What a Conference Agenda Builder Does
A conference agenda changes right up to the opening session. Rooms move, speakers drop out, a sponsor takes a slot, and a keynote runs long. When the schedule lives in a spreadsheet that is then copied to the website, the printed program and the app, every change has to be made several times, and the copies drift apart.
An agenda builder, sometimes called an event schedule maker, keeps the program in one place: each session with its time, room, track, speakers and materials. The conference agenda attendees see on the website and in the app is that same record, so an edit made once is an edit made everywhere. A useful agenda builder handles:
- Sessions with a date, start and end time, and location
- Tracks that group sessions by theme or format
- Speakers attached to each session
- Streams, recordings, files and links for each session
- Sponsors or exhibitors linked to the sessions they support
- Section dividers for parts of the day, such as a morning plenary or lunch
Building the Schedule in Map D
In Map D the schedule lives under Speakers & Schedule in the show sidebar, available when your show includes Speakers & Schedules. Start with tracks, then add sessions.
- 1
Create Tracks
Select Add Track and give each track a name, an optional subtitle and a color, such as Keynotes, Workshops or a topic stream.
- 2
Enter Activity Details
Select Schedule, then Add Activity. Enter the title, description, tracks, date, location, start and end time, speakers and an optional corner logo. Turn on Set as Group Header to make the entry a section divider instead of a session.
- 3
Add a Stream Embed
If the session is streamed, paste the embed code from your streaming platform.
- 4
Attach Videos, Files and Links
Add web conference links, pre-recorded videos, downloadable files and website links.
- 5
Link Exhibitors
Connect related exhibitors, such as the session sponsor, then select Done.
Turning Accepted Talks Into Sessions
If your program comes from a call for papers, you don't need to retype it. Add accepted to schedule turns every accepted talk that is not yet in the schedule into a session, with the talk's title and abstract, and with the presenting author as a speaker.
- Link a call session to a schedule header with Place accepted talks under, and its talks go under that header on its day, with the session's linked track
- Talks from sessions without a header link are added without a time, ready for you to place on the Schedule page
- Running it again only adds talks that are new since last time
- If an author did not tick the consent box, their abstract is left out of the session
- A talk withdrawn after it was added is marked Withdrawn, still in schedule, so you decide what to change
Sessions are visible to attendees straight away, so add talks once you are ready to publish them. Read more about the review side in abstract management software, and about profiles in speaker management software.
Where Attendees See Your Conference Agenda
| Where | What attendees get |
|---|---|
| Homebase schedule | Sessions with their tracks by name; opening one lists its stream, links, videos and files under Resources |
| Print schedule | A printout of the sessions a visitor is viewing, a day at a time, with time, location, tracks and speakers |
| Mobile app | Session times in the event's time zone, labeled with its abbreviation, and filtering by track |
| Online events | With Use each attendee's time zone on, times convert to the zone set on each attendee's phone |
| Session engagement | Check-in, 1–5 feedback, live polls and moderated Q&A for attendees signed in to the app |
| Floor plan | Session rooms searchable in Find a place, with the sessions held in each |
If the program should stay private while the rest of the event site is open, tick Only the schedule under Who can view the show to put sessions behind a password or sign-in. See how the schedule fits into your conference mobile app.
Connect Session Rooms to the Floor Plan
Attendees reading the agenda need to know where a session is, not only when. When your Homebase shows your sessions, the rooms you type on them become searchable in Find a place on the floor plan. A room whose name matches an area you named on the map, such as Meeting Room 201, is that place, and its details list Sessions here with each session's day and time.
A room with no matching place is still listed, marked as on the agenda but not marked on the map, so attendees know it exists. To fix it, name an area or add a text label with the same name. Capitals, spaces and punctuation don't matter, but the words must match. With wayfinding on and walking paths drawn, attendees can get directions to the room. Learn more about event wayfinding software.
Agenda Building Checklist
- Set the show's time zone in your show details before entering session times
- Decide on a small set of tracks and give each a distinct color
- Confirm room names with the venue and name the matching areas on the floor plan
- Use group headers for breaks, meals and plenary blocks so each day reads clearly
- Leave changeover time between sessions in the same room, and walking time between distant rooms
- Attach streams, slides and links after each session's first save
- Link sponsored sessions to their sponsor in the Exhibitors step
- Run Event Checkup to catch sessions with no speaker and speakers missing a bio or photo
For the minute-by-minute view your crew works from on the day, pair the agenda with a run of show template.
