IMPORTANT: Before you can populate your Security Groups, you have to upload a list of your event registrants to your site. If you haven't already done so, see Upload Event Registrants to learn how, and then return here.

Now that you have a list of registrants for your event, it's a good idea to categorize them so that you can more easily work with their database records as a single group of people with something in common. In Higher Logic, this is done with Security Groups. Security Groups can be used to control access to your site's content.

NOTE: Staff members that were included in the upload process do not have to be put in a Security Group.

Registrants can be categorized, according to their role, using Security Groups. Your Event Engagement site is set up with three default Security Groups:

• Attendees - All registrants in this Security Group will be included in the Attendee Search; see Attendee Search (for Admins).
• Speakers - All registrants in this Security Group will be included in the Speaker Search; see Speaker Search (for Admins). If you want your speakers to be included in the Attendee search, too, add them to the Attendee Security Group.
• Sponsors - Registrants in this Security Group will not be included in either of the searches. If you want your sponsors to be included in either or both of the searches, add them to the appropriate Security Group.
  By default, registrants in this Security Group will not be able to access your site tracks and content.

You can easily add registrants to Security Groups by using a pre-populated upload file, but you have to prep the upload file.

Watch the video

Prepare the upload file

In order to bulk-upload a list of registrants, make sure that the upload file contains only those registrants who you want to add to the Security Group that you're populating.

NOTE: The upload file must be in .csv format. If it isn't, convert it to this format.

To prep the file:

1. Open the .csv file that contains your list of current registrants.

NOTE: A recommended practice is to use a file that was exported via the Upload Users page (the default file name is Current_Contact_Data). If you haven't done this, see the Export a list of registrants section of Upload Event Registrants.

2. Save a copy of the file with an appropriate name for the group (e.g., Attendee_SecGrp_upload).
3. Open the copied file and delete all of the columns except the one that contains either the email addresses or the integration keys.
4. Label the header row based on the type of data, either EmailAddress or ID.
5. Delete the registrants that you do not want to add to this Security Group (in this case, keep only your "attendee" registrants).
6. Save the file so that it's easily accessible for the upload.

Now your file is ready to be uploaded to add your registrants to the Security Group.

• Repeat these steps for your Speakers and Sponsors. Remember to delete the registrants that you do not want in the Security Group.

Upload registrants to a Security Group

The only way to add registrants to a Higher Logic Security Group is by uploading a .csv file. The records in the .csv file will be added based on email addresses or integration keys.

To access the Security Groups page:

1. In the Admin Toolbar, click Admin.

2. Navigate to Users > Security Groups.

The Security Groups list page displays the three default Security Groups.

To upload the registrants file:

1. Click the upload icon above the list to access the "upload" page.

2. Select the type of registrant (Attendees, Speakers, or Sponsors) for this upload from the dropdown.
3. Select either Email Address or Integration Key, based on how you configured your upload file.

4. Optionally, click Example File to see a sample upload file.
5. Click Choose File, navigate to your prepared upload file, and select it. The file name will display next to the Choose File button.
6. Click Upload, followed by Yes in the confirmation dialog.

A message will confirm that your upload was successful.

TIP: Navigate to Users > Security Groups and verify the count (which is a link) in the Users column.

Click the count link to go to the Users list page which will be filtered on the selected Security Group. Click the Export icon to download a .csv file of just this Security Groups members.

• Repeat these steps for your other types of registrants using the Security Group-specific upload files that you created in the previous section.

TIP: You can download a .csv file (default name, SecurityGroups.csv) that includes all three Security Groups and lists the number of Users and Companies for each.

Next steps...

Now that you have segmented your registrants, you should:

• Assign Super Admin permissions to those who will help you manage your site.