How to build a conference website

The event website is usually the first thing a prospective attendee sees and the last place they come back to for details. In the SF-CONFERENCE system there is nothing to order or set up separately. It comes into being with the event, at the same address as the registration form, and is assembled from ready-made blocks in the panel.

Below we go through the whole configuration: where to find the editor, how to pick the colours and background, what to build the home page from, how to add subpages such as an agenda or a speaker list, how to arrange the menu and how to wire up the contact form with a map.

Where the website is edited

Go to website in the panel’s side menu. At the top of the view the system shows the address the site is available at. You can open it in a new tab and check the effect as you go. The view splits into tabs: pages, appearance, menu, contact and footer.

Colours, background and header

The appearance tab governs how the site looks as a whole. In it you set the event website background, the rounded corners, the header text colour and the active menu item highlight colour. Two toggles decide what the header contains: show event logo in the header and show event name in the header.

That is enough to make the site look like your event rather than a default template. If the conference has a visual identity, it usually comes down to uploading a logo and picking two colours.

Blocks, or what the page is made of

The page content is built from blocks. The choices are: a content block, a full-width image, an image with text beside it, a countdown to the start, tabs, tiles, cards, a gallery, a call to action and a map. You add each block, set its order and fill it with content in every language of the event.

There is no separate "agenda" or "speakers" block. And none is needed. You assemble an agenda from tabs, one tab per conference day, or from a content block with a table. A speaker list is easiest with cards, since every card has a photo, a heading and a description. Sponsors go in a gallery. So the same handful of blocks covers very different sections.

Every block also has a visibility setting for desktop, tablet and phone separately. That earns its keep with elements that only get in the way on a small screen, a wide table, say, or a large background image.

Subpages

The pages tab holds the list of subpages and the add page button. A new subpage needs two things: a title in every language of the event, and a path, the tail of the address. The path is what the attendee sees and what a search engine indexes, so it is worth keeping it short and descriptive.

On the subpage’s own page you also set whether the title is shown and in what colour, and below that you arrange its blocks, exactly as on the home page. The system also shows the subpage’s full address, ready to copy.

Menu and footer

The menu tab decides what goes into the top navigation: subpages, links to particular sections of the home page, or external addresses. You set the order yourself, and give the item names in every language. The footer works the same way and is the natural home for the organizer’s details, the privacy policy and patrons’ logos.

Contact and map

The contact tab handles the contact section: the organizer’s details, a form whose content reaches the email address you nominate, and a map widget showing where the event is held. A contact form earns its keep because questions from prospective attendees arrive in one place rather than in the private mailboxes of committee members.

Agenda, languages and block visibility

The website and the registration form live under the same event address. The form is simply one of its parts. A registration link from the menu or from a call-to-action block therefore leads where it should, with no links to copy across.

The agenda is most easily built from a tabs block, one tab per day, or from a content block with a table. The programme changes until the last minute, so it is worth keeping it in a structure that is easy to correct without rebuilding the whole page. The content of every block, the titles of subpages and the names of menu entries are given separately in each language of the event, and the attendee sees the version matching the language they chose. Every block also has its own visibility setting for desktop, tablet and phone, so a wide table or a decorative image can be shown on a large screen only.

The event website in short

Colours and the header are set in the appearance tab, the content is assembled from blocks, extra sections become subpages, and the navigation is arranged in menu. The website sits at the same address as registration, so the attendee moves from information to signing up without leaving the site. There is more about what the website itself can do in the event website description.