The document discusses the development of a multiconference event management system built on Plone 5.2 for Sandia National Laboratories. It needed a system to more efficiently manage their thousands of annual global trainings and conferences involving over 6,000 participants in 107 countries. The new system prototype provided pre-configured conference subsites, registration templates, and admin roles. It was then expanded with additional features like attendee management, conference branding customization, and flexibility for both standardized and customized content. The goal is to help more groups within the organization efficiently conduct events.

1. Building a Multiconference
Event Management System on
Plone 5.2
Annette B Lewis & Janine Donnelly
SAND2020-12992 C

2. Hi there!
Annette B Lewis
Developer @ Six Feet Up, Inc.
annette@sixfeetup.com
2

3. Hello!
Janine Donnelly
International Protocol Specialist @
Sandia National Laboratories
jdonnel@sandia.gov
3

4. The Business Case
4

5. “Sandia National Laboratories conducts
thousands of trainings and large-scale
conferences annually world-wide.
5

6. 230 Global Events
In Fiscal Year 2021,
6
6200 Participants
107 Countries
1 dept with 8 people, supported:

7. Previous Process
▷ Majority of participants overseas
▷ Registration was handled via:
○ Email
○ Spreadsheets
○ Manually updated
7

8. Needed a way to:
▷ Increase efficiencies
▷ Reduce Mistakes
▷ Reduce Email traffic
▷ Provide professional updated information
to participants
8

9. Let's build
a solution!
Introducing the Multi-conference
Event Management System on Plone
5.2
9

10. The Prototype
▷ Migrate client from Plone 4 to Plone 5.2 on
Python 3
▷ Build upon ploneconf2016.policy
▷ Conference content-type
▷ Pre-configured subsite
▷ Registration form template
10

11. Evaluating the Prototype
▷ Effectiveness
▷ Usability
▷ Potential
▷ Identifying next steps
11

12. Expanding the System
Enhancing the Multiconference system
12

13. The Multiconference Core
▷ Working with multiple stakeholders
▷ Discuss diverging feature requests
▷ Identifying features that benefit the whole
▷ Establishing Milestones
13

14. Let's take a look!
A demo of the workflow.
14

15. Conference Admins
Organizer roles and permission
15

16. Conference Admins
▷ Created Conference Organizer role
▷ Ability to add Conference to portal root
▷ Can add/edit content within Conference
subsite only
▷ Cannot modify Conference created by
others
16

17. Conference Creation
Pre-configured Conference subsites
17

18. Adding a Conference
▷ Event behaviors
▷ Optional Registration Templates
▷ Automatically configured Form mailers
▷ Creates Speakers, Talks, Classes, and
Document Folders
▷ Copy templates to subsites
18

19. Conference Registration
19

20. Registration Management
▷ Optional Registration Templates
▷ Customizable Templates at Parent or Subsite level
▷ Conference-specific User Groups
▷ Attendee Management
20

21. Conference Subsites
21

22. Benefits of the Conference subsite
▷ Lineage Subsite
▷ Allows non-technical user's to create a sub-site
with ease
▷ Consistent, on-Brand Conference websites
▷ Familiar experience for returning attendees
▷ Event list feeds back to Parent site navigation
22

23. Building out a Conference
▷ Conference Landing Page
▷ Preconfigured folders with constraints on Addable
types
▷ Use parent site resources when available
▷ Control vocabularies at Conference level
23

24. The Look and Feel
24

25. Parent Site Theme
▷ Base Theme with Diazo for per site
customization
▷ Site Setting Control Panel
▷ Homepage Layout Options
○ Dexterity content-type
○ Mosaic Tiles
25

26. The Focus on Flexibility
▷ Defining the balance between
standardization and flexibility
▷ Empowering Site Admins to set the baseline
▷ Empowering Conferences Organizers to
customize
▷ Allowing the End user to own their content
26

27. “We have been using Plone for registration and collaboration
websites for 20 years, but then chose to create a
Multi-Conference System to be able to hopefully share the
system corporately to help groups outside of our
international department conduct events as well.
27

28. Thanks!
Any questions?
Where to find us:
Annette: annette@sixfeetup.com
Janine: jdonnel@sandia.gov
28