Creating and Managing Slate.org Visits

 Population: School Counselors and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs). This article explains visit creation and visit management for school counselors at secondary schools and users who are associated with community-based organizations.

Slate.org facilitates admissions counselor visits to secondary schools and community-based organizations by providing a centralized visit calendar that colleges and universities can use to plan their visits. Secondary schools and community-based organizations are able to configure their availability, set registration limits and deadlines, and approve or decline any registrant. 

Managing your visit calendar is easy in Slate.org - you can add your institution's iCal feed or your personal calendars to overlay any important appointments or dates so that your visits can be created to reflect your actual availability. Slate.org visits can also be exported as an iCal feed and displayed within any external calendar that supports iCal, such as Google or Outlook.

The sections below will demonstrate how to create and manage your institution's visits within Slate.org.

Visit Creation

All visits with the Confirmed/Active status that are configured to display publicly can be seen by any college or university that is using Slate.org. In addition to the specific visit information, users at these institutions who are registering for your visits will also be able to view any visit notes that your institution has entered and the school profile uploaded on your Institution Profile.

To create a visit in Slate.org, navigate to Visits  and follow the instructions below:

1. Click the New Visit button.

2. Configure the following initial settings:

• Title - Provide a public name for your visit (e.g., Lunchtime Visit).
• Status - Colleges and universities will only be able to view and register for visits that are Confirmed/Active. If you are not ready for the visit to be available for registration yet, set the status to Tentative for now and update it later when you are ready.
• Date - Specify a start date and time and an end date and time for the visit.
• Recurrence - If you have a pattern of visits (e.g., every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00 am to 11:00 am), you can use the recurrence setting to add multiple visits at once. These visits are batch created, but they must be edited individually later if any settings need to change. When creating multiple visits at once, some of the visit settings are updated to be more generic. These generic settings are described in the section below.
• Registration Deadline - Colleges and universities can only register or update their registrations before the registration deadline. Specify the date and time that you would like registration and updates to be cut off. If this setting is left blank, the start time of the visit will be used as the deadline.
• Timezone - The timezone of the visit will default to your institution's timezone, but it can be adjusted for specific visits if necessary.
• Registration Limit - This setting will configure the number of colleges and universities who can attend the same visit. Once the number of confirmed registrants meets this number, the visit will no longer be available for registration.
• Privacy - Visits that are configured as private will only be visible to colleges and universities that have been invited to the specific visit. Use this setting for any exclusive visits that you would like to host.
  
  When creating multiple visits with the Recurrence setting, the options change slightly due to settings being generalized:
  
• Date Range - Rather than picking one specific date, when creating multiple visits, you must specify a date range when the visits should occur.
• Registration Deadline - Rather than picking a specific date and time for the deadline for each visit, you will instead configure the deadline based on the number of hours before the visit begins. For example, to prevent registrations and cancellations occurring less than two days in advance, enter 48. If this is left blank, the start time of the visit will be used.
• Weekdays - Pick the day(s) of the week that the visits should occur. For example, if you enter a three month period in the date range, visits would only be created on the specific weekdays selected here.
• All other configurations will be exactly the same for each visit created. This includes the following settings:
  • Time
  • Title
  • Status
  • Timezone
  • Registrant Limit
  • Privacy
  • Location
  • Description
  • Internal Notes

3. Click the Location tab to update the location of the visit. By default, this will be set to your institution's address.

4. Click the Description tab to add a description of the visit. The description is optional and can be used to convey visit-specific details not included in your Notes to Visitors. When entered, registrants will be able to see the description of your visit.

5. Click the Internal Notes tab to add internal notes about a visit. These notes are not visible to registrants.

6. Click Save to create the visit(s).

Visit Management

All of your institution's visits appear on the visit calendar on the Visits  page. 

Visit Calendar

The visit calendar can be used to view your institution's Slate.org visits as well as appointments on other calendars that are imported via the Calendars link. Use the month, week, and day buttons to change the date range visible on the calendar. The left arrow and right arrow buttons will change the date range displayed on the calendar. Use the today button to return to the current date in the calendar view.

Add Calendars to Slate.org

Any number of external iCal feeds can be added to your Slate.org visit calendar to help you avoid conflicts with school holidays, test dates, and other important appointments. Follow the steps below to add an external calendar:

1. Click Calendars.

2. Paste the external calendar URL into the Add Calendar by URL text box. 

Note: Google and Outlook have additional support resources to help you find your calendar's iCal URL.

