The Event Marketing Help Thread

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  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited October 31, 2010
    thanks bendruckerphoto - so let me ask you this then....do you show clients unedited proofs? how do you handle showing clients proofs before editing?

    or worded differently, ignore how i've done this up till now - what's the best way to show proofs and then updating the gallery with the edited version?
  • bendruckerphotobendruckerphoto Registered Users Posts: 579 Major grins
    edited November 1, 2010
    thaKing wrote: »
    thanks bendruckerphoto - so let me ask you this then....do you show clients unedited proofs? how do you handle showing clients proofs before editing?

    or worded differently, ignore how i've done this up till now - what's the best way to show proofs and then updating the gallery with the edited version?

    I can't honestly say. I've always published only the best photos. If a client really wants to take one down I do, but I'd rather have the client see 100% great images.
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 1, 2010
    thanks again Ben...maybe i'll switch up and instead of using proofs just edit and post the best like you said....
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited November 1, 2010
    thaKing wrote: »
    thanks again Ben...maybe i'll switch up and instead of using proofs just edit and post the best like you said....
    There's a middle ground too. Do minor editing (brightness, contrast, white balance, crop, sharpening) much of which you can do on groups of images at once (except crop) and then be selective about the good photos and post those. When/if you get an order, you can do more detailed tweaking to make the print be your best work.

    Today's non-destructive editors (like Lightroom and Aperture) make quick passes of minor editing go quite fast. I tend to do this type of editing in the same pass that I review the photos to decide which ones are keepers (often I don't know if it's a keeper until I've tweaked it a bit).
    --John
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  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 1, 2010
    John, for my proofs, I do exactly as you state - WB, contrast, etc. I upload these "tweaked" proofs for client review. Then the client gives me a list of their favs and I do final edits on those. And that's what I'm trying to get around - the client needing to email me a list for final edits. For the proofs, I don't enable printing. Reason - sometimes they want a photo edited a couple ways (regular edits, B&W, etc). So, I cannot replace the one photo with 2 photos for an order. So, I don't enable printing and they let me know which photos they want and sometimes extra edits. I then upload all the edited photos and allow them to purchase.

    I'm just wondering if I'm allowing the process be to "open". Should I select the photos that should be B&W, and the photos that need my regular tweaks? Post those and allow them to order...
  • jfriendjfriend Registered Users Posts: 8,097 Major grins
    edited November 2, 2010
    thaKing wrote: »
    John, for my proofs, I do exactly as you state - WB, contrast, etc. I upload these "tweaked" proofs for client review. Then the client gives me a list of their favs and I do final edits on those. And that's what I'm trying to get around - the client needing to email me a list for final edits. For the proofs, I don't enable printing. Reason - sometimes they want a photo edited a couple ways (regular edits, B&W, etc). So, I cannot replace the one photo with 2 photos for an order. So, I don't enable printing and they let me know which photos they want and sometimes extra edits. I then upload all the edited photos and allow them to purchase.

    I'm just wondering if I'm allowing the process be to "open". Should I select the photos that should be B&W, and the photos that need my regular tweaks? Post those and allow them to order...
    The way the system was designed is for you to set proof delay, let your client order, then you fix up the ordered images before printing. They use the shopping cart to tell you what they want just once.

    If they want an image done some way that isn't on the site, then they have to communicate that to you and ask you to put another image up that way so they can order that one. I'm not aware of a more streamlined way.
    --John
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  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2010
    ok, gave events a test - i created an event, added 2 galleries, said make available on homepage, and sent the link to myself (different email from my admin email)...corresponding email - perfect! look and feel of event - perfect! everything is looking fantabulous....except...

