Documentation:Emerging Media Lab Operations

This is the compiled list of guides for operations related activities at EML.

General Operations

Meetings

Check your Calendar

Below is a list of EML meetings by lab role - if a meeting is listed below but not on your calendar, please email the coordinator (emergingmedia.lab@ubc.ca) to ensure you're invited.

For each meeting you can check the Meeting Logistics (before/during/after) page to make sure you're prepared for and follow up from each meeting you're at.

Everyone at EML

Weekly Check-in:

This hybrid meeting takes place both on Zoom and in the Gerald McGavin Building Room 112A.

As our primary opportunity for the whole Lab team to come together, it gives us a chance to get to connect and get to know each other a bit through an optional sharing of "roses and thorns" and to share updates (both highlights and challenges) on each of our projects.

Usually around the half hour mark, once people have shared around projects and anything else they'd like to discuss, we open breakout rooms so anyone can grab and talk to whichever Lab personnel they want to. This is a great time to get advice, brainstorm or troubleshoot project issues.

Staff

Daily Call:

This brief morning meeting lets the Supervisor, Emerging Media Mentor and Coordinator check-in, strategize for the day and ensure everyone's workload is suitable and prioritized.

Before the Meeting

• Update the "Daily Check-in" Trello card with agenda items to discuss
• Move tasks for the day from "Next up/ Queue" to "Current Focus" and organize in order of task priority

During the Meeting

• Review task items in order of priority
• Record "Agenda Items" and "Action Items" as checklists under the "Daily Check-in" Trello card
  • Tag people and assign due dates as needed in "Action Items"

After the Meeting

• Create new Trello cards with Descriptions, Member(s) and Due Date for tasks under "Action Items" as well as any other tasks that do not have a card yet

Operations:

Once a week, the Supervisor, Emerging Media Mentor and Coordinator are typically joined by our Executive Producer to go over "mid scale" items: those larger than dealt with on the daily call, but not the long term items dealt with at the Strategy meeting.

Before the Meeting

• Create an "Ops Meeting: Trello card with the date of the meeting. Create this a week before the operations meeting so staff members can add their lists beforehand.
• Within the Trello Card
  • Have an agenda list so staff members can add in the topics/matters they want to discuss.

During the Meeting

• Review task items in order of priority
• Record "Agenda Items" and "Action Items" as checklists under the "*insert date* Operations Meeting" Trello card
  • Tag people and assign due dates as needed in "Action Items"

After the Meeting

• Create new Trello cards with Descriptions, Member(s) and Due Date for tasks under "Action Items" as well as any other tasks that do not have a card yet

Strategy:

Once a month our Supervisor, Emerging Media Mentor, Executive Producer and key Faculty get together to discuss long term goals, vision, changes or aspects of EML.

Marketing & Communications ("Marcom")

Once a week, the Supervisor, Coordinator, Marketing & Communications assistant, and Executive Producer meet with UBC IT Communications staff (as of August 2022, Chantal Moore and optionally, Mark Montgomery) to discuss the overall marketing strategy for EML, promoting upcoming events, blog posts, and so on.  This is different from the event planning meeting, and is only concerned with communications and marketing, not event planning.

Event planning meeting

Once a week, the Supervisor, Coordinator, Marketing & Communications assistant meet to discuss upcoming event planning. This consists of logistical details, not generally communications topics.

Project team members

Project Meeting:

Essentially a scrum meeting, each project team schedules a weekly meeting to discuss progress and challenges from the last sprint, organize and ideate as needed, and develop a work plan for the next sprint.

Spending at least some of the time with your project's Trello board is a useful way to ensure all work is clearly defined, assigned, and a "right size bite" for the week ahead.

This is also a good time to coordinate for the weekly PI meeting (discussed below)

PI Meeting:

Each project team schedules a weekly meeting with their Principal Investigator(s). This is a great time to:

• Share progress
• Mention any challenges that might impact direction or scope
• Seek PI feedback / guidance
• Ask the PI subject matter questions to inform your work.

