The Slatest News - October 2021

UPDATES & ENHANCEMENTS

Dispatches from Slate Feedback
Check out the latest from Slate Feedback—our product management team has been actively soliciting your thoughts for new ideas and posting updates about existing and completed features. In addition to the comprehensive list available on the Development Roadmap, here are some of our favorite updates from the last few weeks:

• Active Scheduler 
  With Active Scheduler, you can use a portal to make on-the-fly time slots available for specific interviews based on a schedule you define. You can also set availability based on free or busy details shared from an external iCal feed. Enable this feature via Configuration Keys >> Early Access Features, learn more in our documentation, and join us today at 1:00 pm Eastern for an overview of this exciting new tool.
• Folders for Trips
  Trips now support folders. Use folders and subfolders to keep trips organized for staff across your entire office. Learn more via our Feedback post.
• Custom Titles for Portal Methods
  Pages (or portal methods) within a portal can now have their own titles. By default, pages inherit the main portal title; use the new page title functionality to further customize your content.
   

SLATE INNOVATION FESTIVAL

Registration Opening Soon
Registration for the 2022  Slate Innovation Festival is right around the corner. This  programming series caters to the diverse interests of our growing community of more than 1,400 institutions and 250,000+ users.

The Slate Innovation Festival will feature:

• Slate Stage:  Webinars led by members of the Slate community May 2–June 3, 2022. Registration is free and open to the public.
• Learning Lab:  A series of interactive, specialized training courses for all levels hosted through our Learning Lab platform. Available starting May 2022 exclusively for the Slate community.
• Slate Summit: Held at the  Nashville Music City Center ,   June 16–17, 2022 . This  two-day, i n-person conference will feature keynotes, sessions, networking, meals, and entertainment exclusively for the Slate community.

Registration for the 2022 Slate Innovation Festival will open in mid-November, so make sure to grab your spot.

Still looking to access online training opportunities? There's still plenty of time to purchase a 2021 Festival Pass. These online courses will be accessible through April 2022.
 

Call for Proposals
Interested in presenting during the 2022 Slate Innovation Festival? The Call for Proposals is now open.  Give back to the Slate community by sharing your team's successes, and connect with other Slate users—either virtually during the Slate Stage, or in person during the Slate Summit.
 

THE MORE YOU KNOW

Virtual Conversations: Slate Presents
Save the dates for these upcoming webinars—register today!

• Today! Slate Spotlight: Active Scheduler — Wednesday, October 20 at 1:00 pm ET: Join our own Ken Higgins for an exciting overview of the new Active Scheduler functionality—including on-the-fly time slots and free/busy availability based on an iCal feed. Enable this feature via Configuration Keys >> Early Access Features and learn more in our documentation.

• Thursday, October 21
  • RNL: Conduct Your Own Slate Assessment to Optimize Your System
• Tuesday, October 26
  • Scoir: Student Insights to Help Shape Your Funnel
• Thursday, October 28
  • Underscore: Mind the Gap: Popular Pitfalls in Slate Projects
• Tuesday, November 2
  • Unibuddy: The Student is Now the Marketer: The Seven Steps to Creating a Student-to-Student Marketing Strategy That Sticks
• Tuesday, November 9
  • Waybetter Marketing: Three Things You Should Do with Seniors Right Now

Community Conversations
Join Technolutions staff and members of the Slate community for regularly scheduled, discussion-based sessions on specific topics. These calls are available to all, so come learn from the broad knowledge of the Slate community—including the expertise of Technolutions staff and the experiences of your colleagues at other institutions. 

To view the complete schedule, register for all Community Conversations, and submit questions in advance, visit the Community Conversations portal, accessible from your Home Slate or via Database >> Community Conversations. Join us this week and next for:

• Wednesday, October 20
  • 2:00 pm ET: Intro to Querying Using Configurable Joins
• Thursday, October 21
  • 1:00 pm ET: Communicating with Donors & Alumni
  • 2:00 pm ET: Applicant & Admitted Student Portals
  • 2:00 pm ET: Getting Started with Student Success
• Monday, October 25
  • 2:00 pm ET: Beginning Your Admissions/Enrollment Implementation
• Tuesday, October 26
  • 1:00 pm ET: Donor & Alumni Events
  • 2:00 pm ET: Event Landing Pages & the Portal Events Widget
  • 2:00 pm ET: Events & Scheduler for Student Success
• Wednesday, October 27
  • 2:00 pm ET: Intro to Querying Using Configurable Joins
• Thursday, October 28
  • 1:00 pm ET: Reader Setup & Forms

For a quick intro, watch our tutorial video. We can't wait to see you at the next Community Conversation!