    exception: 1) no event on my homepage...is this because i don't show galleries on my homepage? i only have an imagemap...i guess i expected to see it with my other galleries (listed at /galleries) but i don't see it there either...can i get the event to show up with my galleries? headscratch.gif

    exception: 2) when i follow the link from the email, i see the two galleries i added...above them, is the breadcrumbs - Galleries > Test Event...if i click on Galleries, i'm taken to /galleries, as expected...however, when i go into one of the galleries that is a part of the event, the breadcrumbs do not behave as expected...the breadcrumbs are actually different than the breadcrumbs if you were to arrive there by navigating through the galleries - but i believe this is by design...the problem is, the breadcrumbs that are displayed don't behave properly...the gallery within the event has a breadcrumb of Galleries > Gallery Name...if you click on Galleries, it takes you to the homepage and not /galleries....is that right? headscratch.gif
  • Barclay HornerBarclay Horner Registered Users Posts: 16 Big grins
    edited November 6, 2010
    I just read through this whole thread and I have a couple questions that I hope can be answered.

    I would like to leverage the event feature in order to download all the emails from an event. From what I can tell this is not yet possible and may not ever be possible? If I want to do this it seems I can, but I have to do it manually by almost sending a message and copying it from the message body?

    The other important part of events I don't quite understand is the tree structure of them. Right now I use gallleries/weddings10/John&Jane structure. I can set up an event but when I navigate to it through my current structure I am not asked to register like I am through the link that is generated from the manage events part of the control panel. BUT.... the bread crumb shows that I am in the evetn once I have entered the gallery and if I back out by navigating back through the bread crumb THEN I am asked to register. This doesn't make sense to me.

    Is there a way I can keep using my present directory structure of Category/Subcategory/Gallery, and have the registration window pop up at the gallery level? I want to get the emails of everyone who visits the site at the gallery level.
  • thaKingthaKing Registered Users Posts: 478 Major grins
    edited November 11, 2010
    thaKing wrote: »
    ok, gave events a test - i created an event, added 2 galleries, said make available on homepage, and sent the link to myself (different email from my admin email)...corresponding email - perfect! look and feel of event - perfect! everything is looking fantabulous....except...

    exception: 1) no event on my homepage...is this because i don't show galleries on my homepage? i only have an imagemap...i guess i expected to see it with my other galleries (listed at /galleries) but i don't see it there either...can i get the event to show up with my galleries? headscratch.gif

    exception: 2) when i follow the link from the email, i see the two galleries i added...above them, is the breadcrumbs - Galleries > Test Event...if i click on Galleries, i'm taken to /galleries, as expected...however, when i go into one of the galleries that is a part of the event, the breadcrumbs do not behave as expected...the breadcrumbs are actually different than the breadcrumbs if you were to arrive there by navigating through the galleries - but i believe this is by design...the problem is, the breadcrumbs that are displayed don't behave properly...the gallery within the event has a breadcrumb of Galleries > Gallery Name...if you click on Galleries, it takes you to the homepage and not /galleries....is that right? headscratch.gif
    Anyone? 1) i think i know the answer to this one...but i'm sorta confused...so, i have a gallery AND an event...the client goes to the event to mark their favs, etc...but then, what's the purpose of have the gallery listed, just for random visitors?
    2) any tips on the breadcrumbs not actually taking the visitor to "galleries"?
  • teknofileteknofile Registered Users Posts: 7 Beginner grinner
    edited November 25, 2010
    schlia wrote: »
    Is there a way to create an email template and use it in all Events? I can only seem to use a template in the event that it was created.

    I'm noticing this, too. I click on the Email Macros "Save as a Template" button, but I can't seem to see where I can apply that template to other events. It's pretty inconvenient to have to dig through other events to get the wording the way I want it for all my clients.
  • tm[ ]phototm[ ]photo Registered Users Posts: 5 Beginner grinner
    edited January 23, 2011
    Wondering if nice names have been implemented yet into events or if it is coming soon? Events are great marketing tools except for the random event link.
  • bstrongbstrong Registered Users Posts: 53 Big grins
    edited January 24, 2011
    tm[ ]photo wrote: »
    Wondering if nice names have been implemented yet into events or if it is coming soon? Events are great marketing tools except for the random event link.

    Yes nice names was implemented a while back.

