Speaker and Session Management User Guide

Introduction

This document is a guide to setting up Speaker and Session Management in Certain. That product is enabled for all Certain accounts by default – as a planner, you decide whether to enable it for individual events.

Certain’s Speaker and Session Management module enables you to manage the speakers, sessions, abstracts, and presentations for events of any size. These can range from small meetings with standard sessions to large user conferences with hundreds of speakers and thousands of sessions.

See the separate Speaker and Session Management Introduction document for a brief overview of the features available in this product.

The Conference Sessions product is an advanced feature of Speaker and Session Management. It is included in this guide but is not automatically enabled for all accounts. If interested in what it offers, including a Speaker Portal, a Reviewer Portal, and far more custom fields per session, please email help@certain.com, including your account name.

Contents

Introduction

Enabling the Products

Essential Initial Setup

Optional Initial Setup

Core Setup/Management

Speaker Portal

Reviewer Portal

Reports

Enabling the Products

Conference Sessions

Reviewing Sessions

Tiers

Email Templates

Sessions on Forms

Scheduling

Publish Sessions

Speakers

Waitlist

Assignments

Related Articles

The Page

My Information

My Tasks

My Sessions

Register Speaker

Add Abstract

New Basic Pages

Settings

Site Layout

Branding

Pages

The Login Page

Reviews

Managing Reviews

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Enabling the Products

Speaker and Session Management

In the event, go to Plan > Configure > Options.

Select the Speaker and Session Management Module under Functional Areas Needed by This Event.

Save

Important Note: Once you have added any data to the Speaker and Session Management module, such as event tracks or sessions, then you cannot change your mind and deselect the module for the event unless all the sessions have a status of “cancelled”. The Manage menu on the Top Navigation Menu Links now includes “Speakers and Sessions”. That takes you to the Sessions page described on page 5. The Left Navigation Panel there includes links to Sessions, Speakers, Locations, Tracks, Bulk Assignment, and Setup: these are all described here and in the Page Help. Note that when this module is enabled, sessions in the event are added on the Sessions page (see "Sessions"), instead of as agenda items, although you still use agenda items for things such as merchandise.

Conference Sessions

The Conference Sessions sub-module offers additional features, especially for larger and more complex events. These include an online Speaker Portal, Reviewer Portal, review- and task-based workflow, and more custom fields per session (200 instead of 15).

If this product is enabled for your account, here’s how you enable it for an event:

The Left Navigation panel now includes extra links: Speaker Portal, Session Reviews, and Reviewer Portal.

Essential Initial Setup

Custom Fields

To configure Custom Fields that you can apply to Sessions, Speakers, or Session Reviews, go to Manage > Speaker and Session Management > Setup > Custom Fields.

You can use these custom fields on the Session Layout described in the next section, on the Speaker page, on the Speaker Portal (see "Speaker Portal"), on the Reviewer Portal (see "Reviewer Portal"), and in forms, mails, and reports.

To add a new custom field, click Add Custom Field. To edit an existing one, click .

The types available are Text, Ratings/Score, File, Text Area, Radio, Checkbox, Select, and Select Multiple. Ratings/Score fields are only for use on session reviews.

The last four types of those eight are lists of options that you configure, including their possible values, the order in which they're displayed, and which is the default value.

Session Layout

Before you can add any sessions to your event, you configure the layout of the Sessions page on which you do so.

That page is seen only by planners – not by attendees, speakers, or reviewers. However, its layout is used as the basis for the Speaker Portal (see "Speaker Portal") and Reviewer Portal (see "Reviewer Portal").

Go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Setup > Session Layout

Choosing a Session layout

If Conference Sessions is enabled for the event (see "Conference Sessions") you first choose one of the two starter options: Standard Sessions or Conference Sessions. If it’s not, the Standard Sessions layout is automatically in effect and is not referred to as such.

Whichever you choose has a default layout, which you can customize (see below) or use as it comes "out of the box".

Configuring your Session Layout

Whichever of the two layout options you select, you can define and arrange fields on your layout, choosing from the pre-defined standard fields and the custom fields you have added (see "Custom Fields").

Locations

To add or edit the locations (rooms and halls) used for sessions, go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Locations.

Each location has a Name, a unique Code, a Type (Meeting Room, Meeting Hall, or Conference Hall), a maximum Capacity, and a Venue.

To add your own custom Location Type, enter its name in the text box, and click Save.

