Kickoff 2021-2022

Invention Convention

zFairs Kickoff for 2021-2022 Below you will find useful information as you prepare for this years Invention Convention!

New Features & Updates

Here is a few highlights of some of the bigger changes we have made over the last few months.

• Video Conferencing & Judging
• Report Viewer
• Registration forms overhaul
• Bypass confirm email
• People page additional search options
• Login As (coming soon)
• Additional enhancements and features coming... Upcoming Features

Archiving Last Year's Contest

Helpful Tips on Getting Ready for your Next Event

1. Archive Users
   • NOTE: If you are planning on doing any testing or training in the system it is often helpful to have data avaialble. We recommend waiting to Archive Users till you are done with everything else and a week or so prior to registration opening up again
   1. Go to Staff -> Archive Fair
   2. Select the User Types you would like to clear out - Participants/Students are selected by default and cannot be deselected
   3. Enter your username - The fair will not be cleared if you don't do this
   4. Click Clear Fair
   5. Review your people page to make sure everything looks as expected
2. Update Scheduled Dates
   1. Go to Staff -> Fair Setup -> Schedule
   2. Revise the dates there as needed

      If you don't have a late registration period set this date to be the same as Registration Ends

3. Update Home Page Content

   See Anchor Points for tips on using a helpful feature

   Method 1

   1. Go to the page you would like to edit
   2. Click the Edit button next to your username
   3. Double click somewhere in the page you are wanting to edit
   4. Make the needed changes

   Method 2

   1. Go to Staff -> Fair Setup -> Customize Text
   2. Select the page you would like to edit
   3. Update the page as desired

4. Review / Update General information
   1. Go to Staff -> Fair Setup -> General Information
   2. Review and revise the information there as needed
5. Review / Update Rubrics & Rounds
   1. Go to Judging -> Setup -> Rubrics/Rounds
   2. Review and Revise the content in each Rubric as needed
   3. Review the Dates set for Scheduled Interviews on each round

Video Conferencing

If you are needing to run or host a virtual / in person or mix contest this year as you deal with the challenges of this world. zFairs makes it easy, we have video conferencing built into our platform which can be used by students, judges, and your staff.

For more information checkout our Virtual Tools and Virtual Judging

Help, Support, Customer Success, and Ticketing

We want to provide the best and faster support possible, we answer many help tickets each day and work to respond as quickly as possible.

For the best possible support we request that you submit a ticket for support at tickets.zfairs.com this allows multiple team members to work on it, it also helps prevent it form falling through the cracks.

Our support line is there to support you, please do not send your participants to us for support even if it is zFairs related. You will need to ack as the in-between. Keep in mind we have tried to enable you to help your users. Did you know you can help them change their usernames and passwords and so much more.

Our Focus

We have made it our focus to simplify and streamline not only our tools but the process around doing a project or an invention that may be submitted to a contest.

Making It Simple

We are streamlining the way that zFair sites are configured so that there isn't as much of a setup learning curve and time cost. Our goal is to get it to where a new site and or a new year setup will take less than 5 minutes from start to finish. Below are just a few of the related features we will be adding to accomplish this.

• Setting / Configuration Search
• Setup Wizard
• Setting UI Enhancements
• Hiding of settings that don't apply for the features you have enabled

Project App

The Project App is the tool that students will use to help them walk through an Invention Logbook. Learn more about our Early Access or check it out at Project.zFairs.com