Get started with Sessionboard Sessions
Sessionboard Sessions runs your program from the call for speakers to the agenda on your website. Speakers submit through a public link, you accept or decline each submission, and you give each accepted session a time, room and track. There is no speaker portal to manage: you reach speakers by email.
Sign up
Section titled “Sign up”Name your event
Go to the Start Sessionboard Sessions page and answer What’s your event called?
Say when it starts
Pick the start date, or choose Not set yet. You can set it later.
Check what we'll set up
You see your event, a call for speakers ready to open, and an agenda you can put on your website. Nothing is public until you open the call.
Confirm your work email
Enter your work email. We email you a link and a 6-digit code: select Continue setting up in the email, or type the code. Either one works once, for 15 minutes. There is no password. Then name your organization. Or select Continue with Google or Sign in with Microsoft, when you see them, and use your work account.
Open your workspace
Select Open my call for speakers. Your organization starts a 14-day trial of the Growth plan, with no card needed.
Sign in
Section titled “Sign in”There is no password. Go to Sign in to Sessionboard Sessions, enter your work email and select Email me a sign-in link. Open the email and select Sign in, or type the 6-digit code on the page. The link and the code work once, for 15 minutes. If your email opens the link for you, it asks you to select Continue as your address first, so the link is still good when you get to it.
Or select Continue with Google or Sign in with Microsoft, when you see them, and pick your work account. The first time you use one with an account that already exists, we email you a 6-digit code to confirm it’s you; after that, it signs you straight in. Two-step sign-in still applies when your team uses it.
If you set a password for this account before, it no longer signs you in here: use the emailed link, the code, Google or Microsoft. An account that also works in Sessionboard’s platform keeps its password, and an account whose company uses SSO keeps that sign-in.
To change the language of the sign-up and sign-in pages, select the globe at the top right: English, Français, Deutsch or Español. A new account is made in that language, and the sign-in email is written in it.
Two-step sign-in for an account that signs in by email uses an authenticator app or a passkey, not emailed codes, because the sign-in email already goes to that inbox. If you turned on emailed codes before, you keep them.
Creating a workspace means agreeing to Sessionboard’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. In the EU, the EEA, the UK and Switzerland you tick a box to agree, and the Data Processing Addendum is included. A teammate you invite agrees the first time they sign in.
Speakers sign in the same way
Section titled “Speakers sign in the same way”Speakers who answer your call for speakers never make a password. On the form they enter their email and select the link or type the code we send, or use Google or Microsoft. That signs them in to send and edit their session.
What your first event contains
Section titled “What your first event contains”- A call for speakers, closed until you open it. It asks for a session title and description, an optional format and track, and each speaker’s first name, last name, email and biography.
- Rooms and tracks to rename on the Agenda: Room A, Room B and Room C, and Track 1 and Track 2.
- An agenda you can publish to your website once sessions have a time.
The setup checklist
Section titled “The setup checklist”Home shows a checklist until each step is done. Each step opens the page that does it:
- Create your event
- Open your call for speakers
- Get your first submission
- Accept or decline a submission
- Schedule a session
- Put the agenda on your website
Find your way around
Section titled “Find your way around”The sidebar has Home, Call for speakers, Submissions, Agenda, Speakers and Sponsors. Home shows your event’s numbers: submissions waiting for a decision, accepted sessions, speakers and how many sessions are scheduled. Select New event on Home to add another event; your plan sets how many you can run in a year.
Your plan and its trial days are on the card at the bottom of the sidebar. Invite teammates above it adds another admin to your organization.
Switch apps. The nine-dot button next to the Sessionboard logo lists every Sessionboard app: Platform, Sessions, Awards, Learning and Marketing. The apps your organization has open in one select. The others open a page about the app, where an admin can add it with a 14-day trial and no card, or book a demo of the platform.