Build a virtual event page around the agenda and how to join

Where this fits, and where it doesn't

Anticode builds the page around a virtual event, not the event platform. Published pages run no scripts, so an embedded Zoom, YouTube or Vimeo player won't work on them, and there's no chat, Q&A, polls or attendee lobby. Host the stream on the platform you'd use anyway, and use the Anticode page for everything around it: the pitch, the agenda, registration and the archive. For a webinar with a single session, the webinar registration page guide is the closer fit.

An agenda in several time zones

Time zones cause more missed sessions than anything else. A page with no scripts can't convert times for each visitor automatically, so do it in the layout: pick the two or three zones most of your audience is in and show each session in all of them.

Watch for daylight-saving changes between when you publish and the event, and note the date the table was checked. Link to a converter for everyone else; a small time zone converter app built in Anticode can sit alongside the event page. Keep the sessions in a CMS collection with fields for title, speaker, times and a recording link, so changes are dashboard edits and each session can have its own page.

How to join, stated three times

1. On the page: which platform, whether people need an account or an app, and when the link is sent.
2. In the confirmation you send after registration, from your email tool.
3. On the day, by email shortly before it starts.

Don't publish the live join link on a public page unless you're happy for anyone to come in; that's how meetings get disrupted. Send it to registrants instead, and tell them on the page to look out for it, including in spam folders. Give a contact for anyone whose link hasn't arrived ten minutes before the start.

Registration

For a free event, the newsletter form (email only) is the simplest registration, and a connector can send each sign-up to Mailchimp or Kit, where you write the confirmation and the joining email. If you need names or job titles, use the contact form (name, email and a message), a custom form tied to a site function (up to 30 plain-text fields, with your own thank-you message), or build the registration as an app with the fields you want; app forms reach you through the same pipeline. Through a form connector, registrations can also go to a Google Sheet, Airtable, HubSpot or a webhook. Anticode doesn't email registrants itself.

For a paid event, put a payment link from your provider on the register button and collect the details at its checkout.

Recordings afterwards

Most people who register for online events never watch live, and many register to get the recording. Say upfront whether recordings will be available and when. Afterwards, add each recording's link to its session entry, so the agenda becomes an archive. Videos stay on the platform you uploaded them to; Anticode pages link to them.

Building it

Describe it: "a page for a two-day online summit for remote team leads, with speakers, an agenda in London, New York and Singapore time, registration and recordings later". Multi-page sites work, so speakers and the agenda can have their own pages. Technical (IBM Plex Sans) and Swiss (Inter Tight) suit professional summits.

What's missing

• No embedded stream or player. Link to the platform.
• No automatic time-zone conversion for each visitor.
• No chat, Q&A, polls or networking. Use the event platform.
• No emails to registrants from Anticode; connect an email tool.

Questions people ask

Which platform should host the stream?

Whichever your audience can reach without trouble, which is often a platform they already use at work. The page works the same with any of them.

Can registrations go straight into our CRM?

HubSpot receives submissions that include an email address; other tools can be reached through a webhook.

Can the page show a countdown?

Not on a design-engine page, which runs no scripts. State the date and time clearly instead.