The Guestbook serves as a space for participants to share their comments about the consulting without getting into a discussion. The administrator can choose the option of allowing comments made by participants to appear either pre or post moderation by Bang The Table moderators (peacekeepers). The participants are not required to reply, vote, agree, or disagree with the feedback provided.

To use the Guestbook tool, you need to add it to your EngagementHQ project. The following steps describe how to add the Guestbook tool. 

Click on the Projects link on the side menu bar and select your specific project from the list displayed. You can use the Search box to locate the required project. Click on the selected project. This displays the project screen of the selected project.

Click on the selected project. This displays the project screen of the selected project.

Scroll down to the Tools section on the project page and click on the Add Tool button.

A list of tools is displayed on a draw from the right of the screen. The All tab displays all the tools that can be used for the project. Click on Guestbook to add the Guestbook tool. 

Note: The Guestbook tool is also available in the Mixed environment tab.

Enter a suitable title for the Guestbook in the textbox provided and click on the Create button. The character limit for title text is 255.

This displays the Edit Guestbook page. In the Details tab, a textbox along with editor, is provided for the Introduction message to the participants. Add the Introduction message along with images if any. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the page to update the changes. There is no character limit for the description.

The Guestbook tool is now available on your project page. By default, the name of the Guestbook tool is “Guestbook”. You can change the name by clicking the pencil button as shown below. On clicking the pencil button, the Name field is displayed. You can edit the name of the Guestbook tool in the textbox provided and click on Save to update the changes. 

The Guestbook is saved in the draft mode. To Publish the Guestbook, select the Publish option from the drop-down menu. On publishing the Guestbook, the participants can start using it. To delete the Guestbook, select the Delete option from the drop-down menu. 

After the Guestbook is published, you can Archive or Unpublish it. 

Once the consultation has concluded, you can choose to archive the Guestbook by clicking on the Archive option provided in the drop-down menu. This will ensure that the participants can only view the comments that have been submitted but can no longer make any more submissions.

You also have the option to Unpublish the Guestbook tool by clicking on the Unpublish option in the drop-down menu. Once unpublished the Guestbook tool will move back to the draft state and will not be visible to users. 

To delete the Guestbook after publishing, click on the Delete option in the drop-down menu. If there is a participant submission, you cannot delete the tool. However, if you still choose to, you may contact support for assistance. 

To view or make changes to the Guestbook, navigate to the Guestbook and click on the pencil icon or the edit button as shown below. 

This displays the Edit Guestbook page. You can edit the title and the introduction message in the Details tab. Click on Save to update the changes. 

The title in the Details tab is displayed in the project page as shown below. 

The Introduction message is displayed in the preview of the project, as shown below. 

Click on the Settings tab to make the required settings for the GuestBook. 

The Participation Settings section is used to control the level of participant interaction. Enable the required option as per the moderation requirement for your consultation. 

Enter a thank you message for the participants in the Thank You message box.

The Thank you message in the Guestbook settings page is displayed in the project preview as shown below.

You can also choose to limit the character length as desired by entering the maximum number of characters as shown in the box below.

The Email Notifications and Acknowledgements section in the Settings tab, allows you to set different email notifications for participants and admins. You can opt to notify the participants once their comment is posted on the Guestbook. You can also choose to notify admins whenever new comments are added. 

Select the required option by clicking on the checkbox as shown below. For email notifications to admins, enter the email address to which the notification is to be sent. You can also add additional email addresses by entering in the textbox provided. 

After selecting the required options and entering the necessary details, click the Save button at the bottom of the page to save the Guestbook settings. 

To preview the Guestbook, navigate to the Guestbook on the project page and click on the preview button. 

The preview of the Guestbook tool is displayed in a new tab as shown below. 

Participants can add their comments in the text box provided for feedback and click on the Submit button. 

On clicking the Submit button, the Thank you message for the participants is displayed as shown below.

Based on the moderation settings of the project, the participants’ comments are displayed immediately or after moderation. 

The participants’ comments are saved and displayed on the project preview page as shown below.

To edit the comment, participants can click on the edit button. This can be done at any point of time.

On clicking the edit button, the textbox with the published comment is displayed. Participants can edit their comments and save the changes by clicking on the Update button. 

To delete their comments, participants can click on the Delete button. 

The number of comments added by the participants is displayed on the project page as shown below.  

Contact our support team if you need any further assistance via chat or email support@engagementhq.com