at last — campus and event apps made easy

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guidebookEDU 1 Table of Contents Part I: The Basics What is guidebookEDU? What are the advantages of guidebookEDU over guides on Guidebook? What kinds of guides should be on my app platform? PART II: The Nitty-Gritty What does a guidebookEDU app do? How long does it take for my app to go live? Who can create guides on my guidebookEDU app what is the administration workflow? What if my school already has an app? Is my school too small/too big for guidebookEDU? Can my guidebookEDU app sync with our website and other existing databases? What are other schools saying about guidebookEDU? EDU At last — campus and event apps made easy.

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Page 1: At last — campus and event apps made easy

guidebookEDU 1

Table of Contents !Part I: The Basics • What is guidebookEDU? • What are the advantages of guidebookEDU over guides on Guidebook? • What kinds of guides should be on my app platform? !!

PART II: The Nitty-Gritty • What does a guidebookEDU app do? • How long does it take for my app to go live? • Who can create guides on my guidebookEDU app what is the administration workflow? • What if my school already has an app? • Is my school too small/too big for guidebookEDU? • Can my guidebookEDU app sync with our website and other existing databases? • What are other schools saying about guidebookEDU?

EDUAt last — campus and event apps made easy.

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THE BASICS

What is guidebookEDU?GuidebookEDU is an easy way to setup and maintain a branded mobile app that contains guides to your school's campus and its events. !Instead of hiring software developers who specialize in Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and other mobile platforms, you can sign up for a GuidebookEDU subscription and get all the benefits of a fully customized app without having to create it from scratch. You basically get your own version of our signature app, Guidebook, which colleges and universities have used to create and host mobile guides to their orientations, career fairs, homecomings, and countless other events. !For example, USC used to publish their Welcome Week guide on the Guidebook App, but now their event organizers publish all their event guides on app platform called USC Guide.

What are the advantages of guidebookEDU over guides on the Guidebook app?Publishing single guides on Guidebook is a great way to make event info instantly available for your users on their mobile devices. Creating a branded guidebookEDU app requires a little more coordination to get started, but it is well worth it! !Branding !When you publish a guide on the Guidebook app, users download Guidebook from the App Store and then search for your school or event guide. GuidebookEDU creates a unique and customized user experience from the first download. Students and visitors download your app--complete with branded colors, icons and logos--directly from the App Store. !Integration !When it comes to campus communication, you may have a lot of cooks in the kitchen, but they should at least be wearing the same uniform! Even if event organizers in different departments don’t interface with each other, they can all publish their content to one integrated platform. Orientation directors, career fair planners, student club presidents, etc. maintain complete control over their own event information but all the guides share a unified design and theme.

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Instant Publication !While guides on the Guidebook app can technically be published instantly, school event guides are almost always delayed in routing paperwork through purchasing or getting approval from committees. The guidebookEDU subscription gets all of the red tape out of the way at the beginning so that if and when you are putting together event logistics at the last minute, don’t panic! You will already have credits on your account to build and publish right away. !Savings !The pricing for single event guides on the Guidebook app is designed for companies and organizations with one or two major annual conferences. Schools with anywhere from four to forty events on campus typically don’t have a budget for $3,000 - $5,000 per event every year. Subscription pricing with guidebookEDU maximizes buy-in-bulk savings and includes unlimited features, unlimited downloads and branding - all for a less than you would pay for multiple individual guides! (See full details pricing information below.)

What kind of guides should I include on my app platform?Here are a few ideas: !• Orientation, welcome week, move-in day • Preview day, open house • Homecoming, parent/family weekend, alumni events • Fraternity/sorority guides, campus activities calendar, student

organizations • General campus guide (maps, calendars, dining hall, library,

parking, etc) • RA trainings, dorm events • Career fairs and career services resources • Academic conferences, summer programs • Athletics events and calendars • Student handbook • Study abroad program information

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THE NITTY GRITTY

What does a guidebookEDU app do?The functionality is exactly the same as the Guidebook app. The features are designed to be flexible to adapt to a variety of end uses, but popular features in school guides include: !• Schedules and calendars: Allow users to personalize their itineraries and color-code different tracks to

distinguish between events for parents and students. !• Interactive maps: Create a self-guided GPS tour on Google Maps or use a custom uploaded image to

help your visitors navigate fairs, events or the campus. !• Custom resource listings: Make sure your users have all the information they need at their fingertips. For

example: to-do checklists, directories, FAQs, dining hall hours, parking information, student handbooks, rules and regulations, etc. !