Events

Drop-In Demos

Drop-in demos are a chance for EML to connect with new students and faculty through demoing our projects and new technology, and discussing anything EML related. We should have builds for our current projects, our newest technology, old and current project pamphlets, and swag ready.

In-person Twice-Weekly

Setup:

• Banner and sandwich board displayed outside
• Project pamphlets, get involved sheets, stickers, and swag on our table closest to the door
• TV monitor to display a VR project or experience (Stanley Park VR, Biidaaban)
• TV monitor to display web demos of current projects (3D Metabolism, Fossa Finder)
• Computer with Oculus Rift setup to demo games (Beat Saber, Super Hot)
• HoloLens 2

When: Every Wednesday and Friday, 11am-1pm Pacific Time

Who: Lab Supervisor and Coordinator

Who (optional): Any student worker

Where:  Irving K. Barber Room 183

How: Anyone can stop by at anytime (No reservation required).

In-person Monthly

Setup:

• Banner and sandwich board
• Table with table cloth, pamphlets, stickers, swag
• Computer set up with web demos of current projects
• HoloLens 2

When: Varies depending on IKB floor 2 availability, every month, 11am-1pm Pacific Time

Who: Lab Supervisor and Coordinator, any student worker

Where:  Irving K. Barber 2nd Floor Learning Concourse (place direction sign at Room 183 redirecting people to 2nd Floor)

How: Anyone can stop by at anytime (No reservation required).

Regular Tours

How to book tours: ask people to fill this out

What: EML will often give tours to different UBC faculties, staff and groups outside of UBC. These are booked through our email. These generally last 30-45 minutes for 10-15 people. We usually limit to 20 people per 1 hour tour.

Where: IKB 183

Who: Coordinators. Maybe other relevant people.

Set-up: Set up is same as Drop-In Demos

VIP Tours

Who’s a VIP: Dean, Associate dean, CEOs, International | Saeed will let you know if the tour is VIP

Where: IKB 183

Who: Saeed, Supervisor, Coordinator, PIs if they are available, at least 1 work learn from each project (ideally the team leader)

Set-Up:

• Create a simple welcome template email with a map to IKB
• Ensure Zoom link has been shared for individuals joining remotely
• Get and test any demo links & assets
• Do a technical dry run
• Put EML sign out & open office door
• Review hygiene practices (Cleanbox, etc.)
• Ensure project posters are up and handouts are ready

EML Lectures and Workshops

EML's Lecture and Workshop Series invite experts from academic or industry to present on their work in emerging technologies. Past lectures/workshops have covered a broad range of topics, from VR/AR/MR and Artificial Intelligence to creative writing and visual art. The target audience is anyone who is interested in in-depth exploration of ideas and learning about the specifics of up-and-coming innovations in the field.

Event specifics

Presenter

Presenters are usually invited through 2 means:

• Existing connections
  • Check with EML staff (Saeed, Daniel, Catherine, Dante) to see if they have anyone in mind
  • Network with attendees and presenters at public-facing events
• Cold emailing
  • Research individuals with interesting work in emerging media
  • Check with Saeed to see if their work aligns with EML’s; ask if he would like you to send out the invite or if he wants to do it
  • If approved, introduce them to EMBC CoP and invite them to speak over

Format

There are no limits on structure for lectures and workshops. Past lectures varied between 10 minutes to 1 hour, while workshops were often scheduled for the hour.

Promotion

Messaging

Confirm the information listed below with the presenter. This core messaging can be adapted as appropriate for each communications platform.

