Events: Creating an Event

Handshake events help your institution connect students with employers and campus resources. You can create a single event or a recurring series for any event type, including group appointments.

Create an event 

Event details

Complete the following fields on the Event details page:

• Name: Enter the event name as it will appear to students and in reporting (85 character maximum).
• Description: Enter a clear, concise description that includes an agenda (2,500 character maximum).
• Event type: Select Workshop, Info Session, Group Appointment, Networking, Speaking/Panel, Employer On-Site, Mock Interview, Classroom Presentation, or Other.
• Career Center: If your institution has multiple career centers, select the one associated with this event.
• Organizer 
  • Career center: If your institution has multiple career centers, select the one associated with this event. 
  • Contacts: Add the contacts associated with the event. Their contact information is shown to students attending the event. You can add more than one contact. Search for a Handshake user or click Create it here to add a contact manually.
• Date and time: Set the timing for a single event or a recurring series.

  • For a single event, complete:

    • Start date: Enter the event’s start date and time.
    • End date: Enter the event’s end date and time.
    • Timezone: Select the event’s time zone.

  • For a recurring series, select Make this a series,then complete:

    • First event date: Enter the date of the first event.
    • Start time: Enter the start time.
    • End time: Enter the end time.
    • Timezone: Select the events’ time zone.
    • Under Series details, configure:
      • Repeats every: Choose how many weeks between events.
      • On: Select the weekdays when the events will occur.
      • Ends: Enter the series end date, no more than six months after the first event date.
• Event location
  • Select In person or Virtual only.
  • If In person is selected:
    • Room: Select the room on campus where the event will be held. If your room is not listed, add it via the Rooms tab on the School Settings page.
    • Event location: Enter the city and state where the event is hosted.
    • This in-person event can also be attended virtually: Check this box if attendees can join virtually, then enter the Virtual attendance link.
  • If Virtual only is selected:
  • Virtual attendance link: Enter the external link students will use to join the event. Students can access this link through the Join Video button on the event page.
• Event Request Survey: If a registration survey has been added to your institution’s event preferences, it will appear on this page automatically. For more information, refer to School Settings: Event Preferences.

Click Next Step: Visibility and Branding to proceed.

Visibility and branding

Complete the following fields:

• Image: Your institution's logo appears by default. To upload a custom image, click Change Image. To remove the image, click Delete Image. For image dimensions, refer to the Handshake Image Size Guide.
• Employer Attendees: Add any employers attending the event. Students can see which employers are attending, and participating employers will have the event appear on their Events page. For more information, refer to Events: Inviting Employers.
• Event category: Select up to two categories to help students find your event. Employer-related categories become available only after an employer is added.
  • Academic resources: Orientation, study abroad, major exploration, on-campus employment, graduate resources
  • General topics: General topics of interest, not specifically related to career guidance or hiring
  • Career guidance: Resumes, mock interviews, workshops, advising, career education, professional development, mentorship programs
  • Networking: Socials, meet and greets, cookouts, mixers
  • Active hiring :Active recruiting for internships and full-time opportunities
  • Learn about employers: Info sessions, speakers, panels
  • Career fair related: All events associated with career fairs, including events leading up to and after career fairs
  • Conferences: Conferences, expos, summits, tradeshows, symposiums
• Featuring Alumni?: Select Yes to add up to five alumni attending the event. For each alumnus, you can include:
  • Upload Image (optional)
  • Full Name
  • Graduation Year
  • Major
  • Current Company
  • Short Bio (optional, 500 character limit)

Click + Add more to add additional alumni, or Remove alumni to clear all information for an entry.

Click Next Step: Attendance to proceed.

Attendance

Complete the following fields:

• Student welcome message (optional): Toggle on to include a custom message in the confirmation email students receive after registering.
• Admission: Select Free or Paid.

  • If Paid is selected, enter the Student Price and Employer Price. Choose USD, GBP, or EUR.

• Invite only: Check this box to restrict event visibility to students you invite through Handshake. Students who have not been invited will not be able to find or register for the event. For more information, refer to Events: Make an Event Invite Only.
• Student registration: Set a registration window using the Start date and End date fields. If left blank, registration will open when the event is published. 
  • Note: If a future start date is set, students will not be able to register and will receive the message: "Registration is currently closed."
  • Limit how many students can register: Check this box to set a registration cap, then enter the number of students allowed. This is disabled with external registrations.
  • Open waitlist when limit is reached: Check this box to display a waitlist option when the registration limit is reached. For more information, refer to Waitlists for Fairs & Events.
    • Automatically move students off the waitlist in the order they joined (recommended): Students are transferred from the waitlist to registration automatically when a spot opens.
    • Manually move students off the waitlist: You will need to manually move students from the waitlist when a spot opens.
    • Students register on an external website: Check this box if students must register outside of Handshake. Students will be redirected to the external link when they click Register. 
      • Note: Waitlists are not available with this option, and registrations will no longer be tracked in Handshake.
        • External registration link: The link students will use to register externally.
• Surveys: 
  • Registration survey: Attach a survey for students to complete when registering.
  • Post-event survey: Attach a survey that Handshake automatically sends to all event registrants after the event ends. For more information, refer to Attendees: Sending a Post-Event Survey
• Name tag (optional): Toggle on to sync a printer to Handshake to print name tags for your in-person event upon student check-in. For more information, refer to Printing Attendee Name Tags.
• Participating institutions: Add other institutions whose students can register for this event. Students from added institutions will be able to find and register for the event in Handshake.

Publish an event or save a series

After completing the event form:

• For a single event: Click Publish event to publish the event.
• For a recurring series: Click Save as pending. The series remains unpublished until you approve it.