EventPilot is designed to give you the most flexibility for using surveys and polls. For session surveys, you do not need to create a separate survey for each session. You can use a single survey, therefore a single survey URL, for all your sessions. The app can automatically send along the session ID to your survey form. When you review the survey submissions, you can differentiate the sessions by filtering by the session ID.

Web surveys are forms that can contain hidden fields or variables. These fields are not visible to users completing your form. They are designed to collect data in the background that becomes available for your analysis. 

For example, a normal HTML text input field in a form would have the following HTML: Username: <input type="text" name="username">

A hidden field can be included in your form to send specific additional information you may need in your database: <input type="hidden" name="eventname" value="ABC2019east">

The name adds an internal reference to the field so the program that handles the form can identify the field. The value defines the content that will be sent once the form is submitted.

From the app, you can dynamically set the content and pass the current ID from which the user is accessing the survey as well as the username, if the user is logged in, to your survey form. This means that you can have a generic session evaluation survey that you can set up as one media item. Associate the media ID to all sessions where you wish the survey to appear in the session detail view. When a user taps on the link to the survey, the ID from the particular session is sent along to be collected by your survey. Ensure to test your surveys and set them up so that a single user can complete multiple surveys (SurveyMonkey has settings that can limit users to only complete a survey once). 

Supported pass through values are:

1. ++USERNAME++
2. ++CURRENTID++

Note: If you are using an SSO setup, the username in our system will include a prefix typically your association in this format abc://username, for example  abc://12345.

Setup

1. In your survey tool, or working with your webmaster, determine how to create a hidden field and set the parameter name.
   1. SurveyMonkey Variables
   2. PollDaddy Custom Tags
   3. QuestionPro Custom Variables
      
      
2. Follow the instructions from your webmaster or your survey tool to add parameters to the survey URL. EventPilot supports username and current ID
   
   If your normal survey link looks like this:
   https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/your_survey
   
   Adding the pass through value, your URL would look like this:
   https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/your_survey?session=++CURRENTID++
   
   https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/your_survey?session=++CURRENTID++&user=++USERNAME++
   
   
   session would be the name you gave your custom hidden field
   ++CURRENTID++ would be replaced with the actual session ID when the user selects the survey link from within a session detail viewuser would be the name you gave your custom hidden field
   ++USERNAME++ would be replaced with the actual username when the user selects the survey link from within a session detail view, if the user is logged in
   
   
3. Add your survey as a media item in the Conference App Builder (Media tab)
   If you use the Banner media item, you could create a nice graphic for your surveys that appears below the session description.
   
   
4. Use the associated import feature to assign the media item to all the sessions (see Conference App Builder Support tab for instructions). Our team can also assist you with that.

QR Codes for Attendance Tracking

You could also use this technique to capture user's attendance by combining a form with QR codes that are placed in each session. Your attendees would scan a QR code at the door of the room and a web page would appear that displays a confirmation of their attendance. 

Here is how it works:

1. Create a QR code that links to your web script/form where the URL contains the necessary parameters. You will need one QR code per session (or per room, depending on how you track) as the code must inherently 'know' its position.
   Example URL:
   Prefilled session ID: https://www.company.org/survey?s=1234&u=++USERNAME++
   Prefilled location: https://www.company.org/survey?r=12&u=++USERNAME++
   1. It is important to keep the URL and variable names as short as possible in order to keep the QR code simple and functional in low lighting conditions or with older devices that have lower quality cameras. Use 'u' as the variable for username, use 's' as the variable for your session ID. If you create QR codes for each room, assign a 2 digit ID to each room to keep the QR code short.
2. Build your mobile optimized website to provide a confirmation to attendees. Based on the username, room location, and scan time stamp, your database administrator should be able to display correct information for your attendees:
   1. If a user is logged into the app and scanned the QR code, display a confirmation page "Thank you, <first name, last name>. Your attendance to session <session title> is confirmed." (or additional information that the user must also scan the QR code upon exiting the room to capture the amount of time spent in the session).
   2. If a user is not logged in (the 'u' field value is still ++USERNAME++), display a page that states something similar like: "In order to confirm your attendance, please first log into the app. Go to the Settings Tab from the home screen". The exact message and login instructions depend on your needs and app setup.

Prefilling a Google Form

1. Create a question labeled Session ID with the description Do not edit for users so they don't change it. You can't hide fields from users in Google Forms.
   
   
2. Click the Responses menu > Get pre-filled URL.
3. Click in the Session ID field and enter CURRENTID
4. Click Submit.
5. Copy the resulting URL which would look like this:
   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14uzYWIogJwWD_lK-BTerP-e_Ft1ANC8zYBK3rvTrSfY/viewform?entry.2141045726=CURRENTID&entry.673075446
   and change it to:
   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14uzYWIogJwWD_lK-BTerP-e_Ft1ANC8zYBK3rvTrSfY/viewform?entry.2141045726=++CURRENTID++
6. Create a media item with this URL and associate with sessions as necessary.
7. Test completing a session evaluation from the app (this only works if you are actually accessing the survey from a session, speaker or exhibitor view).

A Google Form example is included in our demo app. Install "EventPilot Conference App" from the store, enter the code "demo" and try session "5 ways to enrich your conference app". When you select the Google survey link, you will see the session ID prepopulated. To hide the field, you would want to style your Google form HTML. Please contact your web developer to manipulate the HTML.