Happenings FAQ - Sponsored by the Albany County Tourism Board

Q. What is the Community Calendar, Happenings?

A. The community calendar named "Happenings" is a free, online listing and event promotion service that encourages members of the community to promote their events, receive reminders and RSS feeds of upcoming events, and search for events in the Albany County area, including Laramie, Centennial, and Rock River.

The service is provided and sponsored by the Albany County Tourism Board.

If you have questions regarding the service or the policies of using the service, please call the Albany County Tourism Board office at 307-745-4195. If you have technical questions submitting an event or viewing "Happenings" on your computer, please continuing reading the FAQ. If this does not solve your problem, feel free to contact Happy Jack Software at 307-766-6177.

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Q. What browsers and settings do I need to use the service?

A. Currently, Happenings supports the following browsers:
Note: JavaScript, cookies, and popups must be enabled on all browsers for http://www.visitlaramie.org

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Q. How do I join the service?

A. Joining the service is simple. Simply select the "Join" link on the Happenings and fill in the form. You will be asked for your first and last name, your email address, and a password. Note: We respect your privacy and your email will never be given to others.
Once you have joined the service, you are automatically logged into the Happenings and you can add events, set reminders for events, and customize which events you want to view. The next time you come back to the Happenings, simply login.


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Q. Do I have to join the service?

A. No. However, if you want to add events, get reminders (via email or cell phone), customize your categories, or get notifications about new events added to the service, you must join the service. We cannot offer these features to you unless we have a valid email address.

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Q. How do I set a reminder?

A. To set reminders you must be logged into the service. Once you have selected the event you are interested in getting a reminder for, select the "Reminders" action
                           
and the Reminder window displays:
From the "Remind me" pulldown on the window, choose when you want to be reminded. Then select the reminder addresses where you want the reminder sent. (All address you have added will be listed.) "Submit" the reminder. You wiil notice a little alarm clock on the event in which you have a reminder set.


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Q. Can I send reminders to my cell phone or a different email address?

A. Yes! By default, your username (your email address) is where reminders are sent. You can add other email addresses and your cell phone by using the "Reminder Management" window.

When opened, the Reminder Management window on the Happenings has two (2) sections. The top section (Current Addresses) displays your current addresses (both email and phone) available to get reminders.
Add the email address or cell phone where you want your reminders to be sent. The bottom section (Add Addresses) gives you the ability to add other address where you can receive reminders.

Cell phone numbers and additional email addresses added must be verified. This is done by the application sending the cell phone a text message with an activation key. That activation key must entered next to the address that you want to use for reminders.


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Q. What happens when an event is changed or deleted that I have a reminder on?

A1. If the event is changed:
We try to do the right thing. First off, if we can, we automatically change your reminder. Secondly, we send you an email letting you know that the event was changed and, so too, was your reminder.

A2. If the event is deleted:

We automatically delete your reminder and we send you an email stating that your reminder was deleted.

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Q. How do I delete a reminder?

A. If there is a reminder set on an event, there will be an alarm clock icon on the event to indicate the reminder. Simply, select the reminder icon (alarm clock) and a dialog bubble will pop up giving you an opportunity to delete the reminder.



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Q. What are categories on Happenings and how do I use them?

A. Categories are ways to filter the events you view. By turning categories on and off, the user expands or reduces the number of events they view. If you join the service and are logged in and set your categories, your category settings will be saved. The next time you log in, the categories will display as you saved them.

When users come to Happenings all categories will be shown by default such as below.
This view shows all categories as "on". Every event listed will be displayed to the user.
To not show the events categorized as Festivals, Special, or Miscellaneous simply toggle the appropriate category on or off. You will notice that the events listed will decrease.


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Q. How do I search for an event?

A. There are two ways to search. A simple search and an Advanced Search.
To use the simple search, type your search criteria into the search input box on the Happenings page.
The application searches the caption, the description, and location to find matching events.