• Title
• Summary of presentation
• Order of presentation/ timeslot
• Short bio
• Headshot (300 ppi or higher resolution)

Social Media

• Graphics
  • One graphic to introduce the speaker
  • One graphic to introduce the event + details
  • A teaser graphic prior to the workshop can be created and released a month before the event to help the team gauge interest and learn about the audience
  • Event announcement posts should be released 2 weeks prior
  • Reminder post, retweet, IG and Facebook story post or countdown released 1-2 days prior to event
• If possible, tag the speaker on Twitter when posting about the event

Marketing

• Create an Eventbrite page
• Reach out to contacts (VFS, BCIT, ARVR association) to share the link or Eventbrite to the event

• Newsletters: EML, UBC IT, UBC CTLT
  • Headshot, topic of presentation, short summary, date
  • Posted at least 1-2 weeks prior to event

Operations

For every workshop, either have a representative from EML or the presenter themselves to address (1) EML as the host/sponsor organization, and (2) land acknowledgement.

• Land acknowledgement (source): "We acknowledge that the UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xwmə0–kwəy’əm (Musqueam)."

a. Virtual

Zoom meeting

• Check with presenters for features they would like to have enabled
• Conduct dry run if necessary
• If session is going to be recorded, have them sign the consent form before the actual event

Reminder email

• Send from Eventbrite (see Confluence: Eventbrite & Meetup)

b. In-person

Room booking  

• Room capacity: 50-people for lectures, 30-people for workshops
• Book through the UBC’s booking system
• Some rooms we have used in the past: ORCH 3018 for lectures, ORCH 3074 for workshops

AV support

• If session is going to be recorded, let Andrew know 1 week prior

Reminder email

• Send from Eventbrite
  • Manage attendees > Emails to Attendees
  • Delete the automated email
  • Schedule 2 reminder emails, 1 day and 3 hours prior to the event
  • Include all relevant details: date/time, location (e.g. specific instructions to find the room, Zoom link)

Showcase

The biannual Showcase is an opportunity to introduce our current projects, celebrate the accomplishments of our teams, and engage with the greater community. It is usually organized at the end of term in April and December. As of 2020, only the Spring/Summer Showcase in April is open to the public; the Winter Showcase is reserved as an internal and informal celebration of the teams’ achievements.

Sandwich board sizes:

• Thank you for social distancing: 24" x 36"
• Notice of filming: 24" x 32"

About Dry Run

• Should be scheduled a week in advance to make sure we have time to make final edits.
• Mandatory for all EML staff and teams.
• Run through the entire event as if it was the actual date.

About Projects

• Videos about the project should be maximum of 5 minutes long.
  • Total time allocated is 8 minutes, any video that goes over will take time away from their Q&A.
  • No video should be longer than 8 minutes.
• Select one team member from each project to take on the Q&A.

About PIs

• Request PIs to record an intro that emphasizes the "why" → EML is planning on including a short clip from the PIs explaining the problem that prompted the PIs to work with EML. This will allow the audience to get a better understanding of the problem the students were working on solving during their projects.
  • Video must address the following:
    • Who they are
    • PI's Faculty
    • The problem PIs were trying to address/The why behind the projects.
  • The video can be anything between  35- 45 seconds.

About Attendees

• Send a reminder to the attendees about the event at least 3 days prior to the event
  • (If virtual) send a webinar Zoom link to attendees a day before the event.
• Make sure that emails get sent out to PIs, Work learn, Staff, and attendees that RSVP on Eventbrite.

About Zoom Logistics

• Enable Zoom Webinar feature.
• Supervisor, Coordinator, Mentor, and Staff Developer should all have co-host ability.
• Add before the start of the event all the PIs and project representatives as "panelists".

Imagine Day

Every beginning of the school year, Imagine Day offers an opportunity us to to reach a large demographic of the UBC population, many of whom are enthusiastic and determined to get involved. That said, we are competing with other great organizations on campus for students' attention. This experience needs to be well planned and comprehensive to attract student talent and retain the community.

Boothing is also a valuable onboarding/educational experience for new members who are still learning about what the EML is and the value it contributes to the broader UBC campus. It is highly encouraged that current and new members participate to pass on that knowledge.

