Feature Guide: Speakers

Create profiles to show off your event's talent lineup and foster connections

Daniel Murphey avatar
Written by Daniel Murphey
Updated over a week ago

Setting up profiles in your Event App for each of your speakers is a great way to introduce them to your attendees. There are many ways to customize and integrate a speaker profile, and we strongly encourage you to spend some time becoming familiar with each option. With a well-crafted profile, your speakers are more likely to have increased Session attendance and attendee engagement. ✔️

Two screenshots showing the Speakers feature in the Web App and a speaker profile in the Mobile App.

Before you begin...

While you could create a profile with an image, name, occupation, and a little blurb for each speaker, there are plenty of opportunities to do much more with your speaker profiles!

Does your speaker have some favorite books or resources? Do they want to share their presentation slides or a case study? Are they open to receiving inquiries and scheduled meetings? Do they want to share their website and contact information? There's room for all of these in speaker profiles.

Before you start creating speaker profiles in your Event App, ask your speakers what they want to include in their profile. When you've gathered all the necessary information, start adding those speaker profiles!

Add the Speakers feature

In your Event's navigation bar under 'Event App', click Features, then click Add Features.

Screenshot showing the process just described.

In the modal that appears, search for the feature, click Add, then close the modal.

💡 Keep in mind, you can add the Speakers feature multiple times and use different versions to list speakers by date, company, or whatever fits your needs.

Edit settings

Before you start adding speaker profiles, customize the feature's settings. In your Event navigation bar under 'Event App' (or 'Community' in a Community), click Features, then click Speakers. On the Speakers page, click the Settings (⚙️) icon.

Screenshot of the steps just described.

In the modal that appears, edit the following:

Screenshot of the Speakers Settings modal.

Click Save Changes when you're done.

Add speaker profiles

Back on the Speakers page, either click the New Item button, or click the Categories tab to set up categories.

Add categories

If you plan to use categories, it's best to set them up before adding speaker profiles. Categories classify different types of speakers. Applying a category to a speaker adds the name of the category below the speaker's name in the Event App and lets attendees browse and filter speakers by category. Read our article about using categories for more information.

Screenshot of the New Category button on the Categories tab.

Add profiles

From the Items tab, click New Item to add a new speaker profile.

💡 Keep in mind, to save time when adding a lot of speakers, simply import them. Read our Export and Import Webex Events Data article to learn how.

Screenshot of the New Item button in the Items tab of a Speakers feature.

In the modal that appears, fill in the following information:

  • Icon - Click Upload Image to upload a picture of the speaker, or click Select Icon to choose one from our icon library.

    • Custom images must be JPEG or PNG and between 100px and 500px square.

  • Name (required) - The speaker's preferred name as it appears in your Event App. These may include distinctions such as Doctor or Professor.

  • Label/Subtitle - An additional line of text that appears under the speaker name. You could enter their company name, profession, official rank or title, or simply add a little more information about them. For the best results, keep the Label/Subtitle under 125 characters.

    💡 Keep in mind, the Icon, Name, and Label/Subtitle appear in the Speakers widget. The Icon and Name appear in the Agenda widget. To learn more about widgets, read our article about using widgets to embed Event App content.

    Screenshot of the New Item modal.

  • Location - Select a location where in-person attendees can find a speaker during the event. Our article about adding locations to your Event has instructions on creating locations.

  • Category - If applicable, select the category the speaker belongs to. Categories let attendees filter speakers when searching.

  • Description - Say more about your speaker! Format text size, style, and color, and add lists, hyperlinks, and images — including animated GIFs. 🙌

  • Booth Size/Booth Cover - If the Speakers feature is set to 'Grid View', choose from Small, Medium, or Large.

    • If you select Small, the speaker profile won't have a cover image.

    • If you select Medium or Large, click Upload Image, then drag and drop or click to select a JPEG or PNG file from your device.

      Screenshot of the Booth Size, Booth Cover, and Content Provider areas of the New Item modal.
  • Content Provider - If the Speakers feature is set to 'Grid View', upload a PDF file, use Video on Demand, or enter a URL for content hosted on a variety of popular sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, and Vidcast.

    • You can only select one Content Provider.

    • Linked content appears inside the web version if the URL is embeddable.

    • The Mobile App displays a button that lets users access the content.

    💡 Keep in mind, the Booth Size, Booth Cover, and Content Provider fields aren't available if your Speakers feature is set to 'List View'.

  • Attendee Calls to Action - Enter a Point of Contact email address so attendees can click or tap a button to get in touch with the speaker. Entering a Meeting URL lets attendees click or tap a button to book a meeting with them.

