Speakers (in Speaker and Session Management)

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 Actions in the Speaker List panel.
The Actions in the Speaker List panel open the Add Speaker or Edit Speaker pop-up window.
To delete a speaker's record, click Delete under Actions in the Speaker List panel.
To delete multiple speakers, select multiple speakers in the Speaker List, click Delete, and run the Delete mass action.

Background

On this page you add, edit and view speakers in Speaker and Session Management.
This module must be enabled for the event in Plan > Configure > Options > Functional Areas Needed by the Event.
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.

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.
This is instead of using Event Setup > Speakers, which is not available when Speaker and Session Management is enabled for the event.

This Page

Buttons

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: If a filter is applied to the list, the same filter applies to the export.
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 — Disabled until you have selected speakers to process in bulk.
Mass Actions — Run a Mass Action on selected speakers. Actions available:
Create Registrations — Create registrations for the selected speakers. You select the Attendee Type and Registration Status to use.
Delete — Delete the selected speakers.

Speaker List / 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.
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 (which means all speakers, regardless of whether they have a Profile Pic).
Has Associated Sessions — Select Yes or No, or leave at default of All (which 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 (meaning 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 (meaning 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 — All speakers are listed with the following columns (which are detailed in Add Speaker or Edit Speaker):
First Name
Last Name
Speaker Type
Organization
Email
Sessions — Total number of assigned sessions. Includes only qualified, scheduled, and published sessions. (Exclusions)
Reg Code, with one of the following:
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, with these icons:
View — View the speaker's details.
Edit — Edit the speaker's details in the Edit Speaker pop-up window.
Delete — 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, and click Add. (Name must be unique in the event.)
Make Default — Select this check box to make the new type the default for new speakers. (See below.)
All Speaker Types are listed, with these three columns:
Default — One record has a check mark, indicating it is the default speaker type for new speakers (whether 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; that will move 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 the edit in the Actions column and save your changes.
Actions — Two icons:
Edit — Edit the Speaker Type Name, and click to save your changes.
Delete — 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

Import — To import speakers, click the Import button (at top right).
The import file must be an Excel file (.xls or .xlsx) or a CSV file (.csv).
It 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.
Note: The Username must be unique in the account. (See Add/Edit Speaker.)
Note: The Username cannot be changed via a Speaker 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 (that is answers), use the Code option 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.
The import file cannot include a Profile Picture.
Note: Use Step 1 below to download a template which will have the columns named appropriately. That 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.

2) If you're updating existing speakers, you can choose to download a list of all speakers for you to edit, save, and upload back.

3) Once you have a file ready to import, click Next in the first step.

4) Drop a file into step 2, or click Choose File and select the file to upload.

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

6) Click Complete Import to start or schedule the import process.

7) You receive an email advising that the import is complete, and details of any rows that failed to import (for example, because they didn't match the validation rules mentioned above).