Before the event

Event page: https://students.ubc.ca/new-to-ubc/imagine-ubc

Terms and conditions for participation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DE20xc_ph9JTx4tZRG8oFlaXNL8ORYdw/view

Platform: https://amscampusbase.ubc.ca/groups

Apply for Imagine day beginning of July : https://students.ubc.ca/new-to-ubc/orientations/imagine-ubc/participate-main-event

Social media

• Start posting marketing materials one week prior, updating via stories and feeds once every couple of days.
• Consider campaigns to increase engagement, e.g. follow all EML accounts to win a Google Cardboard, Main Mall Hustle mini-game?
• Encourage cross-posting with other accounts/platforms.
• Use linktree on IG to post multiple links in bio at once.

Staffing

• Create a When2Meet poll to schedule staff.
  • It is part of the duties of Work Learns to participate in Imagine Day/Week, so the Lab Coordinator can ask them for support as necessary.
  • Break the event into 30-minute or 1-hour shift to encourage more participation. Having a diverse range of perspectives (Supervisors, Project Leads, Work Learn students) present might be helpful.
• Designate responsibilities for each member on shift (e.g. for virtual boothing, one person can overview of the lab while another can check and reply to questions in the chat)
• Create a comprehensive script, making sure it is easy to follow for new team members. See a past script here.

During the event

• Identify main actionable items, e.g. drop-in hours, volunteers, EMLx, social media.
• Use the script but make sure to interact with students.
  • For virtual booth, encourage students to unmute/turn on their camera.
  • Find out about their interests and connect them to what is being done at the lab, emphasizing that there is flexibility at EML and using past students' stories to demonstrate what is possible at the lab.

After the event

Make use of the short period of time after Imagine Day, when interest is high and before the term gets busy, to get students involved through participation in events (workshops, lectures), join EMLx, and/or join EML as a volunteer or Work Learn students. This means these opportunities and events have to be set up and ready to go before or shortly after the event.

Team Socials

EML has monthly team get-togethers organized by the Student Lab Coordinator. (Not every month, but ideally monthly.)

In past years, these could be everything from going to the beach to the Richmond Night Market, to the Christmas Market downtown.

Who gets invited?

All student workers and volunteers, as well as EML staff. (In practice, most EML staff don't attend regularly. It's nice to be invited though!)

How to set a date

• Use a When2meet to figure out when everyone is available

How to determine an activity

(Remember, it can just be "we're having coffee together"!)

• Ask people to message you on teams for suggestions.

Documentation

EML Documentation Style Guide

This explains how to write EML documentation. It's not the Social Media Style Guide.

EML documentation should be consistent in tone and style. This means that it should be clear, as short as possible, and not use colloquialisms, pop culture references, or idioms.

A terrible way of writing the above sentences:

Let's all stay on the same page when it comes to writing all our documentation to tell you about all things EML! Gotta keep it short and snappy, people. Zippy prose is a must! When it comes to reading comprehension, better stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to, if you know what we mean.

Spelling/Grammar

Because we're based in Canada, we use Canadian English. Canadian English is largely the same as British/International English, but with some American spelling. If you're unsure, spell a word the way you think it should be spelled. The content is more important than spelling.

Talking about EML

Write "We at the Emerging Media Lab", not "We at Emerging Media Lab"

Write "We at EML", not "We at the EML".

Write "The Emerging Media Lab is a place...", not "Emerging Media Lab is a place..."

EMLx

Never refer to EMLx as a club!

EMLx should always be written with a lowercase x.

EMLx isn't an acronym and doesn't stand for anything.

Write "The Emerging Media Lab and its student-run program EMLx".

EML members

It's "Work Learn", capitalized with a space in between.

PIs/Primary Investigators are the faculty members that initiate EML projects. When abbreviated as "PIs", don't include an apostrophe.

"Team Lead" is the student worker leading a project team. We cannot call student workers "Project Managers", because of UBC rules.