Once you have added locations, you can allocate sessions to them by date: see “Scheduling” on page 8.

To import locations from an Excel file, click Import. That gives you the option of downloading a template file to use. To update existing locations, you can choose to download a list of all locations for you to edit, save, and upload back.

Optional Initial Setup

Tracks

Tracks are a way of grouping sessions together by theme. If you’re using the Standard Sessions layout (see "Standard Sessions") then Tracks are optional, but if you’re using the Conference Sessions layout (see "Conference Sessions") with a Reviewer Portal (see "Reviewer Portal"), then tracks are required rather than optional because reviewers are assigned to tracks to review the sessions in those tracks.

Similarly, if you’re using Conference Sessions, and therefore have a Speaker Portal, you need to add Tracks before speakers can select them for their sessions.

To add tracks, go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Tracks, and click New Track.

Each track has a unique Name, a Description, and a Color. The track color can be used on the SCHEDULER grid view of sessions to group sessions visually; see “Scheduling”.

If you’re using the Conference Sessions layout then there’s another field: Reviewers. Select the Reviewer(s) who are to review the sessions in this track.

You can choose to add one or more Sub-tracks to a track. When you assign a session to a track (see "Sessions below"), you can assign it to one or more of that track’s sub-tracks. And if you’re using the Conference Sessions layout, you can set up Reviewers to review sessions based on sub-track or remain a level up and review all sessions at the top-level track.

Industries

You can select the industries to be available for use as the "target" industries for sessions in the event. For example, “Financial Services”, “Pharmaceutical”, etc.

Go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Setup > Industries and select the relevant industries.

If there are no Industries to choose from, speak to your Administrator, who has to first create them in the account (on Account Settings > Management > Job Functions).

Job Functions

Similar to Industries, you can select the job functions to be available for use as the "target" job functions for sessions in the event. For example, “CEO”, “CMO”, “Marketing”, etc.

Go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Setup > Job Functions.

If there are no Job Functions to choose from, speak to your Administrator, who has to first create them in the account (on Account Settings > Management > Industries).

Core Setup/Management

Sessions

Add/Edit Sessions

To add sessions, go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Sessions. Click Add New to enter the details manually, or Import to import them from an Excel or .csv file. (As part of the import process you can download a template file to populate.)

Note that if you’re using the Conference Sessions product, prospective speakers can add their sessions when they submit them online in the Speaker Portal; see "Speaker Portal".

To edit an existing session, click on the list of sessions.

The fields available on the add/edit page, and how the page is laid out, are as configured for the event on Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Setup > Session Layout. The defaults, and the options available, are all described in the online Page Help topic. But let’s discuss a few of them here.

Instances

Abstract File

Abstract Description

Session Presentations

Session Fees

Speakers

Waitlist Limit

Qualify Sessions

If you are using the Conference Sessions product, and reviewers are reviewing speakers’ abstracts using the Reviewer Portal (see "Reviewer Portal"), then on the same Sessions page you can click Reviewer Stats to see a dropdown list of the statistics for the current session: Average Score, Reviewers' Progress, Requested Modifications, and Remaining Reviewers.

When you are satisfied that you have enough information about a session, you can set its Status by selecting one from the drop-down list. For example, you could set it to Qualified if you were satisfied with the reviewers’ scores and progress.

You can also qualify sessions (individually or in bulk) on Session Reviews > Manage Reviews — see "Managing Reviews".

Note: When a planner adds a session, rather than a speaker submitting it through the speaker portal, then the status defaults to Qualified. This of course applies to all sessions added for a Standard Sessions layout, since a speaker portal is only available for a Conference Sessions layout.

Schedule Sessions

When a session has a status of Qualified (see “Qualify Sessions” immediately above), you can schedule each instance for a date/time and location. You can do this under the Schedules section while adding or editing a session, or on the SCHEDULER view on the Sessions list page: see “Scheduling”.

Publish Sessions

Speakers

When Speaker and Session Management is enabled for the event, you add speakers in Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Speakers instead of in Event Setup > Speakers, which is not available when Speaker and Session Management is enabled. (The same speaker records are used in Certain Mobile.)

If the Conference Sessions layout is in use (see "Conference Sessions"), Speakers can themselves use the Speaker Portal – see "Speaker Portal".

Assign Speakers to Sessions

For sessions you add on the Sessions page, click Add Speaker on that page to add speakers to a session instance.

If you are using the Conference Sessions layout (see "Conference Sessions"), you can assign different speakers to different instances of a session.

