Once an abstract is accepted, you can turn it into a session on the program. When you create the session, Rhythm adds the abstract’s presenter as a session speaker, along with any co-authors you choose to include.
Prerequisites
- Permission to edit abstracts, if you create a session from one abstract at a time.
- Permission to create sessions, if you create sessions for many abstracts at once.
- At least one session type and one speaker type must already be set up for your account.
- If you need the presenter's consent to use profile content, such as a headshot, collect that consent through your abstract's acceptance or confirmation process before you create the session. If the presenter has not completed that process, you can still create their speaker profile yourself as a separate step.
Tip
It is common to build the program from accepted abstracts before speakers finish their session descriptions and handouts. Just remember that the session reflects what was on the abstract when you converted it, not anything the speaker adds later. If you publish the schedule or send content to a mobile app soon after converting abstracts, plan to review those sessions again after speakers finish their materials.
Create a Session from One Abstract
- Open the abstract, open Abstract Options, and select Create a Session from this Abstract.
- Choose the Session Type for the new session.
- Choose the Main Presenter Speaker Type for the abstract’s presenter on the session. Rhythm asks for this because it cannot determine the presenter’s speaker type on its own. Co-authors do not need this step because they already have a speaker type from the abstract submission.
- Leave Make abstract co-authors speakers for the session turned on if co-authors should also become speakers, or turn it off if they should not.
- Select Create Session.
Result
Rhythm creates the session with the session type you chose, then adds the abstract’s author as the associated speaker with the speaker type you selected. If you left co-authors turned on, Rhythm also adds any co-authors listed on the abstract as speakers, using each co-author’s speaker type from the abstract. The session’s own text carries over from the abstract, but custom fields you added to the abstract form, such as learning objectives, do not transfer to the new session. If you need those values on the session, see Preserve Abstract Values on the Session below. Rhythm then opens the new session. Edits to the abstract do not update the session after this point, so update the session yourself if a speaker revises their abstract and the session should match.
Tip
A session created this way is a normal session, so you can price it like one. Edit the session, turn on session fees, and add a fee on its Fees tab. The session then appears for registrants during event registration with the rest of the event.
Tip
Rhythm remembers the session type and speaker type you last chose for this event in the same browser. The next time you create a session from an abstract, those choices are already filled in.
Warning
This action does not check whether the abstract already has a session. If you run it again on the same abstract, Rhythm creates a second session instead of reusing the first one. If you are not sure whether the abstract already has a session, check the abstract’s Sessions tab first.
Create Sessions for Many Abstracts at Once
- Search the event’s abstracts, then select Bulk Changes above the results.
- Select the abstracts you want to turn into sessions, then choose Create Session from the bulk menu.
- Choose the Session Type, the Main Presenter Speaker Type, and whether co-authors should become speakers, just as you would for a single abstract.
- Leave Do not create sessions for abstracts that already have an existing session turned on to skip abstracts that were already converted, or turn it off to create a new session for every selected abstract.
- Select the save button to run the batch.
Result
Rhythm creates a session in the background for each selected abstract that needs one, then shows a results summary when the run finishes.
Tip
Leave the duplicate-skipping option on when you repeat a run. That way, running the same batch again does not create a second set of sessions for abstracts that already have one.
This step does not ask for a start date, location, or Portal and schedule visibility, so a newly created session is not ready to publish yet. Open each session afterward and set those details, or use bulk changes on the sessions once they exist, just as you used Bulk Changes on the abstracts here.
Rhythm creates one breakout session for every abstract you select, so make sure you choose only the abstracts you want to turn into separate sessions before you run the batch. After the session information finishes loading and the required fields are available, complete them to finish creating the batch.
See Which Sessions an Abstract Has Produced
Open the abstract’s page and select its Sessions tab. The tab lists every session created from that abstract, and each one links to its session page. Because you can create more than one session from the same abstract, check this tab before creating another one.
A session can only be linked to one abstract. If you run a panel-style session that draws on several abstracts, do not convert each abstract into a session under the same track just to group them, because that can confuse registrants. Create the one session you need, then add the additional presenters to it directly as speakers.
Preserve Abstract Values on the Session
Fields you added to the abstract form yourself, such as learning objectives, do not carry over automatically when you create a session. Abstract custom fields do not transfer to the new session's custom fields, even when a session field of the same name exists.
If you need those values on the session or on a speaker's profile, you can copy them over with queries and a mass update:
- In event setup, create session custom fields to match the abstract fields you want to keep, if they do not already exist.
- Run the Abstracts query to export the values you need, and the Sessions query for the sessions you just created.
- Paste the exported abstract values into the matching columns of the Sessions query output, then run a mass update to write them onto the sessions.
You can use the same approach for speaker bios. Run the Sessions query's Speaker Profiles view with Contact ID and Speaker Bio, then mass update it the same way.
Related Reading
Before you create sessions here, the abstract needs to be accepted. See Change an Abstract's Status. To find abstracts that are ready for this step, see Search and Review Abstracts in the Console. After the session exists, edit its details or add more speakers through Create and Edit Sessions and Other Events, and manage speakers directly through Add and Edit an Event Speaker. To learn how the bulk version reports its results, see How Bulk Changes Work.