Note: You can quickly add the US Holidays calendar by clicking the US Holidays link at the top of the popup window.

3. Click the Add link next to the text box to fetch the calendar details, including the name of the calendar.

4. Add the calendar name in the text box if the fetch did not include a calendar name. You may update this name at any time.

Note: The Add link changes to Del once the calendar as been added. Click Del to remove the calendar from your Slate.org visit calendar.

5. Click the color box next to the text box to open a color palette. Select any color on the palette to display this calendar's appointments in that color.

6. If desired, add additional calendars by repeating steps 1-5. When you are finished adding calendars, click Save.

Any external calendar can be toggled on or off by clicking the calendar name in the legend. Your preferences will be saved, so if you leave the Visits page or log out, your calendars will re-appear exactly as they were when you last viewed them. In the screenshot below, the US Holidays calendar is on, while the School Calendar is toggled off:

Export Slate.org Calendar

Slate.org visit information can be sent to any external calendar that supports iCal feeds, including Outlook and Google. Use the iCal Subscribe link to download your Slate.org iCal feed, then open it using your external calendar.

Visit Management Page

Click on any Slate.org visit on your calendar to be taken to the Visit Management page. This page allows you to edit individual visit settings, view and manage registrants, invite colleges and universities, and send co-host invitations. To update any of the settings that were entered when creating the visit, click the Edit button.

 What happens if I change the status of a visit? If you change the status after a registrant exists, you will receive a popup window asking you to confirm this change. Notification of these changes will be sent to registrants' Activity Feeds. For example, if a visit is changed from Confirmed/Active to Cancelled, registrants who are either Registered or Awaiting Confirmation will be notified of the cancellation. If the visit is changed back to Confirmed/Active, these same registrants will be notified of the reinstatement of the visit. 

Registration Management

Registrants for a visit will display on the registration tabs, organized by the registration status.

• Registered - Colleges and universities that have either accepted an invitation for this visit or that have been approved to attend this visit by someone at your organization appear on the Registered tab.
• Awaiting Confirmation - Colleges and universities that have requested registration for this visit from the Open Visits page of Slate.org appear on the Awaiting Confirmation tab. These registrants need to be either accepted, declined, or rescheduled by a user at your organization.
• Declined - Colleges and universities that cancelled their registration or declined an invitation to this visit appear on the Declined tab. Additionally, registrations that were declined or rescheduled by a user at your organization will also appear on the Declined tab.
• Invited - Colleges and universities that were invited to attend the visit that have not yet replied to the invitation appear on the Invited tab. 

How will I know if colleges and universities are registering or updating a registration? Just as colleges and universities have an Activity Feed to see recent registration activity, you also have an Activity Feed on the Home  page. The Activity Feed is described in more detail in the Upcoming Visits and Visit Updates section below.

Invitations

The Invited tab, in addition to displaying pending invitations, provides the ability to invite any number of colleges and universities to the visit. If a college or university is invited to a visit, and they accept the invitation, their registration is automatically confirmed - your organization will not need to accept these registrations. 

Perform the following steps using the Invited tab to invite colleges or universities to attend your visit:

1. Click New Invitation.

2. Search for colleges and universities using the Search Colleges and Universities search box. Once you begin typing search terms, you will see a list of colleges and universities that match your search criteria.
Note: You are able to search by name, location, or CEEB code.

3. Check the boxes next to any college or university you wish to invite to this visit.

4. If an Invite Contact box appears, this means that the selected college or university is not yet using Slate.org. Simply enter the name and contact information for a person at that institution to invite that user to Slate.org.
Note: The Invite button will send an invitation to join the Slate.org community. If you proceed with inviting this institution to the visit, the user will see the visit invitation when logging in for the first time.

5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to invite any number of colleges and universities to this visit.

6. Clear the search box to view the list of currently selected colleges and universities. The Invite button at the bottom of the screen will always show an updated count of the colleges and universities selected.

7. When you are satisfied with the list of selected colleges and universities, click Invite to send the invitations.

All invited colleges and universities that have not yet responded to the invitation appear on the Invited tab. Any invitations can be deleted or rescheduled at any time by clicking on the row on the Invited tab and then selecting the action. 

Deleting the invitation will remove the invitation from the Activity Feed for the college or university. Rescheduling is applicable for any registration status, and it is explained in the section below.

Rescheduling

Any registration can be rescheduled for any reason, regardless of the registration status. For example, if you have three registration requests on the Awaiting Confirmation tab for a visit that only has two slots left, instead of simply declining the visit, you may wish to invite the college or university to visit on another day that has availability.

