Speaker CRM: Interest Forms

What is Speaker Interest Pipeline?

Speaker Interest Pipeline is a capability inside Speaker CRM that lets you collect speaker interest year-round — not just during Call for Papers windows.

Through a customizable Interest Form, you can collect in two modes: Sessions & Speakers (to capture session proposals along with speaker details) or Speakers Only (to capture speaker contact information and profiles without session details).

Submissions are automatically stored in Speaker CRM, creating a centralized pipeline of speakers and session ideas across all your events.

Key benefits

• Continuous pipeline — Collect speaker interest throughout the year, not just during CFP cycles
• Centralized data — All submissions go directly into Speaker CRM. No spreadsheets, no imports, no external tools
• Two collection modes — Choose "Sessions & Speakers" to collect session proposals with speaker info, or "Speakers Only" to collect speaker contacts and profiles without session details

   

• Multi-event support — Speakers can indicate interest in one or more upcoming events

Interest Forms vs. Submission Forms (SSF)

Interest Forms and Speaker Submission Forms (SSF) serve different purposes:

Accessing Interest Forms

Navigate to your Organization Dashboard > Programs > Interest Forms in the left sidebar. You'll see three tabs:

• Forms — All your interest forms with status, submission counts, and speaker counts
• Submissions — All submissions across all forms
• Speakers — All speakers who have submitted interest

The dashboard at the top shows Total Forms, Open Forms, Total Submissions, and Total Speakers.

Creating an Interest Form

Click + Create Form in the top right corner. This opens a 5-step setup wizard.

Step 1: Form Details

Configure the basic settings for your form:

• Internal Name — Used to identify the form internally (not visible to submitters)
• Public Title — Displayed to submitters at the top of the form (e.g., "Submit Your Session Proposal")
• Description — Instructions or context shown to submitters
• Opens At / Closes At — Define the submission window. The form will automatically close on the Closes At date
• What are you collecting? — Choose one:
  • Sessions & Speakers — Collect session proposals along with speaker information
    • Max Speakers Per Session —  Limit the number of speakers for sessions
  • Speakers Only — Collect speaker interest without session details

Step 2: Events

Select which events speakers can indicate interest in. Submitters will choose from these events when filling out the form:

Step 3: Form Fields

Build your form by configuring what information to collect.

The form has two main sections:

Session Information (Sessions & Speakers mode only)

• Session Title is required by default
• Click + Add Field or View Session Field Library to add more session fields
• Fields are pulled from your global Session field library — any new fields you add here will also be available across all your programs

Speaker Information

• First Name, Last Name, and Email are required by default
• Click + Add Field or View Contact Field Library to add more speaker fields
• Fields are pulled from your global Contact field library
  

Step 4: Managers

Assign co-admins who can help manage this form. Form Managers have full administrative access to manage submissions, configure settings, and oversee the review process for this specific form.

Step 5: Notifications

Configure email notifications for submissions. There are two types:

• Submitter Notifications — A Submission Confirmation email sent to the speaker when they submit. Enabled by default. Click Customize to edit the sender name, subject, and body
• Admin Notifications — An email sent to administrators when a new submission is received. Can also be customized

Publishing Your Form via Sites

Once your form is created, you need to publish it on a Site so speakers can access it.

1. Go to Programs > Sites in the left sidebar
   
2. Open your Site and navigate to Settings
   
   
3. Under Available Programs, find your Interest Form and select it
4. It will appear under Available Programs — once selected, you can drag to reorder how programs appear on the portal
   
5. Once done, save changes

Your Interest Form will now appear as an Open Program on your Site for speakers to access.

The Speaker Experience

When a speaker visits your Site and logs in, they will see:

1. Open Programs — All published Interest Forms appear here with submission windows and a Start Submission button
   
2. Submission form — A 2-step flow (Submission → Confirmation):
   • Select Events — The speaker chooses which upcoming events they're interested in
   • Session Information — Session title and any additional fields (if Sessions & Speakers mode)
   • Speaker Information — Name, email, and any additional fields you configured
3. Confirmation — After submitting, the speaker receives an on-screen confirmation and an email

Speakers can also track their submissions via My Submissions in the portal sidebar.

Managing Submissions

Click on any form in the Interest Forms list to open its dashboard. From here you can see:

• Submissions — Total received, with a View All link to see details
• Speakers — Unique speakers who submitted, with a View All link

Quick Actions

• View Form — Preview the form as a speaker would see it
• Edit Form — Return to the form setup wizard
• Copy Link — Get a direct link to share the form

Moving data to events

Submissions are stored in Speaker CRM. When you're ready to bring speakers into a specific event, you can seamlessly move submission data to your target events — linking speakers and session proposals directly into your event programming.

Key Things to Know

• Multiple submissions: Speakers can submit multiple proposals to the same form
• Auto-created contacts: Submitted speakers are automatically added as contacts in Speaker CRM
• Form closing: Forms close automatically based on the Closes At date you set in Step 1
• Global field libraries: Interest Forms use your global Session and Contact field libraries — new fields added in one form are available across all programs
• Future events only: You can only select future-dated events when configuring which events speakers can choose from
• Sites required: To make the form accessible to speakers, it must be published on a Site via Manage Pages