What are external tools?

STREAMBOXY can integrate external tools into the platform to make events more interactive. 

These tools can be defined individually for each main or breakout session.
The configuration of external tools is done by the you as the organizer / admin within the backstage.

Examples of external tools that can be integrated in STREAMBOXY:

• Mentimeter (Polls)
• Typeforms (Surveys)
• Miro Whiteboards
• Shops
• Presentations
• Custom Developed Solutions

Documentation for Participants and Speakers

You are in the documentation of the ORGANIZER features.

• The documentation "External Tool Functions" of the Participants can be found here.
• The documentation "External Tool Functions" of the Speakers can be found here.

Configuration of External Tools

In the settings, you as the organizer have the option of configuring external tools for your events and individual breakout sessions.

In Backstage, click on "Edit Event" and select "Main session settings" in the navigation bar that opens.

Here you configure the lobby area of the session, i.e. session type and interaction options.

Under the item "Interaction", you can configure the chat, the Q&A and also the external tools. 

If no external tools have been defined yet, the interface looks like this:

Add a new external tool

By clicking on the button "Add new external tool", a new area opens where you can make various settings. As soon as you have added an external tool, it appears in the left navigation bar in the lobby area.

Tool Icon

By clicking on the tool icon, you can select one of a number of different icons, which will then be displayed in the left-hand navigation bar of the stage.

Tool Description

You can also add a tool description, which is then displayed in the tool panel in the stage.

Tool 

For the definition of the tool you have two options, you can choose whether the tool should be a website or an image.

Website

If you select "Website", put your link to the tool in the free field. The link must be i-frame capable. You can also use dynamic placeholders such as {{sessionTitle}} in the links. 

You can find more details on URL placeholders here.

Image

If you select "Image", you can open the image editor by clicking on "Edit image". You can use the image editor to upload images and edit them directly in Backstage.

Detailed information on the image editor can be found here.

Tool Type

Choose between three display types for the tool in the Stage:

Panel (display the tool in a side panel next to the main content)

Full-screen panel (full-screen display of the tool and overlap the main content)

New window (tool is displayed in a new browser tab)

Tool position

If you want to include several tools in your session, you can define the order of the icons in the left navigation bar. If you want a tool to be in the first position (topmost of the external tools), enter "1" in the field.

 

Activate external tool

Decide whether the tool should be active or whether you want to activate it during the event, for example.

All settings can be adjusted synchronously during the running event.

To finalize the creation of the tool, click on "Submit".  

Example Icons: 

Sample Stage with four external tools. The whiteboard (sample tool) is highlighted. The black text box shows the tool description described above.

The representations of different tools in the stage environment are shown in the participant and speaker documentation.

Configuring External Tools in (Breakout) Sessions

The External Tools function can be configured not only in the main session (lobby), but also in the individual agenda items/sessions.

To activate external tools in a (breakout) session, click on "Agenda and Sessions" in the navigation bar in the backstage to create and edit agenda items.

To enable external tools in an agenda item, click on the "pencil icon" (edit) next to the agenda item.

This opens the "Edit agenda item" window. If you have created the agenda item as a session (livestream, conference or content page), the session type, the permissions for participants and the interaction settings for this respective agenda item can be set here again individually.

Under the item "Interaction" you can - as before in the lobby - create, position and activate the external tools.

Organize external Tools 

In addition to the option of arranging external tools in a desired "tool position" when creating them, there is also the option of arranging the tools in a different order using drag and drop.