---
title: Adding speakers
description: Speaker upload
---

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# Adding speakers

## In this article, you’ll learn how to add speakers to your event, including adding them one at a time, importing them from a spreadsheet, and importing them together with your sessions.

Each speaker you add gets their own link to your Speaker Asset hub and images made with their details.

[**How speakers work**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/adding-speakers#how-it-works)  
[**Ways to add speakers**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/adding-speakers#ways-to-add-speakers)  
[**Adding a single speaker**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/adding-speakers#adding-a-single-speaker)  
[**Importing speakers from a spreadsheet**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/adding-speakers#importing-speakers-spreadsheet)  
[**Importing speakers and sessions together**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/adding-speakers#importing-speakers-and-sessions)

### **How speakers work**

Your speakers live on the event, under **Data** \> **Speakers**. What you enter for each speaker feeds the rest of Gleanin:

- Name, job title, company and headshot - filled into the images made for that speaker.
- Email - shown under their name in the list, and used to recognise the speaker when you import again.
- **Custom advocacy URL** - their own link, which their shares use instead of the hub’s landing page URL.
- Groups - decide which group assets and hub settings the speaker gets.
- Sessions - their session title and time can appear in their images.

Every speaker added to an event with a Speaker Asset hub gets their own hub link, shown in the **Asset Hub** column of the speakers list.

### **Ways to add speakers**

When you click **Add speakers**, you will see four options:

- **Add a single speaker:** enter one speaker’s details by hand. Best if you only have one speaker to add or you’re trying Gleanin out
- **Import multiple speakers:** import your speakers from a spreadsheet. Best when your speakers are confirmed but your agenda isn’t yet
- **Import speakers & sessions:** import your speakers and sessions from one spreadsheet, so each speaker is linked to the right session
- **Bulk upload speaker headshots:** upload headshot files from your computer for speakers who are already in Gleanin. Please see [**Adding and managing speaker headshots**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/speaker-headshots#bulk-upload)<https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/speaker-headshots#bulk-upload>

### **Adding a single speaker**

1. Go to the **Event**
2. Expand **Data** on the left-hand side menu
3. Click **Speakers**
4. Click **Add speakers**
5. Click **Add a single speaker**
6. Under **Headshot**, click **Upload photo** to add their headshot (you can skip this and add it later)
7. Enter the speaker’s details: 
     1. **Name** (required)
     2. **Job title**
     3. **Company**
     4. **Email**
     5. **Custom advocacy URL** (available with the Personalisation Plus add-on or Gleanin Pro)
     6. **Groups** (click the **+** button to choose their groups)
     7. Custom fields, if your event has them
8. Click **Create**

You will see the message **Speaker created**, and the speaker will appear in your list of speakers.

Note: To create a new group while adding a speaker, click the **+** button next to **Groups**, then **Create new group**. Enter the **Group name**, pick a **Color** and click **Create group**. The group is given to this speaker straight away.

Note: **Auto-crop headshot** is switched on for every new speaker. You can change it when you edit the speaker.

### **Importing speakers from a spreadsheet**

If you have many speakers, you can add them all at once with the speaker import.

#### **Data preparation**

Your spreadsheet can include the following columns, in any order:

1. Name (the only required column - a row without a name will be skipped)
2. Job Title
3. Company
4. Email
5. Headshot URL (a web link to the image, starting with http:// or https://)
6. Custom advocacy URL (available with the Personalisation Plus add-on or Gleanin Pro)
7. Groups (separate several groups with commas - a group that doesn’t exist yet is created)
8. Custom fields (available with the Personalisation Plus add-on or Gleanin Pro)

Including a heading row helps Gleanin match the columns for you. To start from an example, click **Download example spreadsheet** or **Copy example data** on the import screen.

