Adding sessions to your agenda

Sessions are the talks, workshops and breakouts that make up your event. They appear in the agenda on your event page, and guests can build a personal agenda from them.

You manage sessions on the event’s Agenda tab. On online and hybrid events, the same tab is called Virtual venue and also holds the venue settings; see The virtual venue.

To add or change sessions you need the Manage virtual venue & sessions permission. The Admin, Group Manager and Event Organiser roles have it. See Managing your team and roles.

Session defaults

The Session defaults card at the top of the Agenda tab sets how new sessions start out, so you can build an agenda quickly. Each session’s times can still be changed when you add or edit it.

Setting	What it does
Session length (minutes)	How long a new session runs. 60 to start with.
Break between sessions (minutes)	The gap between one session’s end and the next one’s start. 0 to start with, so sessions run back to back.
Access	Whether new sessions start as Included or Optional. See Included and Optional sessions.

Select Save changes at the bottom of the page to keep your defaults for next time. New sessions use what’s on screen straight away, even before you save.

When a new session starts

The first session starts when the event starts.
Each session after that starts when the latest-ending session ends, plus the break.
It ends after the default length.

For example, with an event starting at 9:00, a length of 45 minutes and a 15-minute break, sessions you add come in at 9:00–9:45, 10:00–10:45 and 11:00–11:45. If you then change the second session to end at 11:00, the next one you add starts at 11:15.

The defaults only apply when you add a session. To move the sessions that follow when one runs longer or shorter, see Move later sessions with it.

Add a session

Open the event’s Agenda tab

Go to Events, open your event and select the Agenda tab (Virtual venue on online and hybrid events).
Select Add session

The New session window opens.
Fill in the details

Give the session a Title, then fill in the other fields you need. See the table below. Starts and Ends are already filled in from the session defaults; change them if this session runs at a different time.
Choose Included or Optional

Under Access, choose Included or Optional. It starts as the default access from Session defaults. See Included and Optional sessions.
Select Save session

The session is added to the list straight away. Save session stays greyed out until the session has a title.

Field	What it’s for
Title	The session’s name. Required.
Starts and Ends	When the session runs, in the event’s time zone. A new session starts when the previous one ends and runs for the default length (see Session defaults). Changing Starts moves Ends with it, so the session keeps its length. The session must end after it starts.
Speaker	Who is speaking. Shown on the event page and when guests choose sessions.
Room / location	Where it takes place, for example a room name.
Description	A short summary, shown on your event page’s agenda.
Session stream URL	For online and hybrid events: a separate stream for this session. See The virtual venue.
Access	Included or Optional.
Capacity	Optional sessions only: how many places there are. Leave it blank for unlimited.
Limit visibility	Optional sessions only: show it only to holders of the tickets you choose. See Sessions for some tickets.
Session group	Optional sessions only, once you have a session group: the group it’s in, so guests choose one session from it. See Session groups.

Edit or delete a session

In the Sessions list, open the menu at the end of a session’s row:

Edit opens the session so you can change it. Select Save session when you’re done.
Delete removes the session straight away. There’s no confirmation, so check you’ve picked the right one.

Move later sessions with it

When you change a session’s Ends (or its Starts, which moves Ends with it), the sessions after it can move by the same amount. Move later sessions too appears under the times, switched on, and says how many sessions move and by how much.

Which sessions move: those on the same day, in the event’s time zone, that start once this session used to end. Sessions running alongside it, and sessions on other days, stay where they are.
How they move: each one moves by as much as this session’s end did, earlier or later, so the gaps between them stay the same.
To leave them where they are, switch Move later sessions too off before you select Save session.

For example, if Welcome runs 9:00–9:45, Keynote 9:45–10:30 and Panel 10:45–11:30, changing Welcome to end at 10:00 moves Keynote to 10:00–10:45 and Panel to 11:00–11:45.

Included and Optional sessions

	Included	Optional
Who it’s for	Every guest. It’s on everyone’s agenda without choosing it.	Guests who choose it when they register, or later.
Places	Limited only by the event’s capacity.	Can have its own Capacity.
Tickets	For every ticket.	For every ticket, or only the tickets you choose.
Online	Every registered guest can join it in the virtual venue.	Only guests with it on their agenda can join it.

Use Optional sessions for anything with limited places, or that guests should sign up for, such as a workshop or a site visit.

Included sessions aren’t listed on the registration form or on Manage my registration: there’s nothing to choose. They’re on every guest’s agenda, listed in the confirmation email, and shown on the event page’s agenda.