Referring to people

Don't write individual people's names when it's their position that is important in a procedure or set of instructions: "Ask the Lab Coordinator for help", not "ask Jane Lee for help". This way, new EML staff don't have to figure out who Jane Lee was.

Write individual people's names when it's a matter of historical record: "Saeed Dyanatkar cofounded EML".

Write individual people's names when they're the PI on a project: "Jon Festinger is the PI on this project".

Write individual people's names when they're the source of information for documentation: "Sabrina Ge says: here's how to contact the printing company". (This should be temporary: in this example, we could easily change it to "How to contact the printing company", because it's unlikely to be useful to know that it's Sabrina Ge who said it.

Tools we use

"TeamShare", CamelCase/intercaps, with no space in between.

"Eventbrite", capitalized.

"Google Drive", not "Drive".

"Google Docs", not "Docs".

"PowerPoint", CamelCase/intercaps.

"OneDrive", CamelCase/intercaps

"the UBC wiki", always with "the", "wiki" lowercase.

Not "Wiki",

not "wiki",

definitely not "Wikipedia". Wikipedia is a different site.

(Alternatively: "the EML wiki" or "the EML page(s) on the UBC wiki" are fine.)

Websites

We have a bunch of websites at EML! If there's any possibility of confusion about which website we're talking about, be as specific as possible: "The public-facing EML website" or "the EML pages on Confluence".

You can also include an address if need be: "The website (eml.ubc.ca)".

Do not include "http://" or "http://".

UBC IT writes all their URLs as "hxxps://" which isn't a real protocol/scheme, and which forces the reader to manually copy and paste the URL. Don't do this. It confuses readers.

Marketing & Communications

Communications Trello Board

We track tasks for the Marketing and Communications team, the EML website, and event planning on our Trello board, EML Operations. Look for the column "Current Focus - Marcom/Website/Events", which is used for all Communications and Marketing related tasks.

Best Practices

• Even though we can assign people to cards/tasks, we also want to indicate in the task title who is the "owner" of the task. We do this by adding the "owner's" initials: "Update front page video on website" becomes "AW - Update front page video on website". This lets everyone
• Stay active on the board.
• Set due dates when appropriate.
• When tasks are completed, move them to the "Done" column.
• Set priorities using the tagging system: Green for "top priority", yellow for "lower priority" and blue for "waiting for response". (A lot of tasks will have multiple tags.)
• Whenever a new task is created (from the action items in meetings, etc.), it should be assigned to someone, and they should be added to the card.
• Discuss with the person you plan to assign the task to when adding them onto a card.
• When commenting on a card, tag the person you're asking for help, notifying, or giving a task to.
• The Lab Coordinator should do a overall sweep through the board at least once a week to catch any misplaced cards/tasks.

Updating the Board

Daily

• After the task is completed, it should be moved to the "Done" list for the week.

Weekly

• At the end of each week, the current "Done" list should be moved to the right-hand side of the board, by the other "Done" lists. The EML Coordinator makes a new leftmost list, named "Done (END DAY)" where End Day is the last date of the week, for example "Done (Mar 26).

Monthly

• The "Done" lists for that month should be archived.

Social Media

Purpose

• Maintaining a presence on this site because students use Facebook to find news/events.

Responsibilities

• Answering direct messages immediately (within the hour).
• Providing regular updates about lab (e.g. when the lab is closed, when we are hiring volunteers).
• Linking Eventbrite events.
• Cross-posting IG stories onto FB stories
• Posting photos from events.

Instagram

Purpose

• Primary way of engaging with students and post stories about EML members.

Twitter

Purpose

• Engaging with other like-minded institutions and individuals and reach faculty, staff, and external parties.

Responsibilities

• Engaging with other accounts by commenting on/sharing their posts.
• Posting about lab updates/events on a regular basis.
  • Hootsuite is linked with UBC’s Twitter account. You can use this platform to schedule tweets in advance of the post date. Always preview the post before approving it.
• Cross-posting other social media content (E.g. IG’s EML IRL as a single picture on Twitter).
• Answering DMs in a timely manner.

