Promote and Set Up a Competition

Smartspace is an incredibly flexible website system which can support a range of activities through the use of the available modules.

The Tools You Will Need

By using the following modules and features you can fully set up and promote an individual or team competition.

• Groups Module (included)
• Competition Module (optional extra)
• Content Module (included)
• Custom Contact Forms (included)
• Communications Tools (included)
• System Database (included)

This article and associated videos will take you through all the necessary steps to create a fully professional competition, step by step.

The article assumes that you have already done the configuration for the modules that you will be using. There are help pages for each in the help library.

There is also an assumption that the targets of your promotion (people/members) are already in your system database.

This process is perfect for clubs and associations to create and promote their competitions.

Getting Started

The preferred order to complete the set up is as follows:

1. Create a Group or Program Instance and at least one starter group or team
2. Create the Custom Contact Forms
3. Create the supporting Content
4. Create and save a report to use or select an existing group or instance that will be used as the recipients of the email promotions
5. Create and send the email
6. Distribute the repsonses/nominations into teams, groups or divisions as required
7. Setup a new Competition Draw or use an existing competition draw
8. Create the new Competition Draw Instance along with all of the scheduled matches for the competition
9. Refine your content to include information on the competition draw/matches
10. Promote the competition details to all the participants via email

Assumptions

• Payment for the competition is being made offline
  • Other Smartspace systems are available for online payment and administration of nominations - see ticketing
• Possible participants are already in the database
• The rules for the competition have already been created
• The Competition Draw has already been created
• Settings for all modules have been configured correctly
• Other channels of promotion and nomination made be available and being used in conjunction with online nominations
• Although it is possible, we will not be integrating this competition with any court or field bookings through the Bookings module

1. Create a  Group Instance and Group/Team

Working in the Database Manager > Groups.

• Create a New Group Category (LH Menu) or use an existing Category
  • If you are working with a competition which has previously been set up, you can use the Carry Instance Forward tool to replicate the competition more easily
• Create a New Instance within the selected Category
• Select the New Instance and click the Create/Manage Groups icon from the action menu
• Create a new Group with the title Nominations or other suitable title - no need to complete other fields
  • Default settings will be ok at this stage
• Take note of the Id of the new Nominations group for later use
• Depending on how informed or certain you are of prospective numbers, you could create new groups for each of the teams/divisions that are expected to participate
  • Alternatively you can leave this to a later time once nominations have been finalised

2. Create/Edit Custom Contact Form(s)

You will need at least one form to accept nominations.

• Click on the Custom Contact Forms icon in the Top Toolbar to open the forms manager
• Select an existing suitable form from the list or click on Create a New Custom Contact Form
  • If editing an existing form previously used for the same purpose, simple add the new Id of the new Nomination group previously created into the Group/List Id field and update
• Note that you may have to edit other content  attached to existing form
• If it is a new form, you need to add the following:
  • Form name
  • The number of Non-Rego fields you will want in the form (you can add more later)
  • Email Target (ie reply target)
  • Select Automatically include Express Rego fields in the Register Sender Field
  • The Id value in the Group/List Id field
  • Select an existing Terms and Conditions doc (or create a new one and add later)
• The associated video provides more detail on this (See below)
• If this is an existing form being repurposed for a new competition, take note of the Ids or names of any associated articles and/or templates
• Save or Update the form
• If you have saved a new form, the nominated number of fields you wanted will appear on the page, so Title and configure each as required (see video for more)
• you may want to connect Specific fields to save the collected information into the group or client record (an email is sent with those details as well)
• Otherwise, if using an existing form click  View/Manage Form Fields to edit as required
• Save or Update the fields
• When the user processes the form their record gets added to the group

You may also want to use/create other forms to collect/manage information concerned with other aspects of the competition

• For example you could use a form for reserves for the competition to update their status as reserves
  • eg, when they are not going to be availble etc
• A private page could be created which shows all participants this updated status - more on that later

3. Create the Supporting Content

So that participants are fully informed about the nomination process and the competition on an ongoing basis, we suggest you create the following:

1. A suitable header/footer that can be attached to emails that you are sending
   • Available via the Manage Email Header/Footer link in the LHS Global menu
   • Depending on the content in the header/footer, you may need to edit the content for the new competition if using an existing record
2. A Public Content Page which will be publicly available on your website with a prominent link from your website
   • A non public page that is not linked from the website which has  the Contact Form embedded
   • This will be promoted in your email so that only those who need to know the address will have access
   • You can use the Competition placeholders to automatically generate content on the website page which is automatically updated as results come in
3. A special non public page which could have contact details of all participants so that there can be open communication between participants
   • A  Groups placeholder will be embedded in that page to ensure you only have to manage the database to ensure all info on the page is up to date
4. If you have a reserves list, you can create a page that they can access to update their reserves status when needed, to minimise unwanted communications
   • You will need to create a Custom Contact Form and link to the specific group to enable those in the list to edit their details. This form will be embedded in the content page via a Forms placeholder
5. You may want to create an auto reply message to confirm their nomination and to ensure they have all the details at call.
   • If you decide on using an auto reply, you will need to go back to the relevant Custom Contact Form and insert the Article Id and possibly select a suitable Header/Footer to be sent with it.

Once you create most of this content, you can reuse the pages time and time again with small edits each time. (the exception is the public content page which should remain in place for posterity)

4. Creating A Target List of Potential Participants

There are numerous ways that you can target potential participants but we will cover the two main approaches you can use with the Smartspace system

1. Getting a database, membership or group list via Global Reports and sending to all or many in that list
   • All reports have an Email To This List button at the bottom of the report
   • You can deselect some recipients by Reviewing Targets
   • All previous unsubscribe requests are honoured without input from the sender
2. Using previous seasons' groups/instances as the basis for targeting prospective participants
   • Access the email system by clicking on the Bulk Email icon in the action menu once an instance is selected
   • Previous unsubscribe requests of that group(s) are honoured
   • You can deselect recipients prior to sending by using the Hold selection in the applicable group(s)

A note of caution. You should advise Smartspace admin of your intention to use the Bulk Email system so that we can set up a custom no reply address for you.

In that way, all bounces will go to that no reply address and you can maintain a clean database which will help get your emails delivered to the targeted inbox and not get delivered to spam.

5. Create and Send a Bulk Email

Although we call them bulk emails, all emails sent through the Smartspace system are individually sent. This means we can individualise the email with a greeting and put individualised links and content into the email to some extent.

This can make it very easy for your members/clients to be able to communicate through the Custom Forms system with having to remember login details which is often a big roadblock to communications.

Emails, like ordinary content, uses placeholders to generate individualised content and links. The list of placeholders is available from the help link on the email page.

The most useful placeholder in this context is the reglink placeholder used in conjunction with the target article. The help page give full details on how to use effecively.

Distribute Competition Entries Into Teams and Divisions

The Competition Module has been set up with Squash competitions in mind, but can handle numerous sports in basic competitions

Currently the Competition Manager can handle:

• Teams whose team members play individual matches in a round robin  or knockout competition wwhere teams can be in divisions or grades
• Individuals who play against each other in round robin or knockout competitions divided into divisions

Set Up Teams of Players