Intro

Hello and welcome to your new conference site.  To request a new site please email xxx@xxxx.org and be sure to tell us what Conference and what website you’re trying to set up.  You will get an email with a link to reset your password.  If you don’t get it within 5 minutes, please check your SPAM folder.  

If you’re still not able to get in and a user was created for you, you can navigate to ieeewieils.org/conferenceurl/wp-admin and that will get you to the login Page.  Might be good to bookmark or remember “/wp-admin” for logging into WordPress websites.  

We’ve simplified the process to make sure you have the best Conference ever.   This is an early version, so if we’ve missed anything, please email us at xxx@xxxx.org. 

The Avada Theme & Tutorial Videos

We are using a ‘standard’ Theme for all of the Conference sites.  The site is called Avada and it’s one of the highest selling WordPress Themes.  It’s very diverse and easy to navigate and set up.  Below you’ll find some tutorials to help you get started with Avada.  You’re also welcome to view all of Avada tutorials.

Drafting Content

While you’re setting up your ILS event, there may be some content that is not ready yet.  Content you’ll need in a month or two, but you don’t have the content yet (eg – Keynote Speakers).  Fortunately, you can ‘draft’ “Containers” in the Avada Builder.  To do this, click on the ‘pen’ icon in the Container (blue section).  In Container > General, scroll down to “Container Publishing Status” and click on “Draft”.  The Container will not appear on the front-end but you will be able to edit and view it on the backend.

Note:  While logged in, you will see drafted ‘Containers’ while viewing Pages.  

Homepage Edits

ILS Description

On the homepage, there is some “Lorem ipsum…” in the ‘purple box’.  You can edit the homepage by going to Dashboard > Pages > Home and editing the ‘Text box’.

ILS Logo (Optional)

If you have a logo for your ILS event, you can replace the WIE on the homepage.  Edit the image ‘element’ and be sure to upload your logo to the “Theme / Identity” folder in the media library.

Announcements

There is an announcements section on your site.  Here’s where you can post updates to your conference (eg – Extended CfP date, registration being opened, etc.).  When you first get access to your conference site, you will see a sample announcement titled “Sample Announcement – Call for Papers extended to XX xth”.  You can either delete this post (and empty trash), or change it to something else (ie – 20XX ILS-XXXX site has launched!)

The Announcements will show up on three places (automatically) on your site:

  • On your homepage
  • On the sidebar of all pages (except homepage)
  • On the announcements Page (typically /announcements/)

Adding a New Announcement

  • Go to Dashboard > Posts > Add New
  • Enter your title (eg – “Call for Papers extended to XX xth”)
  • Enter a brief description (only a sentence or two).
    • You can link to other pages / websites in the description as well!
  • Click Publish

Announcement Notes

  • Announcements will show up in descending order of publication date.  If you would like a specific announcement to show up in a different position, you can edit the “Publication Date” to achieve the specified order.

Page Updates

While the homepage and the committees Pages uses the ‘Avada Builder’ to edit, most of the Pages on the website just use a regular editor.  You simply go in and type what you need. If you’re unfamiliar with the WYSIWYG editor (or “Classic Editor”), you can watch this beginner tutorial video.

To edit a page, you can either go to Dashboard > Pages, or (on the front-end) of the site, you can click on ‘Edit Page’ in the black bar on the top (this will only appear if you are logged in).

Tables

There are a number of tables throughout your ILS website that will update information across Pages throughout the website.  When you update the content within the table, it will automatically update content on the corresponding Page.  You can navigate to the tables by going to Dashboard > TablePress > All Tables.  The current tables on your site are:

  • Registration Info
  • Team / Contact
  • Hotel Recommendations
  • Sponsorship Tiers
  • Day 1 – Program
  • Day 2 – Program
  • Day 3 – Program

We’ve filled out the tables with some generic information.  Feel free to add the information that pertains to your ILS event.  If there are any tables you won’t be using (ie – Day 3 – Program), you’re welcome to delete the table.

Venue Travel Page

Let’s talk about embedding and linking a Google Map.  Once you have the venue of your ILS event, go to Google Maps.  Put in the name and/or address of your venue.  Once you’ve located it, click on the ‘hamburger’ icon on the top left of your web browser, and then go to “Share or embed map”.  You can use the “Send a link” tab for the ‘Get Directions’ link on the Venue Page.

Afterwards, you can click on the “Embed a map” tab.  From there, ‘copy link’.  Paste the code in the “Code Block” Element.  Look at the code you just pasted and replace the value for ‘width’ and ‘height’ with “100%”.  This will allow the embedded map to fill out the full width and height of the column.

Images

Speakers

Speaker images should be edited externally of the website.  They should be made to a 1:1 ratio at 400 pixels (400 x 400).  The images should be uploaded to the appropriate folder (Speakers) in the Media Library, or in the Speakers Page, Image Element.

Sponsor Logos

Speaker images should be edited externally of the website.  They should be made to a 16:9 ratio at 500 pixels (500 x 281).  The images should be uploaded to the appropriate folder (Sponsors) in the Media Library, or on the Partners & Sponsors Page, Image Element.

Delete Images Needed

  • Go to Dashboard > Media
  • Click on the “Images Needed” folder in the left hand column
  • Delete all black ‘Images Needed’ pictures
  • Right click on the “Images Needed” Folder, and delete the folder.

Launch The Site

When you are given access to the site, it will be in “Coming Soon” mode.  Once you get the preliminary information on the site, you’re welcome to go “Live”.  Here’s the steps to do that:

  • Go to Dashboard > Avada > Global Options > Maintenance Mode
  • Click “Off” Button
  • Save Changes

Your site will now be live!

On This Page

Updated 10 November, 2025