    There are a few caveats:
    - Only Events marked as 'Public' get the true nice name url
    - Individual Participant links will still have the unique string attached

    I hope this helps!
    -b
  • vrvincevrvince Registered Users Posts: 22 Big grins
    edited May 13, 2011
    Is there a mobile version of an Event url? (I couldn't find answer in Help or in these forums.)
    Majority of my guest visitors to our School Portraits event are going to try to access it via their smart phone initially.
  • AndyAndy Registered Users Posts: 50,016 Major grins
    edited May 13, 2011
    vrvince wrote: »
    Is there a mobile version of an Event url? (I couldn't find answer in Help or in these forums.)
    Majority of my guest visitors to our School Portraits event are going to try to access it via their smart phone initially.

    There isn't - they'd use the regular browser on an iPhone or other smartphone -sorry!
  • ShutterAddictShutterAddict Registered Users Posts: 14 Big grins
    edited January 21, 2012
    Ok, maybe I am missing something but when someone goes from their Personal Event page to a listed gallery there is no way back to the personal page. At least not that I can find. Using the back button works but if you've been through a lot of pictures or pages that is impractical. They can go to their favorites but not their personal page. As noted by others breadcrumbs don't get you there either. I am willing to customize to make this happen but want to check #1 if I am missing it somehow, #2 ff there is a work around or or other option available. When no favorites have been picked they can get back from that page but once ta favorite shows up that option is gone.
  • ShutterAddictShutterAddict Registered Users Posts: 14 Big grins
    edited January 25, 2012
    Ok, maybe I am missing something but when someone goes from their Personal Event page to a listed gallery there is no way back to the personal page. At least not that I can find. Using the back button works but if you've been through a lot of pictures or pages that is impractical. They can go to their favorites but not their personal page. As noted by others breadcrumbs don't get you there either. I am willing to customize to make this happen but want to check #1 if I am missing it somehow, #2 ff there is a work around or or other option available. When no favorites have been picked they can get back from that page but once ta favorite shows up that option is gone.
    I found an answer to my issue here http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=184143&highlight=event+breadcrumbs and quoted the pertinent post answering someone else with a similar problem below.
    jfriend wrote: »
    I think the issue is that the script you are using called AdjustBreadcrumb is whacking the breadcrumb while you're in events pages and that is causing the issue. There is a newer version of that script here that does not cause that problem in events pages. If you replace your current version with the new version, the issue should go away.

    I added the updated script referred to above and all is well. I couldn't find anyplace where I was using the original or updated code but it's been awhile since I worked on my customization code so who knows.
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited January 30, 2012
    I found an answer to my issue here http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=184143&highlight=event+breadcrumbs and quoted the pertinent post answering someone else with a similar problem below.

    I added the updated script referred to above and all is well. I couldn't find anyplace where I was using the original or updated code but it's been awhile since I worked on my customization code so who knows.
    I'm glad to hear you were able to resolve your issue!
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • bpaulettebpaulette Registered Users Posts: 2 Beginner grinner
    edited February 15, 2012
    I love the fact that the little heart icon shows up in the main galleries (with all shots) - but whats the point of displaying the heart icon on top of image thumbnails inside of that person's "favorites" gallery?

    Once they're viewing their favorites, they know that they're looking at the favorites, and don't need to be reminded/distracted with pages full of heart icons over their pics.

    Any way to turn that off, once they're viewing the favorites?
  • botpixbotpix Registered Users Posts: 29 Big grins
    edited February 15, 2012
    Too many galleries for just one event!
    We started using Events a while back, and love the Favorites capability for our clients. Shooting sporting events, they end up with thousands of images to sift through and the Favorites tool gives them an easy way to get back to what they like.

    Now on to the problem... We've just finished a figure skating event containing 134 galleries, and over 35,000 images. I've got them broken down into 8 Events, one for each category of skating (Compulsory, Artistic, etc.) and was hoping that once registered, a client could add favorites from any of the events. This turns out not to be the case, well, at least not in simple testing.

    Of course, I have these uploaded into SmugMug's category-subcategory-gallery organization, but when publicly showing them this way, I lose any options for favorites, and manually resorting the gallery thumbnails. Not to mention we dove headfirst into Event Marketing and don't display any of our images from the Category views.

