Speakers need a role on the sessions they present, and your speakers bureau needs consistent profile details so staff can find and describe speakers. These three setup areas handle those needs.
What It Controls
A speaker type is the role a person has on a session, such as Keynote, Presenter, Moderator, or Panelist. When Events is switched on, Rhythm starts every account with those four speaker types, and you can add your own. Speaker types are shared across every event in your account. Staff choose one for each speaker when they build a session, and that type appears on the session and on the speaker’s profile.
A speaker topic is a subject you tag on a speaker profile, such as “Leadership” or “Cybersecurity.” Topics help your bureau staff search for speakers by what they speak on. Topics are also shared across your account, and Rhythm does not provide any starting topics.
You can also add your own custom fields to speaker profiles. These use the same custom fields your account uses elsewhere in Rhythm, so your bureau can track details such as travel preferences or a signed contract date.
Where to Find It
Go to Meetings & Shows › Setup › Sessions › Speaker Types to manage speaker types, and Meetings & Shows › Setup › Sessions › Speaker Topics to manage speaker topics. To configure speaker profile custom fields, go to Setup › Sessions › Speaker Profile Fields. This opens your account’s standard custom-field editor, scoped to speaker profiles.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Any text | Blank | The display name for the type or topic |
| ID | Letters, digits, underscores, dashes, and pipes | Suggested from the name | The permanent identifier; you cannot change it after saving |
| Status | Active, Inactive | Active | For a speaker type, an inactive type is no longer offered when building a new session from an abstract; sessions that already use it keep it. Deactivating a speaker topic has no confirmed effect: it is still offered when tagging a profile |
Speaker profile custom fields use the same field types, required settings, portal-visibility settings, and page-layout placement as custom fields elsewhere in your account. See Custom Fields for how to define and place them. Fields you add here appear only on speaker profiles; event speakers and speaker types do not have custom fields of their own.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Deleting a speaker type that sessions still use is not blocked. Those sessions keep the deleted type’s identifier, and their speaker-type column shows blank. If you need to remove a type that is in use, reassign those sessions to a different type first, or leave the type in place and deactivate it.
- Deleting a speaker topic that a profile is tagged with is refused. Untag the topic from every profile that uses it before deleting it, or leave it in place.
- Custom field values follow the record type they are defined for. A field you add to speaker profiles does not appear on event speakers or speaker types, and values are not shared between them.
Change Impact and How to Revert
Adding a speaker type or topic makes it available immediately everywhere that field is offered, but it does not update anything retroactively. Deactivating a type only removes it from the form used to build a new session from an abstract. Every other place where a type can be chosen, including the public schedule filter, still offers it.
There is no undo for deleting a type or topic, other than creating a new one with the same name. A deleted type’s identifier does not come back, and any session that used it keeps pointing to the missing identifier.
Permissions
Creating, editing, or deleting a speaker type requires an administrator-level permission. The Console does not show a permission control for speaker topics, so any signed-in staff member who can reach Setup can manage them. Speaker profile custom fields require the same administrator permission your account uses for custom fields generally.
Validation and Errors
- Name is required on both the type and topic forms; a blank name blocks the save.
- A record already exists with this name. Rhythm shows this warning while you type an identifier that matches one already in use, but it does not block the save.
- When Rhythm refuses to delete a topic because a profile still uses it, the message does not name the profiles that are blocking the delete. Search your speakers bureau by that topic to find them.
Related Tasks
Assign these types when you add a speaker to an event, and tag speaker profiles with topics when you create or edit them in your speakers bureau. See Custom Fields for how field types, required settings, and portal visibility work wherever they are used, including on speaker profiles.