Recommendations

• Developing criteria for building a “following” network, including:
  • Thought leaders in Emerging Media
  • Leading academic hubs for emerging media
  • Emerging media organizations (e.g. VRARA, AWE)
  • Corporate partners & other corporate leaders in Emerging Media

EML Website

For how to edit specific parts of the EML website, visit the EML Website portion of our Confluence

EML’s official website is often the first point of contact for those new to EML. The website offers general public information (e.g. EML overview, list of projects, team members) and features event information. This is different from the EMCoP website , which is dedicated specifically to the Emerging Media BC community and its events.

Website administration

The EML website uses UBC CMS (WordPress).

Who:

• Responsible for Updates:
  • Lab Coordinator (website "gardener")
  • Lab Supervisor
• Who has access:
  • Lab Coordinator
  • Lab Supervisor
  • Emerging Media Mentor
  • EML/UBC Studios Executive Producer
  • Marcom Assistant
  • Andrew Wang

What:

• People Page (Most Important)
• Project Updates
• Quality of life changes

How:

• How to gain admin access to edit the page?
  • EML and EMCoP website: your email must be added as an Editor or Administrator by a pre-existing Admin. Contact Catherine or the Lab Coordinator if you think you need to edit access.
  • See WordPress for more details.

Google Analytics

• Conduct periodic reviews of our Analytics, with particular attention to:
  • Location
  • Browser / Platform
  • Regularities and spikes in traffic
  • Overall trend up & down
• Tag any EML activities that might generate a traffic boost

Best practices

• Ensure pages are updated periodically.
  • After onboarding (refresh people page)
  • When projects are initialized (add the appropriate project page)
  • When projects get updates (refresh project page)
  • When teams send you images in their reports (add to project page gallery)
  • Whenever staff / faculty are onboarded / offboarded
  • Events updated as needed
• Vet content:
  • Vet consent is present for all media
  • Vet all media to confirm it’s suitable, it confirms to branding and design guidelines by UBC Studios Liaison (Nadia)
  • Vet content by Executive Producer (Saeed)

Eventbrite

Eventbrite is used to circulate lectures, workshops, the EML showcase, and any other events at EML. Below is a guide to creating an Eventbrite page.

Basic Info

• Event title
• Categories: most often "Seminar & Talk", "Science & Technology"
• Enter tag: depending on the event, some examples include "science", "technology", "media", "education", "seminar", "workshop"
• Organizer: UBC Emerging Media Lab

Details

1. Upload a 2160x1080px (2:1 ratio) banner (see standard banner for EMBC CoP).
2. Summary: This is a teaser to get people interested in the event. Don’t write anything too rigid or boring, get to the point and write something snappy. It’s a fun and thought-provoking event, write something that reflects the vibe.
3. Main body of text — you will need:
   1. Event teaser/description
   2. Speaker names/titles/companies: 2-3 sentence summary of their topic and who they are
   3. Ways to connect to the meeting — online, video recording, etc.
   4. Contact information if anyone has questions
   5. Call to action/RSVP
   6. Short blurb to describe EML or EMBC CoP:
      • EML: About the UBC Emerging Media Lab:EML is an experimental space where faculty, students, and staff from all disciplines collaborate with industry and community. Its mission is to evolve learning by creating tools and techniques using emerging media. Our lecture and workshop series are open to the public to encourage exploration, experimentation, and development of ideas that may eventually enhance learning and research at UBC.
      • EMBC CoP: About the Emerging Media BC Community of Practice: The Emerging Media BC Community gets together to discuss and learn about not only the new VR/AR innovations but also many other emerging technologies. As a diverse community that features faculty, staff, students and industry professionals, the Emerging Media BC Community of Practice has a place and function for everyone.