Limiting places on an Optional session

Open the session

Select Add session, or Edit on an existing session, and set Access to Optional.
Enter a Capacity

Enter the number of places in Capacity. Leave it blank for unlimited places.
Select Save session

A place is taken when a guest with a place at the event has the session on their agenda. Plus-ones take a place each. Guests on the waitlist don’t take session places.

When every place is taken, the session shows Full to guests and can’t be ticked. Guests who already have it on their agenda keep their place, even if you lower the capacity later.

People on the waitlist

People who join the waitlist choose sessions once they have a place, on Manage my registration.

Sessions for some tickets

An Optional session can be limited to holders of some tickets. For example, only people with a Member with backstage ticket see the Backstage tour.

Open the session

Select Add session, or Edit on an existing session, and set Access to Optional.
Switch on Limit visibility

Your first ticket is chosen to start with. Under Visible to holders of, tick each ticket that should see the session. At least one stays ticked; to show it to everyone again, switch Limit visibility off.
Select Save session

Guests only see sessions their ticket allows, both when they register and on Manage my registration. Each person in a group sees the sessions for their own ticket. If someone switches to a ticket that doesn’t allow a session they’d ticked, it comes off their agenda.

Extras can be limited to people taking a session too, such as a kit for a workshop.

A limited session has a Limited badge in the Sessions list. If you delete a ticket, sessions limited to it stop being limited to it.

Session groups

When Optional sessions run side by side, such as two workshops in the same slot, put them in a session group. Each guest can choose at most one session from a group. If they select another session in the group, it replaces the one they had.

Sessions aren’t grouped just because they start at the same time. You decide which sessions belong together, so an event with several tracks can let guests mix them: for example, one workshop from Morning workshops and the Design talk running at the same time on another track.

You manage groups under Session groups, below the Sessions list on the Agenda tab.

Add your Optional sessions first

Only Optional sessions can be grouped: Included sessions are on everyone’s agenda already. Add group stays greyed out until the event has an Optional session.
Select Add group

The New session group window opens.
Name the group

Guests see the Name above the group’s sessions, with Choose one next to it. For example, Morning workshops or Breakout 1.
Tick the sessions that belong in it

Under Sessions, tick each session guests should choose between. A session can only be in one group. If a session is already in another group, it says so next to its name, and ticking it moves it to this one.
Select Save group

To change a group, open the menu at the end of its row and select Edit. You can rename it, or tick and untick sessions. Delete removes the group straight away. Its sessions stay on the agenda, just not in a group any more.

You can also put a session in a group from the session itself: when you add or edit an Optional session, choose a Session group. A session in a group shows the group’s name as a badge in the Sessions list. If you change a session to Included, it leaves its group.

How groups work for guests:

On the registration form and on Manage my registration, the sessions in a group are shown together under the group’s name, with Choose one. The sessions that aren’t in a group are listed as usual.
Selecting another session in a group switches to it. Guests don’t have to unselect the first one.
Each person chooses for themselves. A guest and their plus-ones can each pick a different session from the same group.
If the session they have has ended, they can’t switch to another one in its group.

How guests choose sessions

Guests select the Optional sessions they want, for themselves and for each of their plus-ones. Included sessions are on everyone’s agenda already, so they aren’t listed.

When they register, on the Sessions & extras page of the registration form, where each session is a card with a Select button. It only lists the Optional sessions each person’s ticket allows, and is skipped when there are none. People joining the waitlist choose after getting a place instead; see Sessions on waitlist events.
Later, on Manage my registration: they select the person, change their sessions under Ticket, sessions and extras, then Review the change.

They can keep changing their sessions until session changes close. See Session changes. For the whole journey from the guest’s side, see What guests see when they register.

Next to each session, guests see its start time, speaker and:

the group’s name and Choose one, for sessions in a session group.
Full when an Optional session has no places left.
Ended when the session has finished. A session that has ended can’t be added to or removed from anyone’s agenda.

Each guest’s confirmation email lists their agenda: every Included session and the Optional sessions they chose.

Following numbers

The Sessions list shows two figures for each session:

Column	What it counts
On agendas	Guests with a place at the event who have this session on their agenda: everyone with a place for an Included session, and those who chose it for an Optional one. For an Optional session with a capacity, it’s shown with the capacity, for example 18 / 20.
Attended	Guests who joined this session in the virtual venue.