Call for Sessions Feature

This feature allows event organizers to create calls for sessions, where attendees can submit proposals for sessions they would like to run during an event.

Sessions are the building blocks of an Event inside the platform. Each Event’s schedule is composed of several Sessions, which can be Games, Panels, Workshops, Tournaments or Other. In some circles, specially in the gaming conventions world, this is what’s called an “event”. Here they’re called Sessions.

Usually, event and convention organizers need a way to ask for and receive submissions for things that will be happening during the event. Most of these “things” are Game Sessions run by the participants and community members, but there are also performances, panels, workshops, etc.

Before the introduction of the Call for Sessions Feature, the workflow between asking for submissions and publishing the sessions on the platform had to be done using some sort of external tool, like Google forms, email, whatever. That meant lots of manual copy/pasting, chasing people, etc.

With this feature, organizers can create one or several “Calls” inside their Events, which automatically publishes a page with a corresponding form for submissions. The page is linked to the Event’s public page, and the form opens inside the participants Dashboard, so that both organizers and participant’s can track submissions. Organizers see and manage submissions from the Event’s Dashboard, while participants see and manage their own submissions from the Hosting section of their own Dashboard.

Each submissions has it’s own little workflow: submitted -> ask for revisions -> resubmitted -> accepted / rejected / withdrawn. When a submission is accepted by the organizer, it automatically triggers the creation of a Session linked to the Event, using the details from the submission. The organizer then needs to place the session in the schedule and publish it when ready. The submitter is automatically assigned as the Host if they hold an active ticket for the Event.

Calls can be created for a specific type of Session (for example, a Games only Call titled “Call for Game Masters”) or for any type (like “Send us your ideas” type of thing).

Managing and building the schedule is one of the biggest time consuming tasks for event organizers. With this new feature, we’re hopefully knocking away a significant part of the busy work around it, helping everyone stay more sane when organising gaming events.