How to create a Unified Participant List for TownVOTE Hybrid session

PROBLEM

Starting with EZ-VOTE Connect version 3.0.257, we have implemented a Unified Participant List (UPL) that combines and simplifies management of your participants who may or may not be present in-person and may decide to connect to your voting session online, from their own devices.

Previously, there needed to be an Offline Participant List (OPL) of ONLY the keypads, plus you would create a Participant Group in your CloudVOTE account that would only contain people who you know are coming to your session remotely. This was hard to manage, because often people decided to go online just before the meeting started, or even in the middle of the meeting, etc.

SOLUTION

With Unified Participant List (UPL), you will only ever need one (single) list of participants and each participant will have a Keypad and WebPad combined into a single Identity, so they can decide how they want to vote - remotely, or in-person. No need for the Operator (you) to add or remove people as they come and go, while still maintaining the integrity and security of the voting - allowing only a single vote from each voter, no matter how they cast it.

In effect, each participant will now have an 'identity' that is represented by a Keypad ID (offline) and Unique ID (online) that is matched to their name, or other identifying element in your UPL. If the participant decides to use the online Unique ID, the keypad stops working, and if they never log in online, the keypad is the only way to vote in person.

WHAT'S NEW

To set up the Unified Participant List, you'll simply add a new column to your existing list: Keypad ID. You can name it anything you want, but it must contain a simple, whole keypad number, such as "1" or "3215", and using the Manage Columns feature, you'll specify that it's the field to be used for "Offline/Keypad Support"

You'll still need the Unique ID column that contains the online login information for each voter, but again, you can name it anything you want, as long as this is the required online login field that you specify via Manage Columns.

Attached are two CSV files that you can use as your template. One has an extra column called "Category" which is completely optional and can be used to record information that you'll use to sort the Voting Grid, or the Excel report output file by.

HOW TO CREATE AN UPL

To generate truly unique online logins (IDs), you can use existing information that you may be using in your current database of participants, such as a Member ID, Voter ID, etc. as long as it's not a public knowledge. The last thing you need is someone using someone else's login to cast a vote for them.

NOTE: Avoid using information that is part of public knowledge, or can be easily deduced from the voter's identity, such as name, initials, date of birth, date of joining the organization, etc. For example, a great Unique ID is G45U, but if the person's name is Jack Smith and the year they joined is 2005, then JS2005 would be a very weak login.

Here's a great online random number generator (external link) that can be customized to create Unique IDs that are hard to guess. In the screenshot below, we used a six-character ID, but it can be anything you want - the key is to keep is simple enough for a human to remember and enter without spelling errors, and long enough so it's not too easy to guess at random.

These are some sample parameters you can use to generate your own data:

Once you have the Unique IDs, create the new CSV file in Excel, and add the necessary (and optional) fields you need. See the attached CSV templates you can customize.

TIP: If your participant names contain special characters, we recommend that you save the file using the "CSV UTF-8" format to prevent any loss of fidelity.

After import, click the Manage Columns button (or you can do it later, in the TownVOTE app) and select which columns need to be visible to the participants during login, which of those fields will be required, and which will be visible only to the Operator (you).

TIP: do not make the login difficult, but maintain your desired level of security. You already have two built-in security levels that cannot be skipped: The participant must know the Event Code, which is unique to your organization and no one else can use it or see it. The second level is the identification of each voter, and here, you can require one or multiple fields to match exactly as it is written in the database (Participant List you just imported), or just require one or two, and we'll match the rest to the record found in the database.

For example, if a record in your database is "Joseph Smith" and First Name is marked as a required field, if they enter "Joe" instead, they won't be able to log in. Same with "Rob", "Bob" and "Robert" and many other names. Therefore, leaving First Name and Last Name as Optional fields, and making the Unique ID 'required' ensures that no matter the spelling of their name, as long as the entered ID is correct, they will go right into the session.

We also ignore any redundant spacing before and after the login and the capitalization doesn't matter, so the login experience is as smooth as possible. 

Lastly, you MUST select the one field that will be used to identify the Keypad numbers (IDs) and check the "Offline Support" radio button there.

Create the new Participant Group by going to the Participant Groups tab, and click the Create Group button.

TIP: when using the Random Number Generator, use the Prefix field to generate Unique IDs with a prefix that will be different for different groups of people, so that you can use it (e.g., "CR" in the "Random Number Generator" screenshot above) to filter the imported items by it. This quickly narrows down the Global List participants to only the smaller subset of data you need to create the desired Participant Group for the upcoming meeting.

For example, if your Global List database includes 500+ Participants, but for the next meeting, you only need 13 of them with a prefix "GG" to vote, when creating a group, filter the Global List by typing "GG" into the Search field and a shortlist will be created that you can select and add to the "New Group" all at once:

After the Participant Group is created, you don't need to export or import it - it is automatically available for you to sync through the TownVOTE app.

Open TownVOTE, navigate to the Participants page, and click on the Online/WebPads tab. Then click the Refresh Participant Groups button and select the group you just created online from the drop-down list:

Stay on the Online/WebPads tab and use the second drop-down to select which fields from those available in the database you want to see in the Participant Grid (Voting Grid). The order in which you select the items matters: First Name, Last Name is different from Last Name, First Name:

You're now ready to switch back to the Agenda page and start your Hybrid Session. Choose whether to use a moderator or if you're going to manage less than fifty people online, you can probably do it by yourself.

We recommend that you use multiple external screens - one of which can show the Operator Panel at all times, and another to show the Projector View window with your Voting Grid, which will also be projected/duplicated on the big screen and/or Zoom/Teams stream.

Moderators are people you set up in your CloudVOTE account (my.cloudvote.com) so that you can later invite them to help you manage the session. Today, we offer the role of a Participant Moderator, but in the future, there will be ways to invite colleagues to help you with more than that.

Add a moderator and select the type of role they will play. Click Add Moderator, then Finish when you're done.

You can list as many moderators as you want in CloudVOTE:

Back in the TownVOTE app, only select the one you need for the actual session you're about to start:

As you start the meeting, you'll see a few screens telling you that we're preparing the session for you:

And then finally, verify that an online/hybrid session has been started because the Start Hybrid Session button has turned into Stop Hybrid Session and your Event Code (Join Code) is shown at the bottom as well.

TIP: Make sure to connect the base receiver to your computer and wait until the Connectivity Indicator turns green.

From this point forward, use the voting functions as you would with any other offline session (with just keypads).

Did this answer your questions and provide a solution? Let us know below.