Begin by clicking the "Hearings" tab, located in the top menu of any HillTop page. In the Hearings section, click the "Add New Hearing" button in the right sidebar. This will bring you to the "Add Hearing" form. The information below explains how to complete the form. For live streams, see the checklist guide here.
Affiliations
Select the appropriate labels from the available Label Types.
Title Information
- Title - Enter the title of the hearing.
- Name - The 'name' will auto-complete, based on the title. No input is necessary.
- Subtitle - Enter an optional subtitle, if appropriate.
- Byline - Enter an optional byline, if appropriate.
Date Information
Enter the starting and ending date/time for the hearing in the provided fields. By default, the fields will include the current date/time to the nearest half hour, with the ending time one hour ahead.
The "All Day" checkbox is optional, and will add the hearing without start/end times.
Feature Groups
If the website does not use "Featured" hearings, ignore this section. If "Featured" hearings are used, select the "Homepage" option and enter the starting date. In the starting time field, enter a time 45 minutes prior to the start of the hearing, to ensure the homepage cache will be cleared before the hearing begins.
Display Options
Select "Yes" to publish the hearing when the form is submitted. Select "No" to add the hearing without publishing it on the website.
Unpublished hearings can be published by first viewing the list of hearings, then clicking the "Properties" button (gear icon) to the left of the appropriate hearing title. Next, set the "Is Published?" option to "Yes," then click the "Submit" button to save your changes.
Content
Enter the hearing information in the "Content" field. Optionally, enter a summary of the hearing details in the "Abstract" field.
Associated Content
Use this section to include file downloads of hearing documents and/or images, if necessary. Files/Images can be uploaded directly from the form, or selected from the Warehouse.
Hearing Event Details
Optionally, enter the hearing's location and/or room number.
Hearing Senate Webcasts
The webcast feature will use the starting/ending dates from the "Date Information" section and the "Commitee Name" to embed the appropriate video.
- Has Webcast - Select "Yes" to display the hearing's webcast.
- Committee Name - The committee's name in lowercase (ex. commerce). This field will autocomplete and no input is necessary.
- Is Second Hearing? - Select "Yes" if this is the committee's second hearing of the day with a webcast.
- Archived Start Time - To skip the archived hearing start time ahead, enter a time in hh:mm:ss format. For example, "00:30:00" will skip the archived video forward 30 minutes.
Post Redirect
If the hearing's link should redirect to a different page, enter the address in the "Redirect URL" field.
YouTube
If a recording of the hearing is not available from the Senate Recording Studio, but is available on YouTube, enter the full address of the YouTube page.
Embargo Dates
- Do Not Display Before - The hearing will not be published to the website before the date/time entered here.
- Do Not Display After - The hearing will be taken down from the website at the entered date/time.
Live Stream Checklist
Note: If changes are made to the hearing with less than 45 minutes before the stream goes live, please contact [email protected] to request a cache clear. The Senate cache rolls over every 45 minutes and any changes made in HillTop will be cached until the next rollover. This affects visitors not connected to the Senate network.
- Date: Ensure the start date and start time match the start of the live stream.
- Ends: Ensure the end date matches the start date and the end time is correct.
- Has Webcast?: Set to "Yes" (defaults to "Yes").
- Is Second Hearing: Set to "Yes" only if this is the second live stream hearing of the day (defaults to "No").
- Committee Name: Ensure committee name is all lowercase.
*For sites using the "Homepage" Feature Group checkbox to display the hearing on the homepage, ensure the start time is set 45 minutes prior to the start of the hearing.
**For sites that use the "Live URL" field to display the hearing video, ensure the "filename" value is set in mmddyy format (ex. ...&filename=042721). Add a "p" to the end of the filename value for 2nd/PM hearings (ex. ...&filename=042721p).