This feature is available for Enterprise and White Label Plans only
This feature can be used together with the Session Reviewer Approval Process. Please ensure to read and understand both processes.
The Session and Speaker Approval Process
The Session and Speaker Registration Approval feature allows you to review speaker applications and session proposals before they're added to your event. This guide will walk you through how to enable the application process and understand what happens when proposal are submitted and approved.
How Does It Work?
When the session approval feature is enabled, a "Call for Sessions" section will appear on the event's landing page's About tab. Applicants can submit a session without logging in or creating an account. They only need to provide their personal information, session details, and speaker details. An account is required only if the applicant chooses to save the submission as a draft.
You will receive the request in the admin console wherein you can review their proposal. When you approve their request, they will receive an email stating they have been approved and to wait for more instructions. The speaker(s) will also get the speaker invite email - we suggest to turn this off before approving and send it to them when you've adjusted the session to its correct schedule.
A regular session will be automatically created in draft mode and they will added as speakers to the session. The session schedule will be the first hour of the event. If they have indicated the duration in minutes in the request, the duration will be considered in the session creation.
Notes:
The session approval feature is also available in the advanced event website pages. Just add the widget to the page.
The session approval works with recurring events.
You can turn off the session approval feature anytime. If you enable it again, the requests will remain there.
Enable The Session Registration Approval Feature
Go to Event Content > Submissions
Enable the toggle for Enable Session Submission Approval
After enabling it, you should see the Session Registration feature on the landing page's right side of the About tab.
Customize the Session Registration Section on Landing Page
Go to Event Design > Event Website > Edit Website
Scroll down to find the text boxes to enter the custom text
Click the Submit Session button to edit the text button
Notes:
Title has a 50 character limit
Description has a 150 character limit
Text button has a 50 character limit and the button color cannot be changed
Customize the Questions
In the Approval menu, go to the Session > Form tab to add and customize the questions to be asked depending on what information you need from them.
Session Questions
Session Questions
When customizing your submission forms, the questions you ask about the session can appear in the created session in the admin console when approved, you can also make the information visible to attendees when they click on the session details in the agenda. If this is your goal, you'll need to create Custom Session Properties first.
Add Existing Properties
To link the custom session properties you created to your submission form, click + Add Field > Add Existing Property, and select the existing session property. This will automatically create a form question with the same label as the session property and since you're using an existing session property it will automatically map the collected information to the session. Make sure to Enable and Require them to include them in the submission form.
Create a Custom Field
If the field does not need to be appear in the session and it's just a question that you need to ask in the application, choose Create Custom Field to create a submission form field. Enable the include toggle to have the question show in the form. You can also make the questions required.
Field Mapping
If the question you want to ask in the application is different from the session property label, then you can map these fields.
For example, when submitting the form, you want to ask them "Please give us a short description about your company. This will be displayed in the session" and in the session, you don't want that whole question to appear, instead you want the label to appear as "Company Description"
You need to create a custom field for the question: Please give us a short description about your company. This will be displayed in the session.
And create a custom session property for Company Description and map them.
Open the field you created for the session submission form
In the settings, select the session custom property you created under Field Mapping and Save
The Mapped to session property column will show which session property is linked to the form question.
Note: If you don't use the Field Mapping settings when you create a new form question, the answer to the question will only appear in the approval menu, it will not be carried over to the session when the session is created after approval.
Form Logic for Session Questions
Make sure your questions are already created before creating logic rules.
Use the Form Logic feature if you want to create conditional session questions that will hide or show the next question, or require them to answer a question based on the answer from the previous question.
Speaker Questions
Speaker Questions
Add Existing Properties
When customizing your submission forms, the answers in the form about the speaker can automatically be linked to created public speaker profile when approved.
When you click Add Field > Add Existing Property under Speaker Information, you will see the available speaker properties that links to their profile. When you select an existing speaker property, it will automatically create a form question with the same label as the speaker property and since you're using an existing speaker property it will automatically map the collected information to the speaker profile. Make sure to Enable and Require them to include them in the submission form.
If you need to collect other information that you need to appear in the speaker's internal profile in the admin console, you can create Custom Speaker Properties, and they should appear in the pop-up above after creating them.
Note: The custom speaker fields are internal fields, so the information won't be visible to attendees.
Create a Custom Field
If the field does not need to be appear in the speaker's internal profile and it's just a question that you need to ask in the application, choose Create Custom Field to create a submission form field. Enable the include toggle to have the question show in the form. You can also make the questions required.
Field Mapping
If the question you want to ask in the application is different from the speaker property label, then you can map these fields.
For example, when submitting the form, you want to ask them "Please give us a short description about yourself. This will be displayed in your profile", you can map this to the speaker property "Bio" as the bio field is displayed in their speaker profile.
You need to create a custom field for the question: Please give us a short description about yourself. This will be displayed in your profile.
