SMS messaging

On event day nobody is reading email. A text reaches a speaker between sessions, a sponsor on the show floor, an exhibitor at their booth. Sessionboard sends SMS from the same composer you use for email: filter the module, select the people, write the message, check the preview, send.

Note

SMS is one-way. Recipients cannot reply to the message — put a phone number or a desk location in the text if you need them to reach you. Sessionboard’s number is set per region and cannot be changed; recipients can text STOP to opt out and START to opt back in.

When a text beats an email

• Speakers, moderators, chairpersons — “Your session AI in Healthcare starts at 10:30 in Room B2; please arrive 15 minutes early for a mic check.” A last-minute room change. A deck that still has not been uploaded.
• Sponsors — booth setup opens at 7:00; the networking breakfast is in the VIP lounge; attendee traffic peaks at 11:00.
• Exhibitors — where the exhibitor help desk is; the exhibitor lunch moved to 1:00; tear-down starts at 4:00 and not before.

Send an SMS

SMS is sent from Contacts, Speakers, Sponsors and Exhibitors — not from Sessions. Recipients need a number in the standard Mobile Phone field (or another phone-type field you choose).

1. Filter the module to the people you want, then tick the rows — or the checkbox at the top for the page, or Select all N matching this filter when the filter spans pages.
2. In the bulk bar, click Send → Send SMS.

3. Who should receive this SMS? defaults to Contact Mobile Phone; any other phone field on the record is offered too. For sponsors and exhibitors you choose between the group’s primary contact and all of its users.
4. Write the SMS Body — up to 320 characters, and the counter under the box keeps score. Merge tags work here as in email — {{{first_name}}} becomes each person’s name — and there is no template picker, so keep a few standard texts handy.
5. Click Review.

Review and send

Review & Preview lists every recipient with their number; click one and SMS Preview shows the exact text they will get, merge tags filled in. Anyone without a usable number is counted at the top — N have phone issues to resolve — and is left out of the send; switch off Include in send for anyone else you want to drop. Fix a missing number on the contact’s record and reopen the composer to include them.

Click Send Now, then confirm. Small sends finish while you wait (SMS Sent Successfully!); larger ones are queued and report progress under Send → Campaigns.

See what was sent

History → SMS lists every text — Recipient, a masked Phone Number, the Message, its Status, Sent By and Sent At — with an Errors view for anything undelivered. A single person’s texts are also on their contact record under Activity → Communications. See History.

Tip

A text interrupts, so save them for the time-critical: the day-of reminder, the room change, the file that is due today. Everything else is an email or a portal task.