Use the following steps to reschedule a registrant:

1. Click on the registrant you wish to reschedule.

2. Click Reschedule Visit.

3. Select an available visit from the New Visit dropdown.

4. Click Reschedule.

Once the registration has been rescheduled, the registrant will appear on the Declined tab for the original visit and on the Invited tab for the new visit until the registrant responds to the new invitation.

Confirming, Declining, or Canceling Registrations

In addition to rescheduling registrations on the Awaiting Confirmation tab, you are also able to confirm or decline a registration. Additionally, confirmed registrations on the Registered tab can be cancelled. 

Cancelling an existing registration and declining a requested registration have the same result: the registrant will receive notification within the Slate.org Activity Feed, and the registration will move to the Declined tab.

Confirming a registration on the Awaiting Confirmation tab will send a notification to the registrant on the Slate.org Activity Feed, and the registration will move to the Registered tab.

Just as with rescheduling visits, these actions can be performed by clicking on the specific registration that you would like to update:

Then click the button associated with the action you wish to perform:

Co-Hosting

When creating visits or events, such as college fairs, you may consider inviting another school or organization to co-host the visit with you. Colleges and universities who are registering for the visit will see the information for each confirmed co-host associated with the visit. When an invited co-host accepts the co-host invitation, the co-host will have the same access to edit and update visit and registration information.

Inviting co-hosts uses a very similar process as inviting colleges and universities to attend a visit, so the steps to invite co-hosts should look familiar to you.

Perform the following steps to invite co-hosts:

1. Click Invite Co-Hosts.

2. Search for high schools using the Search High Schools search box. Once you begin typing search terms, you will see a list of high schools that match your search criteria.
Note: You are able to search by name, location, or CEEB code.

3. Check the boxes next to any high school you wish to invite to co-host this visit.

4. If an Invite Contact box appears, this means that the selected high school is not yet using Slate.org. Simply enter the name and contact information for a person at that organization to invite that user to Slate.org.
Note: The Invite button will send an invitation to join the Slate.org community. If you proceed with inviting this institution to co-host the visit, the user will see the co-host invitation when logging in for the first time.

5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to invite any number of high schools to co-host this visit.

6. Clear the search box to view the list of currently selected high schools. The Invite button at the bottom of the screen will always show an updated count of the high schools selected.

7. When you are satisfied with the list of selected high schools, click Invite to send the co-host invitations.

High Schools that have been invited to co-host will appear on the Visit Management page. Invitations that do not yet have a response will appear as Pending:

If an invited co-host declines the invitation, that will also appear in the Co-Hosts section of the page:

Upcoming Visits and Visit Updates

The Home  page in Slate.org provides an at-a-glance view of important information and updates so you don't miss anything. This page lists upcoming visits, visits with unconfirmed registrants, co-host invitations, and also an activity feed to see recent registration activity for your visits.

Upcoming Visits

The Upcoming Visits table lists visits that occur within the next 14 days. The list shows the name of the visit, the visit date and time, the number of confirmed registrants, and the number of registrants that are awaiting review by your institution. 

Click on any visit in this section to be taken to the Visit Management page to view additional details or edit the visit. 

Visits with Unreviewed Registrants

The Visits with Unreviewed Registrants table lists all visits that have at least one registration request that has not yet been confirmed or declined. Click on any visit in this section to navigate directly to the Awaiting Confirmation tab of the visit on the Visit Management page.

Co-Host Invitations

You are able to quickly view and respond to any co-host invitations that have been sent to your institution on the Home page. 

To view more information about the visit, click the invitation in the table.

In the popup, you can choose to Confirm or Decline the co-host invitation directly, or you may choose to view more information about the visit, including the description, internal notes, and registration lists by clicking on the Visit link.

While on the Visit Management page, you will have the ability to view the visit information; however, you will not be able to update registrations or edit any visit details until you confirm the invitation.

In the Invitation Status section, click the Update link to respond to the invitation directly from the Visit Management page:

If you decline a co-host invitation, you will no longer have access to the visit.

Activity Feed

The Activity Feed displays recent visit activity, including invitations; visit requests; cancellations; accepts; and declines. All activities that are associated with recent or future visits that occurred since your last login will appear in the Activity Feed, with a minimum activity history of 7 days. Any activity that occurred after your last login to Slate.org are emphasized with this icon: 

Click on any activity on the table to be taken directly to the appropriate tab on the Visit Management page to view more information.