    Does anyone have any ideas how I can leverage the power of Events when I have a large number of galleries?

    Thanks, Drew

    I've created a basic Category List page so you can get an idea what we're up against...
    http://www.mybotpix.com/2012RRVFSC/Category-List
    Drew Lockwood
    ---
    www.mybotpix.com (smugmug)
    www.botpix.com (wordpress)
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2012
    bpaulette wrote: »
    I love the fact that the little heart icon shows up in the main galleries (with all shots) - but whats the point of displaying the heart icon on top of image thumbnails inside of that person's "favorites" gallery?

    Once they're viewing their favorites, they know that they're looking at the favorites, and don't need to be reminded/distracted with pages full of heart icons over their pics.

    Any way to turn that off, once they're viewing the favorites?
    Hi and welcome to Dgrin! wave.gif

    This sounds like a great idea. Would you mind adding that as a suggestion to our feedback pages?
    http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug
    That way other users can vote and comment on your suggestion, and it helps us to keep track of all suggestions made.
    Thanks!
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited February 16, 2012
    botpix wrote: »
    Now on to the problem... We've just finished a figure skating event containing 134 galleries, and over 35,000 images. I've got them broken down into 8 Events, one for each category of skating (Compulsory, Artistic, etc.) and was hoping that once registered, a client could add favorites from any of the events. This turns out not to be the case, well, at least not in simple testing.
    Each event is separate and customers can only register on a per event basis and select their favorites for that event. I'm sorry, but it's not possible to treat multiple events as a combined one.
    At this point in time no hierarchy is available within events and you can only add individual galleries to an event.
    Maybe you could add your use case as a feature suggestion to our feedback pages?
    http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug
    Thanks!
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • botpixbotpix Registered Users Posts: 29 Big grins
    edited February 16, 2012
    Each event is separate and customers can only register on a per event basis and select their favorites for that event. I'm sorry, but it's not possible to treat multiple events as a combined one.
    At this point in time no hierarchy is available within events and you can only add individual galleries to an event.
    Maybe you could add your use case as a feature suggestion to our feedback pages?
    http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug
    Thanks!

    Well I ended up sacrificing hierarchy for Favorites and put everything in one gallery (manually sorted to try and alleviate some of the pain). Adding some additional layout controls and maybe just simple grouping, would be a terrific addition to the event marketing.

    Another thing I noticed, is the event description is not capable of passing on any basic html coding like in the gallery description. Has anyone found a work around? I'd like to be able to just format the text at a minimum.

    I'll put together a suggestion for the feedback page. Thanks.
    Drew Lockwood
    ---
    www.mybotpix.com (smugmug)
    www.botpix.com (wordpress)
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited February 19, 2012
    botpix wrote: »
    Another thing I noticed, is the event description is not capable of passing on any basic html coding like in the gallery description. Has anyone found a work around? I'd like to be able to just format the text at a minimum.
    Sorry, it doesn't look like that's supported. Might be another thing you could add to the feedback page.
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • ShutterAddictShutterAddict Registered Users Posts: 14 Big grins
    edited April 17, 2012
    Is it possible to receive notification when a client makes changes to their personal event page? For example - right now I have multiple events and participants but some of those participants have yet to choose any favorites. When they add to their gallery I would like to receive some kind of notification. What kind of notification is of less importance right now. This way I don't have to go through the process of drilling down to a specific event page every time I want to check their status. So far I cannot find any way to do this either as an option or as a hack. Please let me know if I have missed it.
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited April 18, 2012
    Is it possible to receive notification when a client makes changes to their personal event page? For example - right now I have multiple events and participants but some of those participants have yet to choose any favorites. When they add to their gallery I would like to receive some kind of notification. What kind of notification is of less importance right now. This way I don't have to go through the process of drilling down to a specific event page every time I want to check their status. So far I cannot find any way to do this either as an option or as a hack. Please let me know if I have missed it.
    You don't have to drill down to each participant's event page to see if they have selected favorites. You can see that directly from your event page looking at the "participants and registered guests" section. It shows you how many favorites a person has selected and you can directly access their favorites gallery from there as well.