Overheard in the Community Forums
Have you asked a question in the Community Forums lately? Check out some of the tips & tricks recently posted from across the Slate community—including users, community moderators, and Technolutions staff:

• Interested in adding checklist information to your Athletics portal? Check out the discussion and instructions here.
• Learn more about what Slate does to prevent spam form and application submissions, why some still make it through, and what you can do to mitigate this perennial problem. 
• Consider creating a custom device type to store an institutional email address value. Thanks to Wyatt Best for the tip!
• How do you manage forms or event registrations for multiple constituencies or participant types? Join the conversation in this thread.
• Have you set up a new web service in Slate recently? Join the discussion about some of the recent changes that have been added to make web service connections more secure. 
• How many reports am I getting? Thank you to Justin Harville for the tips on aggregating scheduled reports by recipient email address.
• My brain is in knots just thinking about it... Join this discussion for some good tips on how null/unknown values and In/Not In logic work together in SQL Server and Slate. 
• Have you considered a temp or holding account to help with gift management? Check out these suggestions to streamline your process. 
   

SLATE ON TOUR

Get the full #SlateOnTour experience with Technolutions staff at these upcoming conferences. Come say hello—and tell your Slate (and future Slate!) colleagues too.   

• EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, October 26–29: Elizabeth, Cody, Shawn, and Ken will be heading to the City of Brotherly Love—stop by Exhibit #127 and say hi. 
• AACRAO SEM Annual Conference, Aventura, FL, November 14–17: If you're planning to be there, we'd love to see you!
• Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, December 1–4: Come visit us at the Sheraton Hotel.
• CASE District V Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, December 12–14: Swing by the Sheraton Grand Hotel in the Windy City and say hello.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE SLATE COMMUNITY

💻 Tweet & Greet  
We love seeing all the ways that you Slate every day. Here are a few of our favorite tweets from the last few weeks—keep those posts coming!

• If Slate were a beverage, we're pretty sure it would look exactly like this. Thanks to InitialView's Terry Crawford for posting!
• We can't get enough of this Slate onesie for Ryan Motevalli-Oliner's baby. We wish it came in adult sizes too!
• Congrats to Georgetown College's Justin Harville on going live with an impressive Homecoming portal. 

📣 S-U-C-C-E-S-S 
It's always great to hear how Slate has helped so many users achieve their unique objectives. Check out our Success Stories featured on our website. Interested in being highlighted in one of our future Success Stories? Email us and let us know.
 

GET TO KNOW . . .

Paula Schaefer-Riley
Client Support Engineer
Technolutions New Haven

What does a perfect Saturday look like to you?
A perfect Saturday for me occurs in the fall—my favorite time of year! The day starts with no alarm clock going off; our cat jumps on the bed to cuddle for a few minutes. I drink a cup of coffee while sitting on the couch and watching an early soccer game. Then, we grab Chipotle for lunch and watch some college football in the afternoon. The windows are wide open all day and the fresh air is filling the house. During the evening, we head to a local brewery for a drink and maybe grab dinner from a food truck or order a pizza. Nothing fancy, but quality time with my husband and cat is purr-fect to me!

Do you have an office nickname, and if so, what is it??
I am not sure it is very well known… but a lot of people call me the Crazy Cat Lady. I am obsessed with my cat! His name is Vino, and he is amazing. We rescued him from a shelter in Meadville, PA, and he has been a member of the family ever since. I even have a painting inspired by him hanging up at my desk, which is right by one of our conference rooms. During meetings, people see the painting, and it makes them smile (at least I hope so!).

What superpower would you like to have?
Teleportation! My family lives in Ohio, and now my husband and I are living in Connecticut. So, if I could just teleport back home to see family whenever I wanted, I would love that. I could also travel the world with such ease. Want a pizza from Italy? I’d be there and back so fast.

What was the best vacation you've taken or best place you've been to?
When I was in college, I studied abroad in Cefalù, Sicily. I immediately fell in love with the culture, food, people—everything. We studied the Italian language and Sicilian culture. We climbed Mt. Etna. We visited a marionette museum and saw a live puppet show. We had a cooking class in the country. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. If you ever find yourself in Southern Italy, make the trip to the small seaside town of Cefalù!