An event speaker is a contact who presents at one specific event. Their event speaker details, including name, photo, job title, and biography, apply only to that event, so they can be different from the same person's CRM record.
Prerequisites
- The person must already exist as a contact in CRM. You cannot create a new contact from this form. See Create or Edit a Contact if you need to add them first.
- The event must have sessions turned on before the Speakers menu item appears. If sessions are not turned on, you can still open the page directly if you know its address.
Add a Contact as a Speaker
- Go to Meetings & Shows › Events › [event name] › Speakers, then select Create a Speaker.
- Choose the Contact.
- Rhythm fills in the Name, Job Title, Organization, and Photo from the contact. Change any of these fields if this event should show different details.
- Add a Biography, and check This is a featured speaker if you want the event to highlight them as featured.
- Save.
Result
The contact is now a speaker for this event, with display details that stay separate from their CRM record.
Warning
Rhythm allows only one speaker record for the same contact at the same event. If you choose a contact who is already a speaker for this event, the form shows a message and links to the existing record instead of letting you create another one.
After you create a speaker, you cannot change the linked contact on this form. If the speaker slot needs to belong to a different person, delete the speaker and create a new one for the correct contact.
Change How a Speaker Is Presented
- Open the speaker's record from Meetings & Shows › Events › [event name] › Speakers, then select Edit Speaker.
- Change the Name, Job Title, Organization, Photo, biography, or featured flag as needed.
- Save.
Result
The event now shows the updated details for this speaker. These changes apply only to this event and do not update the person's contact record.
The form marks name and job title as required, but Rhythm does not stop you from saving them blank. If you leave the name blank, that speaker does not appear in the event's name-ordered speaker listing, so fill it in even though the form lets you skip it.
Add Speakers in Bulk
Instead of creating speakers one at a time, you can add many at once with a Custom Data Task import. Check the Data Dictionary for the Events application and the speaker service to confirm the fields your file needs. A speaker import generally requires contact_id, event_id, and name. Then map your spreadsheet's columns through Import Records.
Upload a Speaker Photo
Select the photo area on the speaker form to open the upload dialog, then choose an image. Rhythm saves the photo only when you save the full form. If you upload a photo and leave without saving, you lose the photo along with your other changes.
Tip
If a speaker's photo appears broken on the Portal speaker roster, delete the photo from this event speaker record in the Console and upload it again. This has restored a broken image in reported cases, though the underlying cause is not confirmed.
Warning
A speaker's photo is stored publicly. Anyone with its address can view it, whether or not they are signed in. You cannot make an individual speaker's photo private.
An event speaker's photo and a speaker profile's photo in your Rhythm account's speakers directory are stored separately. Changing one does not change the other, even for the same person.
Related Reading
To keep a person's details in your speakers directory across every event they speak at, see Create and Edit a Speaker Profile. To add this speaker to one of the event's sessions, see Manage a Session's Speakers and Documents. To change the underlying contact record this speaker is based on, see Create or Edit a Contact.