March 1, 2024
Serving more than 50,000 events in over 150 countries, Whova continues to stay at the forefront of event management. Our DNA lies in creating all-in-one solutions – from a built-in registration platform that integrates attendee information into the rest of the platform… to powerful name badge and certificate creation that populates from such attendee data. We even provide robust tools, such as a ready-made agenda webpage that uses your event content. Whova continually answers to the most-pressing organizer requests, to elevate your event while cutting down your labor.
Get ready for our Release of the Year: a built-in and fully-integrated Call-for-Speakers / Abstracts System! — a much-anticipated feature eagerly awaited by many Whova customers!
With this powerful feature, organizers can now do ALL of the following from Whova:
- Effortless submission collection: Gather submissions through customizable forms in one centralized portal.
- Streamlined review process: Track and review submissions directly from the dashboard, making the evaluation process more efficient.
- Reviewer management: Assign reviewers and manage their tasks seamlessly, ensuring a fair and comprehensive evaluation.
- Instant communication: Announce decisions by sending direct emails to both rejected and approved candidates, keeping everyone informed.
- Time-saving integration: Automatically sync sessions and speakers to your event app, reducing manual work and ensuring a smooth event experience.
Say goodbye to the stress of manually collecting data through forms, keeping track of spreadsheets and email chains, or needing to rely on countless platforms and tools.
Incorporate Whova’s call-for-speakers and abstracts system into your event planning toolkit to streamline the entire process and save valuable time for organizers. Unlock the potential for a more efficient, engaging, and successful event with just a few clicks using Whova.
Effortless submission collection – in one place
Send out one central webpage to collect submissions – detailed with clear expectations and instructions.
When you’re reaching out for speakers, publicize your call by sharing a central submission webpage where all potential candidates will create accounts and enter submissions. Easily share the link or submission button on your event website or social media. You can also send out a mass invitation by using our built-in, customizable call-for-speakers email campaign capabilities! This allows you to easily widen your pool of applicants and zero in on your most desirable speakers. No matter your chosen channel, in the end, Whova will draw them all back to a single, integrated homebase for submissions.
On the webpage, you’ll be able to describe your event’s purpose, goals and submission guidelines through a customizable setup process. You can also clearly set speaker expectations and submission deadlines as well as topic tracks to keep submissions and subsequent reviews highly organized.
Speakers give you the information you need. All submissions are formatted in the same consistent layout.
Through the webpage, speakers will fill out a submission form with all the information you want to collect from them. Easily obtain key details you need about their session (including title, prior speaking experience, and learning objectives), speaker contact and profile information, and any additional co-speakers. Whova saves you time from having to create your own forms, but you still have the power to customize fields to fit your unique needs!
A central way to see all abstracts/proposals
All speaking abstract/proposals submissions are highly organized in the admin dashboard! From here, Whova organizes all of your submissions and simplifies the status of each – allowing you to best manage your call-for-speakers process.
This includes a big picture overview of your total number of submissions, as well as which were reviewed, rejected, and accepted.
Whova summarizes your proposal statuses in simple numbers.
Once submissions enter different stages of review, Whova provides you an easy way to see the status of the submissions:
Whova clearly marks the status of each submission so you know how to move forward with your management process.
You’ll know:
- Which submissions still need a review
- Ratings given by reviewers
- Which submissions have been accepted/rejected
- Which accepted/rejected candidates were notified about your decision
- Which accepted submissions were already added to your agenda
If reviewers have already reviewed your submissions, you can sort your submissions by ranking. This can give you a clearer, quicker comparison between proposals.
Overall, Whova will give you a birds-eye overview of your call-for-speakers’ updates, so you can plan your most informed next steps.
Designate reviewers to distribute the workload
Distribute your review workload by designating reviewers! Pull team members from your existing event admins or invite external reviewers via email address.
Decide how reviewers will be assigned to submissions to best fit your team’s workflow. Allow external reviewers to review all submissions, to get everyone’s opinion. Alternatively, designate them to review only certain tracks. Whova can also assign submissions randomly – just determine the number of reviewers you want each submission to receive.
Designate external reviewers to certain tracks. Or randomly assign submissions to divide your work.
To keep your call-for-speakers process secure, all reviewers will need to log in to a reviewer portal to be able to view submissions.
Reviewers will follow your rubric to score submissions – we’ll keep these scores in the system.
Keep your reviewers in sync by establishing clear standards for your proposals. You have the power to customize the scoring rubric and write the meaning behind each score. Then, all reviewers need to do is submit a rating along with any additional comments if you require. We’ll keep everyone’s scores in your organizer dashboard, so you can be on the same page with your team’s opinions.
To keep your team on a timely track, set deadlines to ensure reviewers finish on time. Overall, you’ll be able to maximize additional help for efficient, quality reviewing.
Approve or deny potential speakers
To confidently accept or reject a speaker, you can simultaneously look over their reviews and their submission information.
Now that your team has helped you review, it’s time for you to make decisions! Back in the organizer dashboard, you can click into and view individual submissions – along with reviewer input for your consideration. This will give you the option to look over the submission, their reviews, as well as other details before making your choice.
Easily track and confirm who’ve you’ve accepted and rejected.
Then, when you’ve accepted or rejected a speaker, they will be marked with that label in your organizer dashboard. This will help you organize your decisions and view your potential star lineup at a glance.
Announce personalized decisions in bulk – without tedious manual notifications
Send out bulk acceptances and rejections for efficient communication with your candidates.
Announcing your decisions is also more efficient than ever. With submitters’ email addresses in the system and your submissions already marked as approved/rejected, you’ll be able to bulk-send your response emails to each candidate fully personalized. Save time from writing emails yourself by taking advantage of Whova’s default email templates. You can also email individually if needed.
Review your sent emails, categorized by purpose, for a clean record of your call-for-speaker communications.
Easily track your emails sent to speakers in a dedicated tab. Know which emails were sent exactly to whom, what time they were sent and for what purpose. Instead of handling endless email chains, Whova organizes and simplifies your call-for-speakers’ communication streams.
Streamline accepted talks directly into your event app and agenda website – say goodbye to double work
With your lineup finalized, it’s time to add speakers and sessions to your event app – a process that’s effortless with Whova’s built-in call-for-speakers system.
Choose any “accepted” call-for-speakers submission to sync to your agenda.
In just two clicks, you can easily select which of your accepted submissions you want added as a session, without the need to retype the talk title, speaker’s name, session abstract and other information. Whova streamlines the session creation process for you by instantly pre-filling information from the submissions. Ultimately, you’ll have control to edit information, so everything on the attendees’ end looks good.
The information collected from your call-for-speakers – streamlined into your event app and ready for attendees to view.
This seamless integration allows you to eliminate the costs of having an abstract management system separate from your event management software and event app. Gone is the tedious, error-prone busywork of manual imports, managing spreadsheets and moving from platform to platform.
A true all-in-one solution from end to end
Call-for-speakers is Whova’s release of the year and a groundbreaking new development in the event industry. With our built-in abstract management system, you’ll be able to cross off all the essential tasks on your to-do list with game-changing efficiency. Collect abstracts/proposals, optimize the review and approval process and build your comprehensive event agenda from one centralized platform! All while having a streamlined way to add sessions and speakers straight to your organizer dashboard, event app and event website. Elevate your event planning now, as Whova continues to expand your possibilities.
To learn more about how Whova’s all-in-one event platform can elevate your event planning, sign up today for a free demo.