To use the Advanced Search, select the "Advanced Search" link on the Happenings page to refine your search.
The Advanced Search allows you to choose different searching criteria. You may find events based on dates, categories, and special keywords by filling in and submitting the Advanced Search form.


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Q. How do I receive RSS feeds?

A. The available RSS feeds are set by categories that you have selected. After your categories are set that indicate what RSS feeds you want, simply select the RSS action.


The RSS window will display allowing you to select your feeds.

If you have an RSS enabled browser, simply click the link of the feed name. If you don't have an RSS enabled browser, select the "Select and Copy" button and then paste that link into RSS reader.

Your web browser or RSS reader will notify you of any updated events for the selected feed.


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Q. How do I log in to Happenings?

A. You must have joined with a username and password to be able to log into Happenings. Select the Login link from Happenings and fill in the login window will display. Simply supply the username and password you used to join the service.
The login window.
You may set the "Remember Me" check box to set a cookie so that the computer remembers your username and password.
You will notice that after log in the Happenings page is customized with a "Welcome, YourName."

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Q. How do I get a printout of events?

A. To get a printout of events off of any portal page, select the events by simply clicking on the event. They will highlight. Then simply select the Print action.

You will then be asked to select your printer.

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Q. Can I send an invitation of an event to my friends?

A. Telling friends about events is easy!

Use the Send To action to invite or inform a friend to an event.
       

If you are not logged in, you can still send the event(s) to a friend, but the form will ask for your email address. If you are already logged in, you do not have to supply your email again because we know your email address.

You are allowed to send up to five (5) people event information.


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Q. How do I add an event?

A. Anybody can add an event!

Under the mini calendar on the Happenings page is an "Add Event" link.

minical with "Add Event" link...Select the "Add Event" link.

Follow the window through and submit your event. Your event will submitted by a moderator. You will receive an email within 4 hours letting you know whether your event was accepted or rejected for inclusion in the Haappenings. You want to add as much information to your event is possible so that possible attendees get good information.

Below we discuss each window during the add event process.

The basic tab of the "Add Event" window wants the following:

A Caption: (a short and exciting title to your event)
The date and time of the event. Is it all day, it's duration in general, etc.
A photo should you have one. Select "Next" to move to the Detailed tab of the window...


The detail tab of the "Add Event" window wants details.

An external link is a website where people can find more information about the event.
The pice of the event.
Someone to contact about the event for more information.
By whom is the event sponosored.
Where they can register for the event-- location, or again, a website.
A description of the event.
Select "Next" to move to the Category table of window....


The category tab of the "Add Event" window lets you categorize your event.

You may select more than one category but please attempt to categorize your event the best you can.
People use this category tagging for filtering and searching on events.


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Q. I forgot my password. What do I do?

A. If you have joined the portal, just ask for it from the login form and it will be sent to you.

Bring up the LOGIN form from the Happenings page.
Put your username for your password into the form and select the "Forgot your Password" link. You will be sent your username and password via email.

To exit the form select the X on the right hand corner of the Login form.


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Q. I found a problem. Who do I contact about it?

A. If you have found some problem or issue, please fill out the feedback form to explain to us your problem. Please use as much detail as possible to help us solve your problem. We will get back with you as soon as possible.

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Q. How do I download an event to my personal scheduling calendar, e.g. Outlook?

A. Downloading events is easy. Happy Jack software stores its data in the standard iCalendar (.ics) file format, which is used by other calendar programs, like Outlook, Mozilla Calendar, and iCAL. Because of this, there is no problem downloading events onto those calendar programs or mobile devices that use this standard format (most do!).

Select the event(s) you want to download. You can either save the file or simply let your computer open your default calendaring system and add the events.

Note: If you download more than 1 event and "open" the file automatically, and you are using Outlook, Outlook automatically builds you a new calendar with those events. In the case that you want to download those events into an already existent calendar of your choice, save the .ics file to disk and use Outlook's Import feature to bring those events in a calendar of your choosing.

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