Session participant roles

Within Sessionboard, there are various roles that a contact can undertake based on their involvement with your event. Below, you will find more information on the various roles available to you within Sessionboard.

Training video · 6:19Custom roles: participant roles on sessions, team roles for your peopleThe two things Sessionboard calls a role and where each lives. Participant roles under Program → Settings → Roles (Add Role, Category, Manage in Contacts), how a role is offered on a submission form under Participant roles with Min and Max, the block it gets on the session's Participants tab and its own CRM page. Then team roles under Event Team → Permissions, a custom role's permission switches, Fields and Statuses tabs, a role with a session filter, Impersonate to see exactly what that team member sees, and the same editor at the organization level.

1. 0:02Two kinds of role
2. 0:32Participant roles
3. 1:02Add Role
4. 1:33Participant roles on the form
5. 2:24The Participants tab
6. 2:58A CRM page for the role
7. 3:17Team roles and permissions
8. 3:46Fields and Statuses
9. 4:10A role with a session filter
10. 4:45Impersonate to see their view
11. 5:16Roles at the organization level
12. 5:45Next steps

Training video · 6:10Call for papers: the submission formThe program vocabulary the form draws from, who the roles are, and how the form builder turns fields into questions.

1. 0:02The form is the first thing speakers see
2. 0:21Program settings
3. 1:07Submitter, speaker, chairperson, moderator
4. 2:11Submission forms
5. 2:33Inside the form builder
6. 2:54Session questions
7. 3:46Customize and question rules
8. 4:15Participant information
9. 4:44Deadlines, limits, default status
10. 5:21What submitters see
11. 5:43Next steps

Note

The session roles outlined here (submitter, speaker, moderator, chairperson) reflect general definitions and common use cases. Each event is unique, and organizers may assign or interpret these roles differently based on their workflows.

Session Submitter

• Role: The person who submits the session proposal or abstract.

  • The Session Submitter is created on pg 2. of the submission form.

• Responsibilities: Provides initial session details (title, description, format, etc.).

• Additional Notes:

  • They may or may not participate in the session itself as a speaker.
  • Admin users can create a contact and assign it as a Session Submitter to a session.
  • Admins can send emails to the Session Submitter from either the Sessions or Contact module.
  • Session Submitters can also be assigned additional tasks to complete.

Tip

💡TIP: Consider creating a custom portal for your Session Submitters.

Speaker(s)

• Role: A person who presents during the session.

• Responsibilities: Delivers content, talks, or panel contributions.

• Additional Notes:

  • There can be multiple speakers in one session. Speakers are created through the Session Submission Form on pg. 4.
  • Admin users can create a contact and assign it as a Speaker to a session.
  • Communications (emails or SMS messages) can be sent to all speakers or select individual speakers within a session.

• Speakers can be assigned tasks to complete.

Chairperson

• Role: Oversees the session from a leadership or organizational perspective.

• Responsibilities: Ensures the session runs smoothly, may coordinate speakers, or ensure tasks are being completed by session participants.

• Additional Notes:

  • Often used in academic or formal conference settings; sometimes overlaps with moderator responsibilities, depending on the event.
  • Event admins assign a contact as a Chairperson to a session. Submitters can add one only on a form that ticks Chairperson under Participant roles — most forms leave it unticked.
  • A Chairperson can be located within the Contacts module. They will not exist within the Speakers module.
  • Emails can be sent to Chairpersons from the Sessions module (select session(s) → Send → Send Emails → Who should receive this email → Chairperson / Participants / Everyone) or from the Contacts module.
  • A Chairperson can be assigned tasks to complete.

Tip

💡TIP: Consider creating a custom portal for your Chairpersons.

Moderator

• Role: Facilitates the session (i.e., Panel Discussion).

• Responsibilities: Introduces speakers, keeps time, and manages audience Q&A or discussions.

• Additional Notes:

  • Event admins assign a contact as a Moderator to a session. Submitters can add one only on a form that ticks Moderator under Participant roles — most forms leave it unticked.

• A Moderator can be located within the Contacts module. They will not exist within the Speakers module.

  • Emails can be sent to Moderators from the Sessions module (select session(s) → Send → Send Emails → Who should receive this email → Moderators / Participants / Everyone) or from the Contacts module.
  • A Moderator can be assigned tasks to complete.

Tip

💡TIP: Consider creating a custom portal for your Moderators.

Custom participant roles

The three roles above are a starting point. When your program needs another part — a co-author on an abstract, a panelist, a discussant — add it under Program → Settings → Roles with Add → Add Role (program settings: Roles). Give it a singular and plural name, pick the Category it maps to (Speaker, Chairperson, or Moderator — that is how the role is represented in integrations and embeds), and choose whether Manage in Contacts gives it its own page under CRM.

Once the role exists it shows up in three places:

• Submission forms — in the form builder’s Participant Information step, under Participant roles, tick the role so submitters can add people in it, and set a Min and Max per submission (participant information).
• The session editor — the Participants tab gets a block for the role, so your team can add, order, and remove people in it the same way as speakers (assign them to a session).
• The portal — people added in a new role can sign in to the portal for their session, and are counted as active portal users.

Participant roles vs team roles

Sessionboard has two different things called a role, and they live in different places:

	Participant roles	Team roles
Answers	Who is this person on a session?	What may this person do in the admin app?
Examples	Speaker, Chairperson, Moderator, Co-author	Admin User, Session Manager, Evaluator, Track Chair
Where they live	Program → Settings → Roles	Event Team → Permissions (and Org Settings → Team → Permissions)
Who holds them	Contacts, assigned on the session’s Participants tab or through a submission form	Team members, chosen when you Invite User
What they control	Which block a contact sits in, which portal they use, who an email to “Chairpersons” reaches	Permissions, field visibility, which statuses can be set, and an optional session filter

A speaker is never a team member just because they are a speaker, and a Track Chair never appears on a session because they hold that team role. Custom team roles are covered in custom roles for the event team.