using Google Chrome. 
• If they are already using Chrome, graphics acceleration is most likely disabled on their browser. Ask them to follow these steps: 
  • Click on the three dot menu in the upper right-hand corner of their Chrome browser.
  • Click Settings, a new tab will open.
  • In the search bar at the top, search for “Use graphics acceleration when available.”
  • Make sure this setting is toggled on.