A session is one scheduled item within an event, such as a talk, workshop, or keynote that people can attend. This article explains how to create and edit sessions, and how to add non-session items, such as receptions or meet-ups, to the same schedule. To limit a session’s places and control its Portal visibility, see Control a Session's Places and Portal Visibility. To manage speakers and documents for a session, see Manage a Session's Speakers and Documents.
Prerequisites
- You need at least one active session type configured for your account.
- The sessions you schedule must belong to the event you are editing. A session cannot use a track, room, or abstract from a different event.
- Turn on Sessions & Speakers in the event’s setup features before the Sessions menu appears.
Create a Session
- Go to Meetings & Shows › Events › [event name] › Sessions, then select Create a Session.
- Enter a Name and choose a Type. Both fields are required because Rhythm uses the session type to decide what kind of session record to create.
- Optionally set a Display Order and Code, and choose one or more Track(s).
- Set the Start Date and End Date. If the event has a specific time zone, a tip above these fields shows it, and Rhythm reads the times you enter in that time zone instead of your own.
- Under Session Access, choose Optional if registrants should choose the session themselves, or Included if it should be added to every registrant’s agenda automatically.
- Fill in any other fields you need, such as location, whether the session has fees, a linked abstract, speakers, registration questions, and a description. Then select Save Changes.
Result
Rhythm creates the session and opens its record. To save this session and start another immediately, choose Save & Add Another from the same button’s menu. After the session exists, you can select it anywhere else you configure sessions for the event, such as a registration package; package setup cannot offer a session that has not been created yet.
Tip
Rhythm always builds a new session’s identifier from the event’s identifier. You cannot give a session a separate, shorter alphanumeric ID.
Warning
Changing the Start Date always resets the End Date to one hour after the new start time, even if you already entered a longer end time. Set the start time first and then the end time, or check the end time again after you change the start time later.
If a session’s start time is on the first day of an event, and that date is a daylight-saving time transition date, the time you enter can revert to a different saved time. Check the time again when you schedule a session on a DST transition day. This behavior has also been observed with function start times. Session times are intended to show a daylight-saving abbreviation on dates within daylight saving time and a standard-time abbreviation otherwise, based on the session’s own date rather than today’s date. Some views can still show a standard-time abbreviation for a session date within daylight saving time, so treat the abbreviation as a hint and check the actual time if it looks wrong.
Tip
To create many sessions at once instead of one at a time, use a Custom Data Task import instead of this form. Choose the Events application and the Sessions service in the Data Dictionary to confirm the required fields before you map your spreadsheet’s columns.
Edit a Session
Open the session from the Sessions search or from the session’s record, then select Edit. You use the same form you used to create the session, with your saved values already filled in. You cannot change the session’s identifier after the session is created.
Result
Rhythm saves your changes and returns you to the session’s record.
Warning
Sessions do not have an official cancelled status. There is no built-in way to mark a session as cancelled, so if a session will not run, consider changing its name or description to say so, or removing it from the schedule.
Session Details You Can Set
- Tracks. Group a session under one or more of the event’s session tracks. You cannot delete a track while any session still uses it. If you mass-update session tracks instead of editing them here, provide the track’s ID rather than its display name because the mass-update tool does not convert a track name to its ID for you.
- Fees. When you mark that a session has fees, Portal visitors see a note that the session costs extra, and a Fees tab appears on the session’s record. This setting does not create a fee or stay in sync with whether fees exist, so make sure you also set up the fee when the session has one.
- Linked abstract. Link a session to an abstract from the same event to record which abstract the session presents. Rhythm offers only abstracts from this event. After you link an abstract, you cannot delete that abstract while the session uses it.
- Registration questions. Turn on Enable Registration Questions to ask your account’s custom questions when people choose this session during registration. At least one session-registration custom field must already exist in your account’s setup before you can add questions here.
- Custom fields. Any session custom fields defined for your account appear near the bottom of the form under a Custom Fields heading. Rhythm groups and orders them automatically. See Custom Fields to learn how session custom fields are defined.
- Display order and code. Use a short code and display order number to sort and label sessions within the same time slot. Sessions in different time slots are always ordered by time, regardless of display order. Registrants cannot sort or reorder the session list themselves on the registration form, so they see the sessions as you name and order them here. Within the same time slot, the session’s name has also affected its position on the registration form in some accounts. If you need finer control there than Display Order gives you, try adjusting the name, such as prefixing it with a track name or number, and confirm the result on the registration form itself.
Add, Change, or Remove an Other Event
Not every schedule item is a session. You can add a lunch break, exhibit hall opening, or evening reception to the schedule as an other event, without registration or a price.
- Go to Meetings & Shows › Events › [event name] › Other Events, then select Create Miscellaneous Event.
- Enter a Name, Start Date, and End Date. All three fields are required.
- Optionally enter a Display Order, Location, and Description.
- Save the item.
Result
Rhythm adds the item to the schedule and shows it in its own time slot on the Portal schedule alongside sessions and functions, wherever the schedule is displayed.
To change or remove an other event, open Other Events, then use the row’s edit, clone, or delete options. Like sessions, an other event resets the end time to one hour later when you change the start time.
Related Reading
To limit a session’s places and control its Portal visibility, see Control a Session's Places and Portal Visibility. To manage a session’s speakers and documents, see Manage a Session's Speakers and Documents.