Events: Creating an Event

Events are a helpful feature that employers can use to connect with students through workshops, networking opportunities, virtually and more. Follow the steps outlined in this article to create a new event in Handshake.

Note: as of June 2022, we've redesigned our Event Creation form.

1. Click Events on the left navigation bar. A list of all approved upcoming events with your school will appear.

• Tip: use the filters on the left side of the screen to narrow down your search (for example, if you want to use information from a past event). Use the Include Past Events or Include Declined Events to include those events as well. 

2. Click New Event in the upper-right corner of the screen.

3. Fill out the following information on the Event details page: 

• Name: this is the name of the event that'll appear to students and in reporting.
• Description: provide a brief description about the event, including any details or specifics that you'd prefer (maximum of 2500 characters).
• Type: select the type of event you'll be hosting. 
  • Workshop
    
  • Info Session
    
  • Group Appointment
    
  • Networking
    
  • Speaking/Panel
    
  • Employer On-Site
    
  • Mock Interview
    
  • Classroom Presentation
  • Other
• Career Center: if you have multiple career centers on campus, you'll want to include the career center for the event.
• Contacts: the contact(s) that should be linked to the event. Use the search bar to find a user in Handshake, or click the link Create it here to manually add a contact. 
• Date and Time:
  • Start Date: the start date and time of the event.
  • End Date: the end date and time of the event.
  • Time zone: the timezone the event is hosted in.
• Location: choose from the options of In-Person and Virtual.
  • If In-person is selected, add the required information:
    • Room: the room on campus that the event will be held in.
    • Event Location: the city/state the event is hosted in.
    • This in-person event can also be attended virtually: check this box if attendees can attend virtually.
      • Virtual Attendance Link: the external link to the virtual event setting.
  • If Virtual only is selected:
    • Virtual Attendance Link: the external link to the virtual event setting.
• Event Request Survey: if a registration survey has been added to your institution's Event Preferences, the survey will be included.
  • For more information on Event Request Surveys, refer to School Settings: Event Preferences.

4. Click Next Step: Visibility and branding to proceed.

• Description: highlight details about the event.
• Image: your institution's logo will appear by default. There's also an option to upload a new image as a custom logo for this event. For dimensions refer to, Handshake Image Size Guide
• Employer attendees: add any employer that's attending the event (if applicable). This will help Handshake recommend the event to students, and display the employer logos on the event page. Added employers will have the event added to their Upcoming events list. Learn more in Events: Inviting Employers.
• Event Category: select up to two categories to help students find your event. The employer-related categories will only become clickable if an employer is added to the event. Some categories are selectable for both the school and the employer
  • Academic resources (School category)
  • General topics (School Category) 
  • Career guidance (School or Employer Category)
  • Networking (School or Employer Category)
  • Active Hiring (Employer Category)
  • Learn about employers (Employer Category)
  • Career fair related (Employer Category)
  • Conferences (Employer Category)
• Featuring Alumni?: choose from the options of No and Yes. 
  • If Yes is selected:
    • Add information about alumni: use this section to include up to 5 alumni that will attending the event
    • Upload Image: add an image of the alumni (optional)
    • Full Name: the full name of the alumni
    • Graduation Year: the year the alumni graduated from their institution
    • Major: the alumni's major
    • Current Company: the company that this alumni works for
    • Short Bio: include a short biography about the alumni (optional, 500 character limit)
      • +Add more: add an additional alumni
      • Remove alumni: click on this to automatically remove all the alumni information for the alumni above

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5. Click Next Step: Attendance to proceed. 

• Student welcome message: add a message to be included in the email students get after registering for your event.
• Student Admission: choose from the options of Free and Paid.
  • If Paid is selected:
    • Student Price: enter a USD amount that students will need to pay for the event.
    • Employer Price: enter a USD amount that employers will need to pay for the event.
• Is there a maximum number of students that can attend?: if you designate a limit and the capacity is met, students will have an option to join the waitlist. Enter "0" if you don't wish to set a maximum limit for the event.
• Invite Only: check the box to make it invite only. Students invited to this event will be able to register. For more information regarding invite-only events, refer to Events: Make an Event Invite Only.
• Student Registration Start Date: set a registration start date for students to sign-up. If fields are left blank, registration will open when you publish the event
  • Note: if you specify a start date that's in the future, students won't be able to register, and will receive the following message: "Registration is currently closed"
• Student Registration End Date: when the final date for student registrations is.
• External Registration: check this box if students are required to register outside of Handshake. Students will be redirected to the external registration link (like Eventbrite) when they click "Register" in Handshake. 
  • External Registration Link: include an external registration link for students to register for this event. If this is chosen, registrations will no longer be tracked in Handshake.
• Attendee Survey: include a survey for students to complete when registering. The questions come from a survey that you or a staff member created in Handshake. To create a survey to attach, refer to Creating and Testing Surveys.
• Name Tag (optional): click the toggle if you'd like attendees to print a name tag at the event. For more information on printing name tags, refer to Printing Attendee Name Tags.
• Participating institutions: if other institutions are attending the event, add them so that  students from other participating institutions will be able to register for this event.

6. Click Publish event to finalize the event creation.

Note: If you register a student from the waitlist, the student will receive a confirmation email alerting them of the registration. For more information, refer to Waitlists for Fairs & Events.