#### **Data paste & column mapping**

1. Go to the **Event**
2. Expand **Data** on the left-hand side menu
3. Click **Speakers**
4. Click **Add speakers**
5. Click **Import multiple speakers**
6. Choose how to add your data: 
     1. **Paste data:** copy the rows from your spreadsheet, including the heading row if you have it, and paste them into the box
     2. **Upload CSV:** upload your spreadsheet saved as a .csv file
7. Check that **First row is a heading row** is switched on if your data has column headings, and off if it doesn’t
8. Click **Next: Map columns**

On **Map your columns**, Gleanin matches each column to a field where it can. Check them, and change any that aren’t right using the dropdowns:

- Choose **Ignore this column** for a column you don’t want. It is marked **Not imported**
- If you choose a field that another column already has, you will be asked to confirm. Click **Map to "…"** to move it, and the other column won’t be imported
- **Name** needs to be mapped before you can continue

When you’re happy with the mapping, click **Next: Review**.

Note: If your sheet also holds your sessions, click **Import speakers & sessions** under **Are your sessions in the same sheet?**.

Note: You can click **Start over** at any step before importing to clear your data and go back to the first step.

#### **Review and import**

On the **Review** step, the **Match** column shows how each row compares to your existing speakers:

- **New:** they will be added as a new speaker
- **Update:** they already exist and their details will be updated. The row shows their details **Before** and **After**
- **Identical:** they already exist and nothing has changed, so they will be skipped
- **Error:** something is wrong with the row, such as a missing name or an email address in the wrong format, so it will be skipped. The problem is listed under the table

If a row could be more than one of your speakers, for example two speakers with the same name, its **Match** column shows how many matches there are. In the **Existing record** column, click **Choose a match** and choose the right speaker, or choose **Create as new**.

To leave a row out, set its **Action** to **Skip**.

To finish, click **Import X speakers**. When the import has finished, you will see the **All done!** screen with the number of speakers imported.

Please keep in mind that an empty cell never clears a speaker’s saved details, and a Headshot URL only adds a headshot to a speaker who doesn’t have one yet.

#### **Adding more speakers later**

Simply add the new speakers to your original spreadsheet and import it again. Speakers who haven’t changed are shown as **Identical** and skipped, and the new ones are shown as **New**.

### **Importing speakers and sessions together**

#### **Data preparation**

Please have one row for each speaker and session pair, with these columns:

1. Speaker Name (required)
2. Job Title, Company, Email, Headshot URL, Custom advocacy URL and Groups, as for the speaker import
3. Session Title (required)
4. Session Schedule
5. Tracks (separate several tracks with commas)
6. Custom fields (available with the Personalisation Plus add-on or Gleanin Pro)

**Sessions with several speakers:** add a row for each speaker, with the same session title and schedule. We will create one session and add all its speakers to it.

**Speakers on several sessions:** add a row for each session, with the speaker’s details exactly the same in each row. We will create one speaker and add them to each session.

#### **Importing your data**

1. Go to the **Event**
2. Expand **Data** on the left-hand side menu
3. Click **Speakers**
4. Click **Add speakers**
5. Click **Import speakers & sessions**
6. Choose **Paste data** or **Upload CSV**, check **First row is a heading row**, and click **Next: Map columns**
7. Check the mapping. Both **Speaker Name** and **Session Title** need to be mapped. Click **Next: Review**
8. On **Review speakers**, check your speakers and click **Import X speakers**
9. On **Review sessions**, check your sessions. The speakers you’ve just imported are linked to their sessions automatically. Click **Import X sessions**

When the import has finished, you will see how many speakers and sessions were added, with buttons to **View speakers** or **View sessions**.

Please keep in mind that sessions are matched by their title and schedule. If you change a session’s title or schedule in your spreadsheet, it will be imported as a new session. To change these, please edit the session itself.

Note: A session that hasn’t changed is skipped, so a new speaker isn’t linked to it by the import. To add a speaker to an existing session, please see [**Managing your speakers**](https://resources.gleanin.com/knowledge/managing-speakers#connecting-sessions).

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