Import Session Information from Airtable to Accelevents

If you're using Airtable to manage your event data such as the event agenda, you can easily import session information to Accelevents by creating a Zap!

Accelevents has an official app published in Zapier for integrating with other platforms. The steps below will show you how to connect your Accelevents account to Zapier and then build your integration between your event and the other apps available in Zapier, such as Airtable.

A Zap is like your personal assistant following all your instructions to complete the task. It has two essential components: a trigger and an action. The trigger is an event or condition as to when the action will happen. The action is the command that will complete your goal.

Your zap would look like this:

Session Fields

Before setting up your zap, ensure that the field and value formats are compatible with Accelevents. Here are the fields that can be imported and their proper format.

See a Sample Airtable Format

Accelevents Session Field	Airtable Field Format
Title	Text field
Session ID	Number field Select a Preset: 3456 Decimal Places: 0 (1) Default Value: 0 Note: The session ID will be imported from Accelevents after the session is created in Accelevents. The value in the field before turning on the Zap should be "0".
Session Visibility (Is session visible?)	Single select field Below are the accepted values: Yes No OR True False
Session Format Type	Single select field Below are the accepted values: MAIN_STAGE_SESSION REGULAR_SESSION MEET_UP WORKSHOP EXPO BREAK OTHER
Session Date and Time	This should be 2 separate fields Date fields: Session Start Date and Time Session End Date and Time Field Settings: Date format should be ISO Enable Include time Time format should be 24 hour. Enable Use the same time zone for all collaborators Time zone should be the event's time zone Enable Display time zone
Short Description	Text field
Full Details	Text field Note: HTML format works with this field, however, markdown and rich text won't work.
Location	Text field
Capacity	Number field
Tags	This should be a multiple-select field
Tracks	This should be a multiple-select field
Ticket Types	This should be a multiple-select field The values should be exactly the same as the ticket names in Accelevents There should be an extra value for "No Ticket Types" Important Note: If no ticket types are selected in Airtable, all ticket types will be selected in Accelevents, so if you want that no ticket types will be selected in Accelevents, you must select "No Ticket Types" in Airtable.
Assigned Speakers	This can be a "Link to another record" field if you have your speakers added to Airtable. OR This can be a text or email field if you don't have your speakers added to Airtable. The value needed is the speaker's email address. Behavior: The speaker will only be assigned to the session if the speaker is already existing in Accelevents. If a speaker is assigned directly in Accelevents, the speaker will remain assigned if in the Airtable update, if there are no assigned speakers. If a speaker is assigned directly in Accelevents, the speaker will be unassigned if in the Airtable update that speaker is not included in the list of assigned speakers. If you assign speakers in Airtable for sessions where speakers cannot be assigned in Accelevents (e.g. Networking, Break, Expo, Other), the speaker mapping will be ignored.

Accept the Invite to Create a Zap

Accepting the invite will allow you to use the most up-to-date version of our Accelevents app. Click Accept & Build a Zap.

Start by Clicking This Invite Link

Create the Zap

Click the arrows to see the next steps to set up the trigger and action.

Part 1 Trigger - New or Updated Record

1. Format the Airtable Fields

Please ensure that the Airtable field formats are compatible with Accelevents.

See a Sample Airtable Format

2. Accept the Accelevents' Invite

To ensure that you're using the correct app version, accept the Accelevents invite to build a Zap

Accept the Invite

3. Choose Airtable as the Trigger

Create a new zap, click the trigger, then search and select Airtable.

4. Choose the Trigger Event

Choose New or Update Record as the trigger event to create a session in Accelevents when a new session is created in Airtable, and if there are changes in the Airtable session, it will also update in Accelevents.

5. Connect your Airtable account

If you've previously used Airtable for your Zaps, you can select the account from the dropdown or click + Connect a new account. Once selected, click Continue.

6. Choose the Airtable Base, Table, and Timestamp fields

Select the area in your Airtable account where the data will come from.

If no fields show for timestamp, you must create a field and select "Last modified time" as the field type in your Airtable's grid view.

When done with the required fields in the zap, click Continue.

7. Test the trigger

Click Test Trigger so Zapier can check for a successful connection between the two platforms. Select which Airtable record to test.