• Social media: Keep everyone in the loop through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, shared photo albums and more! !

• Surveys: Whether you’re taking a vote, asking for feedback, or having a prize drawing, this tool allows users to communicate back to you through the app. !

• Webviews: Open up pages of your school’s website or other external links right within the app without having to load a mobile browser. !

• Banners: For special messages, promotions, flyers or sponsor recognition. !• Push messages and real time updates: Make changes to your guide even during the event (e.g. a room

change or schedule cancellation). Send out reminders and important announcements in a text message alert or a pop-up message which will appear when a user opens the app.

How long does it take for my app to go live?Building a branded app platform typically takes 4 to 6 weeks. !Here are the major steps in the timeline once you’ve signed up: !1. You submit branding information to us - colors, logos, icons, etc. We will provide a detailed checklist

and descriptions of everything we need. Compiling these assets usually takes schools anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, depending on your PR department and whether or not you already have a style guide.

2. We build a prototype. This takes 4 - 8 days. 3. We submit the app to the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and Amazon App Store. Approval takes 2

to 4 weeks. !

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Who can create guides on my guidebookEDU app and what is the administration workflow?You decide who can create guides on your app. Your school will have a dedicated account in our content management system, Guidebook Gears, to organize the various event guides. There are three privilege levels so that you can choose who has the ability to change what. !• Editors can upload and change content on guides that they have been invited to work on. • Admins can create guides, invite editors to collaborate, and publish updates once the guide has been

approved. • Account Owners can approve guides and invite Admins onto the account. !

With this system, you have the flexibility to either limit your app content management to high-level event organizers or to open up the platform for anyone on campus with an event (recommended!). The Account Owner assures that the content is relevant and appropriate for your users, but that person doesn’t necessarily have to be in charge of populating the app or keeping it up- to-date. They can delegate content management responsibilities to event organizers or to the Guidebook guidebuilding team. !!What if my school already has an app?A guidebookEDU app can definitely coexist with an existing campus app. Most existing school apps are managed by the IT department which means that the people who have the most relevant information (the event organizers) don’t have control to instantly update the app’s content. Your existing app may be a good resource for static information like maps and website links, but the guidebookEDU app is where students can go to interact with important real-time information about events happening on campus. !Since the branding is up to you, you can decide what scope you want your guidebookEDU app to have - whether it’s just for one department’s events, just for student activities, or if it will serve as your complete campus guide. For example, the University of Florida has an app in iTunes call “University of Florida” with various feeds from their website. Their guidebookEDU app is titled “GatorWay” and it serves as the hub for all of the events put on by New Student Services. !!!Is my school too small/too big for guidebookEDU?Nope! We have worked with schools of all sizes, from Ouachita Baptist (with 1,500 undergraduates) to UT Austin (with 40,000). The great thing about guidebookEDU is that it is designed to be scalable so that whether you have 5 events or 105, there is a subscription option right for you.

Can my guidebookEDU app sync with our website and other existing databases?Yes! There’s no need to update calendars and directories in multiple places. We will assess the format of your information and set up an integration so that when you change the information on the original source, it will automatically update the app as well.

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What are other schools saying about guidebookEDU?

“Today in higher education there is such a big push for finding ways to reach students and family members through mobile application technology. The problem though is that all of the products that are out on the market have a set way they want you to set things up or provide little in terms of customization... GuidebookEDU allowed us to create our own app and guide platform, GatorWay. In our first summer we knew that we could utilize the app as a convenient supplement to our printed products and were expecting minimal results but instead we saw thousands and thousands of participants download our guides! ...We even saw comments that the app changed their perspective of the University. Because of GatorWay and Guidebook we have families and students emailing and calling to see if other programs our area puts on will be on GatorWay, which of course they will.” !!

— Mickey Howard, University of Florida !

“Guidebook was the perfect companion to USC’s Welcome Week for incoming freshmen. It was easy to create and update the guide, and easy for students to use. The Guidebook team was organized and proactive, and made sure that the guide was well-built and promoted.” !!

— Heather Larabee, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Campus Activities, USC !