How the Largest Event for Event Marketers Used Sessionboard—And What You Can Learn from It

Overview

GURU Media Hub produces high-impact B2B events like Eventastic and the GURU Conference. As their event portfolio grew, so did the complexity of managing speaker content, communication, and logistics. With dozens of stakeholders and hundreds of touchpoints, their legacy process—manual emails, spreadsheets, and follow-ups—was becoming a bottleneck.

With Sessionboard, Guru’s team found a way to streamline the speaker workflow, reduce manual tasks, and build long-term value from their growing network of subject matter experts.

Why Did You Initially Decide to Use Sessionboard?

Given our team's goals, we’re constantly seeking tools that enable us to work smarter and scale faster. We’re not a massive team, but we run big, content-driven events—so every hour saved and every streamlined workflow counts.

"Normally what we had been doing in the past was tons of emails back and forth, and then we had like a spreadsheet that we kept updated to collect people’s information. Using Sessionboard kind of streamlined all of that."

Sessionboard stood out immediately because it wasn’t just another registration add-on or project tracker—it was built specifically to solve speaker operations, which is one of the most time-consuming parts of our process.

A few features that initially caught our attention:

• Branded speaker portals with task tracking
• Integrated communications (no more scattered emails!)
• Smart segmentation of speakers by role, topic, or format
• Real-time visibility into who’s submitted what

We also saw potential in the longer-term vision—especially the Speaker CRM and AI tools that could help us elevate speaker content even after the event.

How Much Did You Use Sessionboard in the Lead-Up to Your Event?

We used it daily—it became mission-critical.

"I was there almost daily. It was easy for me to just export and send content to our creative team."

Every speaker was onboarded through a custom portal. We created templates for different speaker roles (keynotes, moderators, panelists), set automated reminders, and tagged speakers by session type. All of this gave our team full visibility into progress and made sure we never dropped the ball.

Tasks like collecting bios, tracking headshots, and finalizing session descriptions that used to involve 10+ back-and-forth emails were now streamlined into a single, trackable workflow.

What Was the Biggest Impact on You, Your Team, and Your Speakers?

1. Massive Time Savings

We estimate we saved 2–3 hours per speaker. That adds up quickly when you have +30 speakers per event. No more copy-pasting info between spreadsheets, chasing down assets, or wondering who submitted what.

2. Better Communication and Visibility

Sessionboard’s dashboards, templates, and automated reminders gave us real-time visibility into every speaker’s progress. Our team could instantly see what was missing and take action—without digging through inboxes.

"The emailing feature was awesome. Before, we had this template of an email and then we’d have to fire them off one at a time. Being able to create an email template in Sessionboard and send the email to all speakers at once, and include their assistants, was helpful."

3. A More Professional Speaker Experience

We take pride in how we treat our speakers—these are long-term relationships, not transactions. With branded portals and streamlined communication, we were able to deliver a VIP experience. Several speakers even told us it was the smoothest onboarding they’d ever had.

"Honestly, I loved it. I thought it was great to get everything out of the spreadsheet. The ease of use when it came to emailing people and using templates, seeing whether the message was delivered or not, I thought it was great."

What’s Next for Sessionboard and GURU Media Hub?

1. CRM, CRM, CRM

Now that we’ve built a centralized speaker database, we’re excited to use Sessionboard’s Speaker CRM to plan future events and podcasts more strategically. We can filter by topic, title, past participation, and more. It’s helping us build repeatable systems that reduce planning time and strengthen speaker relationships.

"It collects all the information and gives you a visual of who you might want to invite that you're not thinking of yet."

2. AI Content Tools

We’re beginning to use Sessionboard’s AI-powered content assistant to clean up speaker bios, standardize titles, and improve abstracts. These tools are already reducing editing bottlenecks and helping us create a more polished agenda with less effort.

We’re also exploring how AI can help us reuse speaker content across webinars, podcasts, and social—extending the ROI of each event.

“We have these really strict character limits for session titles and takeaways. That’s one area where we do have back and forth with people. Sometimes we end up having to redo the title ourselves. So having that limit in there, or even AI suggestions, would be awesome."

On a Scale of 1 to 10, How Likely Are You to Recommend Sessionboard?

10.

If you manage speakers and/or content, Sessionboard is a no-brainer. It’s built by people who understand event ops, and it solves real-world problems—time, visibility, and experience.

Recommendations for Other Event Marketing Teams Thinking About Using Sessionboard

1. Start Early.
2. The sooner you build your workflow in Sessionboard, the more value you’ll get. Don’t wait until the speaker onboarding is already underway.
3. Use Tags and Segmentation.
4. This was a game-changer. It allowed us to personalize outreach and manage complexity without drowning in logistics.
5. Think Bigger Than the Event & Tell your Marketing Team
6. Sessionboard isn’t just a tool for speaker onboarding—it’s the foundation of an E.E.A.T.-based content strategy. The data you collect now will fuel your webinars, podcasts, events, and other marketing activations.

Results at a Glance

• 2–3 hours saved per speaker
• Speaker onboarding time has been dramatically reduced
• Clear visibility into task completion
• Stronger internal alignment between content and marketing teams
• Increased speaker satisfaction
• Scalable foundation for repurposing content across the year

Conclusion

For GURU Media Hub, Sessionboard transformed speaker operations from a chaotic process into a strategic advantage. It saved time, improved communication, and helped lay the foundation for a more human-centered content strategy. If you manage speakers—and want to build deeper, long-term value from your content—Sessionboard is the platform to bet on.

About GURU Media Hub

GURU Media Hub is a leading global producer of virtual events focused on the needs of marketers and event professionals. As the parent company behind flagship gatherings—such as the GURU Conference (email marketing), Delivered (direct mail), and Eventastic (event planning)—they draw over 50,000 attendees annually and generate more than 50 million organic social impressions each year .

With a team of 50–200 professionals based in Boca Raton, and strong community engagement across conferences and podcasts, GURU Media Hub empowers marketing teams to keep pace with today’s trends.

About Eventastic

Eventastic is the world’s largest virtual event dedicated to all things event marketing, produced by GURU Media Hub. Each June, the two-day digital conference brings together hundreds of event professionals to explore emerging trends in event design, engagement, technology, sponsorship, content, virtual formats, hybrid productions, and more. The event features keynote presentations, breakout sessions, virtual networking, and an agenda designed to foster real-time connection and peer-led learning.