You can upload a Speaker’s Agreement document for a speaker; and you can access a speaker’s sessions when viewing their speaker record, in addition to seeing them on the Sessions page.

Speaker Email Templates

To send emails to speakers, first set up at least one template on Promote > Communication > Speaker Email Templates.

The dynamic data fields you can append to those emails include speaker fields and session fields, plus any custom fields you’ve set up on Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Setup > Custom Fields (see "Custom Fields").

Sessions on Forms

To enable attendees to select sessions as part of the registration process, go to Plan > Forms, edit the form, and add a Sessions section to the form on its Setup page.

On the Sessions section configuration page, click Session Display Options to customize the display of the contents of Session Sections. You only need to edit these customization fields where you don’t want to use the default values. Note that these settings apply to all session sections in the form. These include the labels on buttons, such as “Add to My Schedule”, and the text of messages such as “Waitlist Full”.

If you select Enable, a Session area will be shown at the top of any form page that includes a Sessions Section.

There the registrant can click to in or to filter the sessions that have been published for their attendee type. If the event has a long list of sessions, this makes it easier for the registrant to find the ones they want to attend.

When searching, the registrant can enter any part of a Session Name, Session Description, Speaker's First Name, or Speaker's Last Name. Searches are not case-sensitive. The list of sessions displayed is limited to those returned by the search or filter.

A filter only shows information included in the unfiltered records. For example, if the registrant chooses to filter on Tags, they see only those tags in use in records on the sessions being listed.

In the form, the attendee can add to their schedule any of the scheduled session instances that have been published for their attendee type.

(See “Publish Sessions”)

Caution:

The Sessions section must therefore always come after the Attendee Type section in the form, so that the form can list the correct sessions.

Assigning sessions using Form Logic

Scheduling

1. Ensure the current calendar view is Day or 3 Days.

2. If required, click Color to select what color to show sessions in: Track, Type, or Level.

3. Navigate to the required date in the schedule.

4. Click that date to display the list of available sessions.

5. Select a session. That's it – the session is now scheduled!

Assigning Sessions to Attendees

When you assign a session to an attendee, you are actually assigning an instance of that session: an instance scheduled for a particular date and time, in a particular location.

There are two ways to do this:

1) For one attendee at a time, on Manage > Registrations > Sessions

2) For multiple attendees at the same time, on Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Bulk Assignment

Before you can assign attendees to a session, you will first need to have scheduled at least one of that session’s instances (see “Scheduling”), and to have published the session for at least one attendee type. That makes the session instances available for assignment to attendees.

Assignments to One Attendee
Changing Status

| From | To | When | |---|---|---| | Waitlisted | Cancelled | Always | | Waitlisted | Registered | Capacity is Available | | Registered | Cancelled | Always | | Registered | No Show | Always | | Registered | Attended | Always | | Cancelled | Registered | Capacity is Available |

Bulk Assignment

1. Select the session instance to be assigned. Registrations are then listed: all those of an attendee type for which the session has been published, and who are not already registered for the same session instance.

2. You can filter the sessions further by selecting an attendee type, and/or selecting a question and then an answer to that question, and/or by typing any part of an attendee name. (The list is updated dynamically.)

3. Select the attendees to whom you want to assign the session occurrence, and click Save.

Unassigning Sessions

To cancel the assignment of sessions to attendees, go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Bulk Assignment > and click the Unassign Sessions tab.

1. Select the session instances to be unassigned. The attendees with that instance assigned to them are listed.

2. You can filter the registrations listed in the same way as you can for assigning sessions.

3. Select the attendees for whom you want to cancel their assignment of the session occurrence, and click Save.

Assignments via Import

Speaker Portal

Introduction

Adding and Editing a Speaker Portal

Settings
Site Layout

On the Site Layout page (reached by clicking Layout & Color in the Left Navigation Panel), you choose and configure the color palette and navigation bar.

Branding
Pages

1) A prospective speaker can click SUBMIT A PROPOSAL to go to the Speaker page on which they enter their details and upload their abstract

2) A registered speaker can log in by entering their Username and Password

Reviewer Portal

1. The session layout – see "Sessions Layout"

2. The Speaker Portal – see "Speaker Portal"

Adding and Editing a Reviewer Portal

Settings
Site Layout
Branding
Pages

Reports

Event Session Summary Reports

Custom Reports

The following custom report types are available when you click Add Report:

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