Quick start discussion board 5 step process

Creating your first discussion board

1. Select the Create a new board link or button.
2. The wizard window will be displayed: Create new discussion board.
3. The first step in the wizard is to enter the schedule details. Please note: in order to send invitations to participants in your discussion board you must first create a project list from the Member Panel.
4. Name - Name of the board. Note that this name is used by you to identify the board and is also visible to the board participants as the board name.
5. Visibility:
• Private - By selecting 'private' for the boards visibility, the participants posts will only be visible to the participant making the post, administrators, moderators and observers  - participants will not be able to see each others comments.
• Public - By selecting 'public' for the boards visibility, the participants posts will be visible to all participants, observers, moderators and administrators for that board.
  
  Please note: you will also have the option to mark individual board topics as private, or public and this will override the current board setting.
  
6. Participants - You can select the participants from your project lists now or later. These participant lists are taken from the project lists section in your Group Quality Panel Manager. The project list will include the participants, moderators and observers for the board you are creating.
7. Board Description - This is an internal descriptor of the board and is not visible to participants.
8. Board Theme - You can create a custom theme to add to your discussion board or use the default theme provided.
9. Intercept board - All participants to register by clicking on an website link and filling in a short registration form.
10. Maximum intercept participants - This is the number of participants you are permitting to register for a discussion using the intercept link.
11. Include registration form Captcha - Protects intercept registrations against spam by generating a test humans can pass but computer programs cannot.
12. Schedule - you have the option of starting the board manually or by scheduling the board for activation and completion at a particular time and day.
• Start the board manually - ticking this check box will mean that you will start the board manually at a time and date of your choosing.
• Timezone - select the time zone you wish to use for this board.
• Start Date - used to schedule automatic starting of the discussion board. Enter the start date & time.
• End Date - used to schedule automatic completion of the discussion board. Enter the end date & time.
13. Select the Save & continue button to move to the next step, or the Cancel button where the information you have entered in the previous window will be discarded and the you will be returned to the Dashboard.
14. Selecting the Save & exit wizard  button to save the board in draft mode and take you to the boards newly created dashboard. you can choose to enter further details at a later time.

Step 2: Introduction

The next step in the wizard you will be required to add the Introduction to the board. This is what participants see when they first log in to the board after accepting your invitation. The introduction should include a brief summary of the board's general topic and any ground rules for participating in the board activity.

Step 3: Options

In this next step you can add some custom options to your board. There are many great features to choose from, including setting the board to be anonymous, which assigns participant aliases instead of the participant's listed name.

Step 4: Discussion plan

In this next step you crate your discussion plan, or use one that you have already created.

1. Select the Create a new plan button. A window will appear which will ask you for a plan name, add a plan name and select to save.
2. You can now add plan discussion items to your plan. Please note: to review more on creating plan items please review the section discussion board plans - discussion guides.

Step 5: Communication

The final step in the process enables you to customise the invitation and reminder message sent to participants. We have included some default messages with important information in them, and suggest you keep as much of the original message as possible - including the participant browser check link.

You will also have the opportunity to add an organiser name and contact details.

It is important that you enter both an organiser name - this could be your name, the name of the business or organisation. Also add a contact email address for participants to contact if they have any questions. These details will be seen on the discussion board login screen.