Tickets

• Set the tickets to “Free”
• Limit the number of tickets based on the capacity of the event venue or Zoom room
• Set attendees’ ability to secure tickets right up until the start of the event
• If the event is in-person, do not let additional people join once capacity is met (though depending on the circumstances we may let them come if that inquire with us directly). Increase the number of available tickets for online events as appropriate.

EMCoP Website Updating (https://emcop.ca)

1. Make a new Post and categorize it as an "Upcoming Event".
2. Add a header image to give some visual interest on the page. You can see an example here: https://emcop.ca/2023/02/02/february-2023/
3. Go to the front page (https://emcop.ca/) and click "Customize" in the top menu bar.
4. Scroll down the page and click the little blue pencil icon over "February 2023: How AI tools such as ChatGPT are changing conversations in higher education".
5. In the left sidebar, look for the "Contact us section subtitle". This is the default name on the EMCoP website's theme and is a lot of work to change, which is why it hasn't been changed. Another good option for finding it is to search the page (Ctrl-F on Windows, Cmd-F on Mac) for "higher education", for example.
6. This field contains HTML and is a very, very small text box. It is much, much easier to edit if you copy it into a text editor to make your changes, then copy it back to update the site. (Sublime Text, Notepad, even Word will work here.) Change the <a href="" part to the URL of the event you've created. Change the text between <a href=""></a> to the next event.
7. To save your changes, click the blue "Publish" button in the upper left of the page.
8. Log out and reload https://emcop.ca to confirm that the changes have been saved.

AFTER an event:

1. Edit your post and change the category from "Upcoming Events" to "Past Events". Important: due to a bug in WordPress, there may be more than one "Past Events" category. Choose the first one.
2. Log out and reload https://emcop.ca/events to confirm that the changes have been saved.

EML Website Updating (https://eml.ubc.ca)

1. Make a new Post. (NOT an "Event"! We don't use those because they're an artifact of an earlier version of the UBC CMS.)
2. Make sure the Post is categorized under "Upcoming Events" in the Categories section. This causes it to appear on the EML events page (https://eml.ubc.ca/events/) and on the front page under "Upcoming events" next to our social media embeds: https://eml.ubc.ca/
3. Add the header image to give some visual interest on the page. You can see how I did it here: https://eml.ubc.ca/2023/02/24/emerging-media-community-of-practice-how-ai-tools-such-as-chatgpt-are-changing-conversations-in-higher-education/
4. Make sure that the "Excerpt" field contains something that can be displayed on the Upcoming Events sections of the website. If you leave it empty, you will only see the page title. Excerpts are not always automatically generated by the UBC CMS, so make sure you do it manually.
5. Go to the front page (https://eml.ubc.ca) and events page (https://eml.ubc.ca/events) to make sure it doesn't appear in the wrong section.

AFTER an event:

1. Immediately after, edit the post and change its category from "Upcoming Events" to "Past events". This will remove it from the front page and Upcoming events sections, and make it appear in the Past events section on the Events page. Please note: despite what the WordPress form looks like, POSTS CAN BE ONLY HAVE ONE CATEGORY, so make sure you change it.
2. Go to the front page (https://eml.ubc.ca) and events page (https://eml.ubc.ca/events) to make sure it doesn't appear in the wrong section.

Confirmation & reminder emails

• Order Options > Order Confirmation > Customize Email:
  • This email will be sent to attendees after they have RSVPed
  • Add important details (date, time, location/Zoom link)
• Manage attendees > Emails to Attendees
  • Delete the default 2-day-prior reminder email
  • Create New Attendee Email:
    • These emails can be scheduled to send to attendees as a reminder before the event and thank-you note/notice after.
    • Create a 1-day-prior and 2-hour (for in-person event)/1-hour (for online event) reminder email, adding important details (date, time, location/Zoom link)

Remember to

• Save all details before going to the next page.
• Preview the whole page to make sure it looks good, e.g. spacing is correct, no typos, all the details are correct (double and triple check all details, get someone else to read it over before publishing).
• If you would like to share the page with others for review/approval, publish the event under Private mode.