Open the speaker field you created for the submission form
In the settings, select the "Bio" speaker property under Field Mapping and Save
The Mapped to session property column will show which speaker property is linked to the form question.
Note: If you don't use the Field Mapping settings when you create a new form question, the answer to the question will only appear in the approval menu, it will not be carried over to the speaker record when the speaker is created after approval.
Set a Maximum number of Additional Speakers per Application
Control speaker submissions to streamline session management. Limiting the number of additional speakers per application helps keep your agenda organized and efficient.
Go to Settings
Enable Allow applicants to add additional speakers
Enter the maximum number of speakers per application
Customize Emails
After submitting the proposal, they will get an email confirming that their submission request has been received. Whenever you change the status of their proposal to approved, denied or waitlisted, they will get another email to let them know about the change.
You can edit the subject and body of these emails, and disable the automatic sending if you don't want them to receive the emails in the Post Registration Emails section in Settings tab.
Introductory Page
You can add introductory page that applicants will see before they enter all the information. You can customize the banner image, title and description on that page. This will be the page the applicants see when they click the button from the landing. You can enable this feature under the Customization section in Settings.
Session & Speaker Approval Link
When applicants click the button from the event landing page or access the session and speaker approval link, they will see the introductory page (if enabled). Applicants can complete and submit the session proposal without logging in or creating an account by entering their basic information, followed by the session and speaker details.
If applicants choose to save the proposal as a draft, they will be prompted to log in or create an account. Once the proposal is submitted, applicants will see a confirmation page.
Customize the Confirmation Page
The confirmation page applicants see after they submit can be customized in Registration > Order Confirmation > Confirmation Pages.
Submit a Proposal
When applicants click the button from the event landing page or access the session and speaker approval link, they will see the introductory page (if enabled). Applicants can proceed to enter their basic information, followed by the session and speaker details. Once the proposal is submitted, applicants will see the confirmation page.
Save as Draft
Session proposers can save their proposals as drafts, allowing them to return later to review and make edits before final submission. They will need to log in to their account to save. If they don't have one yet, they easily use the single sign in options or enter their email address to create an new account.
After logging in to save the draft, they can click Back to My Applications, or click their profile in the upper right and select My Applications. They can click Complete Submission to open the proposal and continue entering information in the proposal.
Review My Submitted Proposal
After submitting the proposal, they can go back to My Applications to view their submission and check the status.
Review Proposals as Admins
Go to the Submissions tab in the Session Approval feature in the admin console. Once a proposal is submitted it will appear in this tab. Click an item to see the details of the proposal.
Download Proposals
Click the Export button to get a CSV file of all the proposals. It will have columns for date submission, status, topic, description, speaker name and email for the primary speaker, the names of the other speakers, review status and tracking link used.
Session Reviewers
If you have a lot of session proposals, you can assign people to review sessions to stay organized. Once reviewed, you can take a look at their ratings and comments to decide whether a proposal will be denied or approved.
Approve Proposals
The status of a new request will be Pending in the Submissions tab. Click the dropdown menu in the Status column to change the status to Pending to Review Complete, Preliminary Approval, Waitlisted, Denied, or Approved.
Notes:
Once you approve, you can no longer change the status.
We highly suggest turning off the speaker invite email before approving. Just send this email once you have adjusted the schedule and other details in the session that's automatically created after approval.
There are no emails sent when the status is changed to Review Complete or Preliminary Approval.
Approved Sessions & Speakers
When you approve a session, the requestor will be notified through email if you have the automatic emails turned on. The session is created automatically, speakers are added to the session, and the speaker invite email will automatically be sent if it's enabled.
The session that will be created is a regular session and is scheduled for the first hour of the event. If this is not the desired schedule, we suggest turning off the speaker invite email before approving requests. This way you can make the necessary session adjustments and send the invite at a later time when all the details are added.
Receive Request Notifications
If you want admins to be notified when proposals are submitted, go to Registration > Approvals > Settings and enable the toggle to Send email when an approval request comes in. The select admins in Manage Receivers will receive email notifications for every request. Not that this is notification for session request only, this does not include reviewer requests and review submissions.
Other Request Settings
Search - search for a request by session topic, description or speaker name
Filter - filter requests by status
Edit Column - select which columns to show in the list of requests
Download - download all requests which includes columns for their answers and the request status
Open Request - open the request to see the details
Send status email - resend the status email to the requestor
Download Request - download the individual request information
Delete - delete the request. You can no longer delete an approved request.
Session Approval Widget
If you're using the advanced website builder, you can add the Sessions Approval widget to the page.
You can also add it to your website by copying the embeddable widget code from Settings > Widgets
Hide the ‘Submit Session’ Button
To stop receiving session and speaker submissions, disable the Receive Session Submissions toggle under Settings. When disabled, the submission form will be inaccessible to users, removing the Submit Session button from your event’s landing page and the direct Session Submission URL.
