Speakers (in Speaker and Session Management)

On this page you add, edit and view speakers in Speaker and Session Management.

That module must be enabled for the event in Plan > Configure > Options > Functional Areas Needed by the Event.

Note

Speaker records are added to the account’s Profile database with additional information on this Speakers page. An administrator is therefore able to "anonymize" a speaker's record if asked to do so. This includes removing all Personal Identifying Information (PII) and optionally deactivating the record. See Profile Anonymization.

Quick Tips

To add a new speaker, click Add New (at the end of the "Speaker List" heading).
To edit an existing speaker's record, click under Actions in the Speaker List panel.
The Actions in the Speaker List panel open an Add Speaker or Edit Speaker pop-up window.
To delete a speaker's record, click under Actions in the Speaker List panel.
To delete multiple speaker records, select multiple speakers in the Speaker List, click, and run the Delete mass action.

Related Info

Video: Adding a Speaker.

Speakers may add their own records via the Speaker Portal if the event has one.

If you are using Certain Mobile in the event, that uses the same speakers you set up here. That setup is instead of using Event Setup > Speakers, which is not available when Speaker and Session Management is enabled for the event.

This Page

Buttons

The buttons in the upper right corner are:

Add New
Add a new speaker in the Add Speaker pop-up window.
Import
Import speakers from an Excel file or a CSV file.
See Import below.
Export
Export all speakers to an Excel file or a CSV file.
You could, for example, then make changes and additions, and Import the amended file.
Note about filters
If you have applied a filter to the list, then the same filter applies to the export.
Notes about Google Drive exports
Notes about using Google Drive to view exports that include non-standard characters.
Especially important if you will be editing and re-importing the data.
Mass Actions
Mass Actions is disabled until you have selected speakers to process in bulk.
Mass Actions run options
Run a Mass Action on selected speakers.
The available actions are:
Create Registrations
Create registrations for the selected speakers.
Select the Attendee Type and Registration Status to use.
Delete
Delete the selected speakers.

Speaker List

Search / Filter

By default, all speakers are listed. To filter the list, enter values in the fields (below the 'Speaker list' heading) and click the magnifying glass. Click the X to clear any filters applied.

A blank filter (or All where the filters is Yes/No) means that filter is ignored.

Filter fields

Type
Select one or more of the Speaker Types defined for the event.
Default: All.
Speaker Name
Type any part of a name (First Name or Last Name).
Email
Type any part of an email address.
Organization
Type any part of an organization name.
Contains Profile Pic
Select Yes or No, or leave at default of ' All'.
The default means all speakers, regardless of whether they have a Profile Pic.
Has Associated Sessions
Select Yes or No, or leave at default of ' All'.
The default means all speakers, regardless of whether they are assigned to any sessions yet.
More
Click to select any of these additional options.
Fields are added in which you can type values.
Bio
In the added 'Contains Bio ' field, select Yes or No.
Default: All.
The default means all speakers will be included, as if you hadn't added the filter.
No. of Sessions
In the added ' No. of Sessions ' field, select a number of sessions.
Default: All.
The default means all speakers will be included, as if you hadn't added the filter.
Custom Fields
Select any speaker custom fields added on Setup > Custom Fields.
This filter is not shown if no custom fields have been set up.

List columns

All speakers are listed with the following columns.

First Name
Last Name
Speaker Type
Organization
Email
Sessions
Total number of assigned sessions.
Includes only qualified, scheduled, and published sessions.
(Exclusions)
Reg Code
Create Registration
Click to open a pop-up window in which you select an Attendee Type and Registration Status to create a registration for the speaker.
Registration Code
Displayed if a registration has already been created for this speaker.
Click to go to the registration's Attendee Overview.
Actions
View the speaker's details.
Edit the speaker's details in the Edit Speaker pop-up window.
Delete the speaker.

Speaker Types

Note

Using speaker types is entirely optional. But once you have set any up in an event, then one must be assigned to each new speaker.

Add Speaker Type

To add a speaker type, enter a new Speaker Type Name in the text box.
Click Add.
The Speaker Type Name must be unique in the event.

Make Default

Select the Make Default check box to make the new type the default for new speakers.
See below.

Speaker Types table columns

All Speaker Types are listed with three columns.

Default
One record has a check mark.
The check mark indicates it is the default speaker type for new speakers.
This applies whether new speakers are added on this Speakers page or on the Speaker Portal.
To make a different speaker type the default, click in the Default column for that row.
Clicking moves the check mark to that record.
Note: You cannot delete the default speaker type.
Speaker Type Name
To change the name of a speaker type, click (edit) in the Actions column.
Actions
Edit the Speaker Type Name.
Click to save your changes.
You can click to cancel unsaved changes.
Delete the speaker type.
You are prompted to confirm.
There is no Delete icon for the Default speaker type because you cannot delete the default.
You would first have to make a different speaker type the default.
Note: You cannot delete a speaker type that's assigned to a speaker.
You would first have to change that speaker's speaker type.

Import

To import speakers, click the Import button (at top right).

Import file requirements

The import file must be an Excel file (.xls or .xlsx) or a CSV file (.csv).
The import file must include all the required fields: First Name, Last Name and Email.
Fields must match any validation mentioned in Add Speaker or Edit Speaker.
Gender must be "Male" or "Female" (or blank).
DOB must be a valid date in mm/dd/yyyy format (or blank).
Speaker Type must exist in the event (or be blank).
etc.

Username uniqueness results

The Username must be unique in the account. See Add/Edit Speaker.

The import results are:

1. A new speaker with no existing Profile record in the account.

Success, provided no other Speaker or Profile record has the Username being imported.

2. A new speaker with an existing Profile record (usually because they've attended an event).

Success, provided no other Speaker in the event has the Username being imported.
New details will be merged into the existing profile record.
A new speaker record is added.

> Note: You cannot change a Username via a Speaker import.

Speaker Custom Fields in the import

Include Speaker Custom Fields as their own columns.
Use the custom field Code as the column header.
For custom fields with pre-set options (answers), use the option Code as the value in the spreadsheet.
To assign more than one pre-set option value to a custom field where the Custom Field Type allows it (such as a Checkbox List or Multiple Select List), separate the options using the | "pipe" character.
Example: " English|Spanish|French".

Restrictions

The import file cannot include a Profile Picture.

Suggestion

Use Step 1 below to download a template.
The template will have the columns named appropriately.
This makes the mapping in Step 3 below more likely to map columns automatically.

Steps to follow to import speakers

1. In the first step of the wizard you can click a link to download a template Excel file to populate.

If you're updating existing speakers, you can choose to download a list of all speakers for you to edit, save, and upload back.
Once you have a file ready to import, click Next in the first step.

2. In step 2, drop a file into the upload area.

Or click Choose File and select the file to upload.

3. In the Speaker Import step, map the columns in your import file to the Speaker Field in Certain.

4. Click Complete Import to start or schedule the import process.

5. You receive an email advising that the import is complete.

The email includes details of any rows that failed to import.
The email examples include rows that did not match the validation rules mentioned above.