Staff Conferences:

• These conferences are best suited for scheduling students into already determined time slots or daily/weekly office hours that teachers would like to leave available for parents to reserve at any point in the school year
  
  
• These can be manually created by any teacher/counselor who has access the Web Desk>Calendar; or manually by an administrator with access to Student Data>Modify Student>Conferences
  
  
• Staff conferences can also be created en masse by any administrator with access to the Web Desk>Setup>Conference setup wizard
  
  
• Parents will see a "Request a conference..." button on the portal when you create a "Staff" conference.

How to Create an Individual Staff Conference in the Web Desk

Your user account must have at least one staff member assigned to it, and it must be flagged as a teacher or a guidance counselor.

NOTE: You can check who you have tied to your account via Webdesk>Setup>Staff to User.

1. Go to Web Desk>Calendar>View Appointments/Conferences.
2. Click the ‘Add’ link corresponding to a day on the calendar to create an appointment on that date
3. ALTERNATELY: simply click on the Webdesk>Calendar>Add Appointments/Conferences tab above the calendar and fill in the date.
4. Be sure to set the 'Status' of the appointment/conference to ‘Available' and to check off the 'Show in Parents' option so the appointment/conference is available to be booked by the parent.
   
   NOTE: Once a parent books an appointment, it will then show in the staff member’s Web Desk as ‘Scheduled.’
   • Every conference requires a Date, Start Time, Reason, Location, Subject, and Staff Member. Fill those fields in.
   • Do not add any students if you want the parents to be able to choose a specific time slot. Once the parent reserves the appointment, the student will be assigned to the conference automatically.
   • Once created, the Web Desk>Calendar screen will show each appointment’s start and end times in black to indicate that they are “Available”.
   • The only parent accounts that may request these conferences are the ones that have a student attached whose teacher or guidance counselor has Available Conferences on their Web Desk.
   • For these conferences to display, you will need to check off "Show Schedule/Grades" for the school on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling tab.
   • ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT FOR STAFF CONFERENCES TO DISPLAY: 
     • The "Graded" box checked off for the course via Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course
     • The display options checked off for the course via Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course
     • A FY attendance cycle set for the school via Setup>Schools>Modify School>Attendance Cycle
     • When you’re ready to go – also make sure you check off “SHOW” on Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Conferences screen

How to Create Staff Conference in the Web Desk En Masse

You always have the option to create staff conferences for many teachers all at once, either by Staff Name, Department, or Staff List.

NOTE: Staff Lists can be created via Staff>Staff>Search Staff.

1. Go to Web Desk>Setup>Conference Setup Wizard
2. Select either:  
   • Assign a staff member
   • Select a department
   •  Select a staff list
3. For STAFF CONFERENCES, for the “What date(s) would you like to create the conferences for?” question, select either SINGLE DATE or MULTIPLE DATES.
4. Fill out all required parameters - make sure that you set the conferences to SHOW IN THE PARENT PORTAL. 
   • Fields you can enter: 
     • What time will the conferences start? Ex. 8:00
     • What is the reason?   
     • What is the location?
     • Enter the subject for the conferences?
     •  How long will each conference last?
     • What is the time between conferences?
     • How many conferences should be scheduled for each date?
     • Show these conferences in the Parent's Module?
5. Click 'Preview Conferences' to see how your conferences are going to look in the 'Conference Preview Window'
6. When ready -  click 'Create Conferences'
7. For these conferences to display, you will need to check off "Show Schedule/Grades" for the school on the Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Scheduling tab. 
   • ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENT(S) FOR STAFF CONFERENCES TO DISPLAY: 
     • The "Graded" box checked off for the course via Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course
     • The display options checked off for the course via Scheduling>Curriculum>Modify Course
     • A FY attendance cycle must be set for the school via Setup>Schools>Modify School>Attendance Cycle
     • When you’re ready to go – also make sure you check off “SHOW” on Parent Access>Setup>Settings>School Settings>Conferences screen

Modifying the Conferences Just Created (En Masse)

If you need to delete the conference run you just created so that you can re-do them, you must navigate to the Webdesk>Setup>Conference Tracking tab.

You can select the specific run in the "Conference Creation Run" dropdown. After you select it, you can click the trash can to the right.

On that same screen, you can review the conferences and see how they were created (in the light blue box.)  You can also toggle the "Parents" checkbox on and off (to make it display/not display in the parent portal.)