    • If the speaker is using a site like Calendly, uncheck the 'Open link in external browser' box so that the calendar opens inside your Event App's web version instead of in a new tab. Mobile App users always open external URLs in their device's default browser.

    • Check the 'Pass Data to URL' option if you want to automatically sync attendee data from Webex Events to the meeting app. Read our article about using the Pass Data to URL option for more information.

      Screenshot of the Attendee Calls to Action section in the speaker profile Edit modal.

    💡 Keep in mind, though the Attendee Calls to Action fields have default labels for requesting follow-up and meeting with speakers, you can customize the button labels and use this functionality for anything you like!

  • Add Internal Links - Link the speaker to other features in your Event App, such as Agenda Sessions, Live Stream features, and more. Refer to our article about Internal Links for a full list of items that support them.

    Screenshot of the Add Internal Links section of the modal.
  • Add External Links - Enter multiple Website URLs, phone numbers, or email addresses related to the speaker. Select the Link Type, enter a Link Name, and supply the number, email, or URL. Click Add New Item to insert another External Link. If you enter a URL and uncheck 'Open link in external browser', test to make sure the site is embeddable.

    Screenshot of the Add External Links section of the modal.
  • Attendee Engagement (Chat) - Activate or deactivate Chat functionality for the speaker. Chat is a great way for attendees to engage with speakers. Work with your speaker to outline specific timeframes where they'll answer chats, and plan to activate chat during those times. Make sure the speaker has an attendee profile in the Event so they can respond to attendee chats!

    💡 Keep in mind, chat is only available for speaker profiles when the feature is set to 'Grid View'.

  • Attachments - Upload presentations, abstracts, or any other documents you want to offer attendees. If you simply want to link to a document you uploaded elsewhere in your Event App, use an Internal Link instead.

    💡 Keep in mind, you can't add attachments when importing data.

    To upload a document, simply click Upload Attachment(s) and follow the instructions in the uploader. After you've uploaded files, click the Settings () icon next to an item to rename or delete it.

    Screenshot of the Attachments section of the New Item modal.

When you're done adding information and attachments to the speaker profile, click Save Changes. You've added a speaker profile to your Event App — great job! 🎊

Repeat the steps outlined above until you've added all your speakers. If you have a lot of speakers, remember to import multiple speakers at once to save time. 🕐

Manage speakers

After you've added categories and speaker profiles, you can take several actions to manage each:

  • Filter by categories (Items only)

  • Search

  • Drag and drop to reorder

  • Edit or Delete speakers

  • Multi-select and:

    • Export

    • Assign to Category (Items only)

    • Delete

Screenshots showing re-ordering, settings, and multi-selecting speakers.

We told you there's a lot you can do with speaker profiles! Now let's explore how it all works in the Event App.

⚠️ Caution! We know it's important to make a good impression, and a professional-looking Event App should be free of any broken links or other errors. Make sure you thoroughly test and review your Event App to avoid potential issues.

Speakers in practice

When attendees open the Speakers feature in the Event App, they can browse the list of speakers, which appears differently depending on whether the feature is set to 'List View' or 'Grid View'. The images below show examples of the feature in both configurations.

Two stacked screenshots showing the Speakers feature in list view and grid view.

The following image is a great example from an actual Event App. The organizer used the 'Grid View' Cover Image (Medium size) to show the speaker's picture, and they uploaded the speaker's company logo as the Icon. This looks awesome in the Mobile App and the web version. 😍

💡 Keep in mind, although this layout looks great in the Event App, it won't work well for Event App and Community widgets.

Screenshot of the Speakers feature in Grid View on the Web App.

When opening a profile, attendees can easily browse all the information and resources in the profile.

Two screenshots showing a speaker's profile with a location, session, recording, attachment, and several links.

Want to experience the Speakers feature in action? Click the button below to request a demo!

Metrics

Once attendees have interacted with speakers, explore the Metrics page to review engagement data. The Speakers section of the Feature Comparison chart shows you the counts per speaker for each of the following:

  • Clicks

  • Chat

  • Favorited

  • Notes Taken

  • Requested Follow Up

  • Scheduled Meetings

  • Attachment Clicks

  • External Link Clicks

  • Internal Link Clicks

  • Avg. Rating

Read our Metrics article for a complete overview of all the valuable available data. Edit the spreadsheet down to each speaker's metrics and then email them all that data goodness. 💾

That was a lot of reading, so congratulations on making it this far! You get some cake. 🍰

Now learn how to set up Agenda Sessions so attendees can review your event's schedule and know when to show up.

Questions? Chat Us or Email support@socio.events

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