This section walks you through creating a workshop event in the platform from start to finish. The full process takes around 10–15 minutes once you have your prerequisites in hand, after which the event is processed immediately and you can begin inviting customers within minutes.

Key Content

Before you start, you will need to gather several prerequisites. The platform will ask you for the following information:

• The workshop that you would like to run. 
• The physical location of the event.
• Event date and time.
• How long the registration for the event should remain open.
• The number of seats required for the event (event capacity).\
• The waitlist capacity.
• The event description (which you can pull from the Short Description Templates in the platform).
• Total event duration in hours.
• Your geolocation (AMERICAS, APJC, EMEA)
•  The purpose of the event (sales, marketing, POV, or another category).
• The certified proctor who will run the event.

Have all of these decided before you begin so the creation flow runs smoothly.

A few of these warrant extra attention. The time zone must be set to the host location's time zone, not yours — the platform uses this to align customer-facing calendar invites correctly. If the workshop is being run as a POV, you must select POV as the category rather than the regular category, because this routes the event correctly within Cisco reporting.

The waitlist capacity should always be set higher than the event capacity to give you overflow management built in. And the proctor you assign must be a certified proctor for the specific workshop you're scheduling, so confirm their availability and certification before you begin.

Once you save and close the event, the platform processes it immediately and you'll receive an email confirming the event has been created. From that moment, the event has a unique URL that you can begin sharing with customers.

If you want to limit attendance to a specific audience, set an Event Password during creation; only customers who enter the password will be able to register, which is useful for private events with a single critical customer or a tightly-controlled invite list.

Steps to Create a Workshop Event

1. Click on Workshop Events in the main menu.
2. Click Create Workshop Event. The page will take a few seconds to load.
3. Click on the Basic Information tab and complete the following fields:

• Title — Use the workshop name and the location together (e.g., "Hybrid Mesh Firewall Design Clinic — London") so the event is unique and generates a clean unique URL.
• Event Owners — Select yourself as an owner. Owners and proctors can check people into the event, and owners do not have to be certified as a proctor, but a certified proctor must also be listed.
• Category — Select the appropriate category. If you are running the workshop as a POV, select POV rather than the regular category.
• Location — Select the venue or virtual location.
• Event Date — Set the date of the event.
• Event Start Time and Event End Time — Set the times for the calendar event. Note that this does not limit how long students have access to the lab; most courses allow students to log in for the remainder of the week.
• Event Location Timezone — Choose the time zone where the event will be hosted, not your own time zone.
• Event Capacity — Enter the number of seats available.
• Waiting List Capacity — Set this higher than your Event Capacity for overflow management.
• Event Password — Enter a password if you want this to be a private event.
• Short Description — Enter a description for the event. You can use the Short Description Templates, or you can edit the text and add images yourself. You'll see how to apply a Short Description Template in a later step.

4. (Optional) Within the Short Description, you can manually add a media image for the event:

• Select CMS Content.
• Select Media.
• Select com_eventbooking.
• Select your desired image. The "Additional Data" pop-up will indicate that you have made a selection. (Tip: Thumbnail View is the easiest way to use the Media Gallery.)
• Click Insert Media.

5. Click on the Sales Information tab and complete the following fields:

• Workshop Length in Hours — Enter your projected total duration.
• Geolocation — Select your GEO.
• Type of Event — Select the purpose (sales, marketing, POV, etc.).
• Webex URL — Paste the Webex URL which be used for the event.
• SFDC Deal ID — Paste the Salesforce Deal ID associated with the opportunity.

6. Click on the Workshop Configuration tab and complete the following fields:

• Workshop Selection — Select the workshop you want to use for your event.
• Select Proctor — Add the certified proctor for your event. Confirm with them in advance before submitting. To select multiple proctors, use ctrl-select (Windows) or cmd-select (Mac).
• Event Owners Use Description Template — Select Yes, then click OK to the warning which confirms that it will overwrite your previous description (if you have one). Finally, select your desired template from the Short Description Templates list. (Every workshop event is required to have a description, and using the template ensures consistency across events.)

7. Return to the Basic Information tab and scroll down to the Short Description section to confirm the template content has populated correctly. Make any final personalization edits here.
8. Click on the Sponsors tab:

• Select the Select Existing Sponsors box and choose Cisco. Always include Cisco. If a partner is also driving customers to the event, select their logo as well.
• If the partner is not listed, click the green plus icon in the bottom right next to "Website" to add them.

9. Click Save & Close. The platform will process the event immediately, and you will receive an email confirmation within a few minutes.
10. Once you receive the confirmation email, copy the unique event URL and test it in a browser to confirm it loads correctly before sending it to any customers.
11. Save the event URL, date, and proctor name in a single, easy-to-reference location (e.g., a OneNote page or Notes).