Newsletter

The external newsletter aims to update friends of EML on our projects, events, and opportunities to get involved with our work. It is usually sent out on Friday of the third week of the month (as this should give the team enough time to compile that month’s highlights and format the newsletter as per EML’s branding guidelines). The newsletter goes out to EML past and current team members, faculty and collaborators, as well as anyone who subscribed to hear more from us through the website.

Content

Events

• Examples include lecture series, public workshops, conferences, showcase.
• Past events:
  • Permission needed to publicly distribute recording of event
  • Brief recap
  • Link to recording (if applicable)
  • Next steps (if applicable): e.g. an article to check out, website on a presenter’s project
• Upcoming events: ideally 2-3 weeks prior
  • Details to include: date and time, location/ platform, summary of topic, presenter, call to action (e.g. RSVP)
  • Teaser is OK (e.g. hint of topic, presenter introduction) if there is not enough information
  • If possible include graphic, poster, or headshot

Project updates

• Keep in mind the audience:
  • Layman summary, more emphasis on practical implications (e.g. 3D Metabolism will make learning about complex metabolic pathways more accessible and interactive)
  • Include technical details sparingly
  • Use graphics/ illustrations when possible
  • 2-3 sentence update about the project

Get involved

• Drop-in hours: every Wednesday and Friday, 11-1 pm.
• Volunteer
• Work Learn students (if applicable)

Ideas

• Media mentions
• Project feature: instead of monthly updates of current projects, only feature one project per newsletter
• Blog post: written by EML members, e.g. “Ask a work-learn: 10 things EML members should know”
• EML IRL/IRT
• Faculty interview

Graphics

• Past newsletter templates: MailChimp > Campaigns > Email Templates
• Photos:
  • Google Drive > Marketing > Thinking in 3D workshop
  • TeamShare > Admin > Media > Photos
  • MailChimp > Content Studio > My Files

Distribution

• Note: final newsletter should be sent out as a ‘Campaign’, not a ‘Template’
• Campaigns > All Campaigns > Create Campaign > Email
  • To: Add Recipients > UBC Emerging Media Lab
  • From:
    • Name: UBC Emerging Media Lab
    • Email: [[1]]
  • Subject: e.g. EML January 2023 Newsletter
  • Content:
    • Design Email > Select a Template > Saved Templates
    • Make further changes once the template has been loaded
  • Schedule: set specific date and time for distribution, ideally within normal working hours
• Send test email to everyone in the team:
  • in Edit mode > Preview > Send a test email
  • Check with:
    • EML: Saeed, Supervisors (Catherine, Daniel)
    • UBC Studios: Nadia
    • (optional, if there is time during the monthly marketing meeting) UBC IT (Anisha), CTLT (Caroline)
  • Make sure to check on multiple devices, e.g. laptop, Android
  • Make sure to check on multiple mail services, e.g. Outlook, Gmail
  • Make sure to send Newsletter Checklist along with the test emails so everyone can ensure the important fields are correct
• Check links: in Edit mode > Preview > Open Link Checker

Weekly Updates

EML's internal weekly updates are sent out to staff, student workers, faculty, alumni and friends of EML and contain details about internal events, deadlines, project updates, and more. We use Mailchimp to send out the weekly update, using the process as listed above.

Who to send to

EML Members Audience (as of March 31, 2022, there are 86 members who are on the list)

Template

We have a current template that all Weekly Updates will be based on. (Replicate the most recent Weekly Update and change the text.)

Keeping track of update material

Every week, make a Trello card titled "Weekly Update: (insert date here)" and create a checklist inside of it. This way, you can keep adding things as you go along and everybody else can see it.

Recurring update material

Anything related to a Showcase, EM CoP presentation, drop-in demo session will always make it on a Weekly Update. Workshops, user testing, volunteer opportunities, and other external events that people have asked about can be added too. (See previous Weekly Updates for more examples)

Deadline

The weekly update will be sent every Wednesday