    There is currently no notification option on that.
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • ShutterAddictShutterAddict Registered Users Posts: 14 Big grins
    edited April 18, 2012
    You don't have to drill down to each participant's event page to see if they have selected favorites. You can see that directly from your event page looking at the "participants and registered guests" section. It shows you how many favorites a person has selected and you can directly access their favorites gallery from there as well.

    There is currently no notification option on that.

    True enough. I do use that and should have worded my post better. That page would be ideal to use for notifications as it already tracks the changes.
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited April 19, 2012
    True enough. I do use that and should have worded my post better. That page would be ideal to use for notifications as it already tracks the changes.
    You could add your suggestion to our feedback pages:
    http://feedback.smugmug.com/forums/17723-smugmug
    That way other users can vote and comment on your suggestion, and it helps us to keep track of all suggestions made. Thanks!
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • AperturePlusAperturePlus Registered Users Posts: 374 Major grins
    edited April 26, 2012
    It's a great feature SM. Well done.

    I was playing with it this morning and one thing has me confused. I created a Test event, and I placed an existing gallery into it. I password protected the Event and invited myself (a different email address to my registered address) into the event.

    Now that I went to delete the event from the CP, the event still shows up on my logged in HP. If I go back to manage events, none exist. How do I remove it from my HP, seeing that it doesn't exist anymore?

    Another question... the participant's favourites gallery was created, as expected, but now that the event has been deleted, how do I delete the favourite gallery, without deleting the photographs in the gallery. When I select delete gallery (the participant's favourite gallery, that is) it says "delete gallery and all images". I presume that it doesn't delete the images from the gallery itself, but the links to them within the participants favourites?

    As a matter of interest, why do the participants favourites show up in the gallery section of my HP? If I am running 5 events simultaneously with 5 participants in each event, from the homepage, it is going to be really confusing to figure who belongs to what event. Should the favourites not be placed (on the HP) in the event section itself, underneath the event? As an example, with 25 active participants in my example above, you could have three participants called Dave. If you wanted to go to one event to see what was being favourited in that event, you would first have to figure out which Dave was from that event, or am I missing something here?
  • rainforest1155rainforest1155 Registered Users Posts: 4,566 Major grins
    edited April 26, 2012
    Thanks for your detailed feedback.

    1. Actually, I just tried this on my site and while I initially saw what you reported, the deleted event was removed from the "featured events" box after a while. You just have to give it some time to update, I think. If you still have an issue, email us at the HelpDesk:
    http://help.smugmug.com/

    2. Event favorites are not deleted when an event is deleted. That's a safety net so you can't accidentally delete your client's favorite selections.
    An event favorite gallery is just a set of collected photos. The event feature doesn't add any physical photos to such galleries. So if you don't need the event favorite gallery anymore, you could just delete the gallery. Deleting a gallery just containing collected photos, won't delete the original photos. The warning on the delete gallery screen only applies to photos that you uploaded or moved into the gallery.

    3. Event favorite galleries are automatically added to the "Event favorites" category. They are unlisted by default and that means logged out visitors to your site won't see them. Only you as the logged in account owner can see the Event favorites category.

    If you don't want to, you don't have to access event favorites via your homepage. You could just go via the control panel > pros tab > events screen, pick the event you're interested in. Then you have direct access to the event favorites of each participant / registered guest.
    Sebastian
    SmugMug Support Hero
  • AperturePlusAperturePlus Registered Users Posts: 374 Major grins
    edited April 26, 2012
    Hi Sebastian. The Event has been on my HP for over 8 hours now, so I don't think that it's going anywhere!

    Thanks also for the feedback on the favourite galleries. I just wanted to make sure before I deleted anything.

    On your Point 3, mine appear on my HP in the gallery section. When you say "event favourites section" - all I see is my normal Gallery section on my HP, which has the event favourites in it. I also see a "Featured Events", which has my test event not going away.

    It's a little confusing for the reasons mentioned earlier. Is this where they should be appearing, or do they go into a different section on the HP?
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