A major update to Sixent took place on Friday, January 22nd, which included two major new enhancements: Events and RSS feeds. This post describes only the new Events features so be sure to also read my post on Sixent RSS Feeds.

Events Overview

Sixent Events is an entirely new module that is integrated deeply within Sixent. It allows users to share time-based information such as meetings and conferences.

It permits you to fully describe an event, expose it to select contacts and groups, invite people, collect comments, communicate changes, track RSVP responses and manage the resulting guest list.

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Unique Features

Sixent Events incorporates a number of powerful and unique features:

• Events can be made fully public or shared with the entire site
• A single event can be shared with select contacts and Groups simultaneously
• Multiple groups can be associated to a a single event
• People outside the social network can be invited to RSVP without having an account
• Invitations include an iCal (.ics) attachment which makes it easy for recipients to add the event to their desktop calendars (e.g. Outlook and iCal)
• When RSVP tracking is not in use, you can still track an event by choosing to "follow" it

The owner of an event is provided a number of useful features to manage the RSVP process and the resulting guest list:

• Permissions can be set to determine who can send invitations, RSVP and comment (these can be set for your contacts and then uniquely for each associated Group)
• An event can be created now but made to appear at a later date
• A deadline can be set to collect the RSVP responses
• A maximum number of attendees can be set which limits the number of "Yes" responses
• The guest list can be hidden, fully shared or partially shared (e.g. share who will be attending while hiding the invitation list)
• RSVP responses can be quickly reset to "Pending" after a significant date/time change  (i.e. allows for easy re-confirmation of attendance)
• A valid email address can be required of everyone attending
• A broadcast email can be sent to the entire guest list or a subset based on their RSVP status
• The guest list can be exported into a comma-separated-values list (CSV) for use in an external application

Tracking & Finding Events

Events that involve you can be tracked and new events can be discovered all from within the new "Events" tab that appears directly to the right of your "Dashboard" tab. Click "Home" on the main toolbar to find your dashboard and this new tab.

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The Events tab is sub-divided into a number of useful sections:

• My Events: Tracks all the events you've been invited to and includes those you've chosen to follow
• Upcoming & Past: Displays all events that are visible to you across the entire site. You can filter the list to show only events created by your contacts and/or events associated to Groups you've already joined
• Search: Conduct detailed keyword and date-range searches to find specific events

Groups also have their own "Events" tab, as shown below. They are split into Upcoming and Past events, both of which can be searched.

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Creating an Event

The fastest way to create an event is to use the site toolbar. Place your mouse over "My Contents" to see the drop-down menu of options. Press the "Add" button next to "My Events" as shown below:

Alternatively, you can click the top-right "Add Event" button while browsing events or viewing a single event. Within a Group, you will only see the "Add Event" option if you're permitted to associate new events to that Group (that's generally limited to the Groups you own or administer but it can be expanded).

Step 1: Event Visibility

The very first step is to select who will permitted to see the event you're about to create. You have two major choices (you can select one or both):

• My Contacts: Select this option if you want to share the event openly or with your contacts
• My Groups: Select this option to expose the event to one or more Groups in Sixent. You will only be permitted to select Groups that allow you to associate events to them.

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Step 2: Event Basics

Next, define the basic details of the event. You can also upload a logo for the event. The ideal size of an event logo is 200x200 pixels but any size image can be uploaded.

When defining an event, you can specify a location with a mappable address. You can click the "Map" link to test the address before you submit the form.

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The second section of step 2 allows you to define a number of options as shown below:

Step 3: Contact Permissions

If you've chosen to expose this event outside of Groups, you will next be asked to make a few choices regarding who exactly can RSVP and send invitations. You can also choose who can view and add comments to the event.

Step 4: Group Permissions

This last step appears only if you've chosen to expose the event to one or more of your Groups. You can choose which Group members can RSVP, send invitations and comment. You can apply the same settings to all Groups at once or make different selections for each one.

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Event Invitations

Once an event is created, select "Invite people to this event" (appears in the right-hand column while viewing the event).

The invitation form provides a number of ways of selecting people to invite:

• All contacts
• Select contact categories
• Individually selected contacts
• All Group members
• Select Group membership categories
• Email addresses

You will have the opportunity to add a personal message to the invitation. All other pertinent details about the event are included on your behalf, a preview of those details is shown to you.

When inviting people outside the social network via direct email, each recipient will get an invitation key that permits them to RSVP without needing to register for a full account. They can use the same invitation URL later to modify their RSVP status.

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Coming Soon

In the coming weeks, we'll be releasing new pods for tracking your events on your dashboard and promoting Group events on Group pages. We'll also be integrating an automated email reminder for the events you agree to attend.

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