Important: Before testing, check the fields in the record you selected. It should include all the fields that you want to import. Specifically, the Session ID field must be included to make the whole zap work. If the fields are incomplete, add values in the Airtable record and click "Find new records" in the zap to fetch the latest updated record.

Part 2 Action - Create or Update Sessions in Accelevents

1. Select Accelevents for Action

Search and choose the latest version of Accelevents. You will only see this version if you accept the invite in the previous step.

2. Select Create or Update Sessions

Select Create or Update Sessions in the action event dropdown.

3. Connect Your Accelevents Event to Zapier

Click Sign In, and a pop-up will appear where you can enter the API Key.

To get your Zapier API Key, open your event admin console in Accelevents

Go to Settings > Integrations
Enable the toggle for Zapier Integration
Click on Configure, then copy the generated API key.

Paste the API Key to the Zapier pop-up, then click Yes, Continue to Accelevents. Then click Continue in the Zapier settings.

4. Configure the fields

Map all the fields that you want to import to Accelevents.

Session id, session title, format type, date and time are required fields.
For the session visibility, you can select True or False to have the same settings for all sessions or click the 3 dots and select Custom to map your session visibility field.
To map the assigned speaker, look for the Airtable field with the speaker's email address as value.

5. Test

Click Continue, then test the step to see if it will fetch the data from the other platform and create a session in Accelevents.

Part 3 Action - Filter Conditions

This next action creates a filter that will determine if the zap will proceed to the next step. It's important to create a filter so that it does not create a continuous loop as the last action in this Zap updates the Airtable record, and the first step in this Zap triggers when an update is done to the Airtable record.

1. Select Filter as Action

Select Filter from the available apps.

2. Setup Filter Conditions

This step means it will continue to update the Airtable Session ID field only if the existing value in that field is "0" or blank. And it will no longer update the field if the value is more than that.

Choose the Session ID field under Only continue if.
Select (Number) Less than as the condition and input 1 as data.

3. Add Another Rule Group as Filter Condition

Click + Add "Or" rule group
Select the Session ID field, then Does not exist as the condition. Click Continue.

4. Test the Step

A prompt will appear explaining that your Zap would have continued for this test data. Click Continue.

Part 4 Action - Update Record

1. Select Airtable as Action

Select Airtable from the available apps.

Choose Update Record as the action event. Click Continue.

2. Configure Which Record to Update

Select your Base and Table from Airtable. For Record data, select the 3-dot menu, choose Custom, then click Record Id.

Select Session ID from Accelevents. Click Continue.

3. Test

When the step is tested, the Session ID from Accelevents is imported into the Airtable's Session ID field. Click Publish.

Having the Accelevents Session ID in Airtable allows the Zap to update the correct session in Accelevents.

4. Publish the Zap

If the test is successful, publish the zap. If you're on Zapier's free plan, the sync interval is every 15 minutes, you may need to click "Run" in the zap to push the data ahead of time.

Import and Update Behavior

Below are the expected behavior when you create new sessions or make changes to existing ones after the Zap is turned on

Create New Sessions

Newly created sessions from the integrated platform will be imported to Accelevents, as long as the required fields have a valid value (e.g., session date and time are within the event duration, main stage sessions are not overlapping with other main stage sessions)
Existing sessions from the integrated platform will only be imported to Accelevents when the record is updated in the other platform.

Update Session Information

Sessions will sync if the Session ID matches in the other platform and Accelevents, regardless of where and how the sessions are created. The Session ID allows the integration to update the correct session even if there are sessions with the same name.
If the Session ID is removed from the other platform, a new session will be created in Accelevents, instead of updating the existing one.
When updates are made in the integrated platform, the new data will sync with Accelevents, replacing the existing data (e.g., speakers assigned directly in Accelevents will be unassigned if in the update, they are not included in the assigned speakers in Airtable, the existing description will be replaced with the Airtable description)
When updates are made in Accelevents and that field is not mapped in the Zap or is blank in the other platform (e.g. description, session visibility), that field will update to the default session settings (blank description field, the session is visible, all ticket types selected) if updates are done in the other platform.
Deleted Accelevents sessions will reappear in Accelevents if changes are made to the existing session in the integrated platform.
Deleted sessions from the integrated platform will not be deleted in Accelevents.