Sessionboard vs X-CD

X-CD Technologies serves Canadian and North American associations with abstract submission and conference modules on xcdsystem.com.

Trusted by teams running Informa, FT Live, medical societies, and global enterprises
Informa
Clarion Events
Financial Times
Dynatrace
ACEP
AVIXA
NACD
ASHG
American Society of Anesthesiologists
Google
Docebo
NRECA
CyberRisk Alliance
AdventHealth
Questex
IAAPA Expo
NAEYC
Informa
Clarion Events
Financial Times
Dynatrace
ACEP
AVIXA
NACD
ASHG
American Society of Anesthesiologists
Google
Docebo
NRECA
CyberRisk Alliance
AdventHealth
Questex
IAAPA Expo
NAEYC

Quick answer

Sessionboard is program-native abstract and speaker software for medical and scientific societies — multi-round review, speaker portal, live transcription, Attendee Hub, and Advocacy on the session record. X-CD fits when the buy stops at forms and review without post-acceptance speaker ops or content capture.

Sound like your team?

Match your role to the job Sessionboard solves — program, content, or marketing attribution.

Program manager (Canadian association)

X-CD exports still feed spreadsheets after acceptance — you need review, speakers, and agenda on one graph.

Speaker manager

Bilingual speaker comms and materials live outside X-CD — you need a portal tied to acceptance.

VP membership / marketing

Faculty won't promote sessions without tracked links — Advocacy fires at acceptance, not after manual CSV work.

Meeting content lead

Transcription and Attendee Hub require another vendor — Sessionboard bundles capture on sessions X-CD already accepted.

Why teams choose Sessionboard

What X-CD does well — and where Sessionboard is the better fit for program teams.

X-CD — limited fit

  • Association and society footprint

    Long tenure with membership-driven conferences in Canada and the US.

  • Integrated conference modules

    Registration and program pieces under one vendor for societies that want a regional stack.

  • X-CD branded submission UX

    Familiar call for papers (CFP) patterns for societies already trained on the platform.

When to stay

  • Submission and review are the only scope — no speaker portal or post-meeting content requirements
  • Under 100 abstracts with a single review round and no multi-chair workflow
  • Procurement prefers a Canadian vendor relationship with bundled conference modules

Sessionboard — program, CRM & content

  • Program layer & committee ops

    Call for papers (CFP), multi-round review, chair workflows, conflict of interest (COI) tracking, and published agenda — without patching spreadsheets after acceptance.

  • Speaker CRM on one graph

    Portal, bio, materials, and communications per speaker across years — not reset each submission cycle.

  • Content marketing built in

    Live transcription, Media Library, AI clips, Attendee Hub, and Create on the session record.

  • Advocacy & Dispatch

    Advocacy — tracked peer shares from speakers and sponsors with registration attribution. Dispatch — internal team share recipes when content is ready — not generic social buttons.

When Sessionboard wins

  • Committee still chases speakers in email after acceptance
  • 500+ abstracts, real committee volume, conflict of interest (COI) rules, and chairs who need tools that work
  • Need transcription, captions, on-demand library, or Attendee Hub on the same graph
  • Registration stays on Cvent, RainFocus, or EventsAir — program layer should not stop at export

What Sessionboard owns

Program, speaker CRM, content — plus Advocacy and Dispatch marketing tools competitors treat as afterthoughts.

Program layer

Call for papers (CFP), multi-round review, chair workflows, conflict of interest (COI) tracking, and published agenda — work competitors leave in spreadsheets.

Speaker CRM

One faculty record: portal, bio, materials, and communications across years — not a fresh CSV every submission cycle.

Content marketing

Live transcription, Media Library, clips, Attendee Hub, and Create on the session record you already manage.

Advocacy

Peer shares from speakers, sponsors, and faculty — tracked links to registration when sessions are accepted or confirmed.

Dispatch

Internal team distribution — automated share recipes for staff when content is ready, beside Hootsuite or Sprout for always-on social.

Ask your AI about the event — not a spreadsheet export

Sessionboard connects to the assistants your team already uses through MCP (Model Context Protocol). Sessions, speakers, and agenda data stay in Sessionboard — Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot read it live.

Connect in minutes

Sign in with OAuth — no API keys to copy. Ask about session status, speaker readiness, committee progress, or agenda gaps in plain English.

MCP setup guide →

Works beside your stack

Registration and capture tools stay in place. Sessionboard holds the program graph — sync transcripts and media back when you run another vendor beside us.

API & coexistence overview →

Evaluating X-CD alternatives?

See how Sessionboard fits beside your existing stack — no rip-and-replace required.

Request a demo

Where Sessionboard displaces X-CD

Honest split: what stays on their contract vs what moves to Sessionboard when you need program depth, speaker CRM, and content marketing.

X-CD — their lane

  • Mid-contract abstract forms if not ready to migrate call for papers (CFP)

Sessionboard — your advantage

  • Annual meeting call for papers (CFP), review, and speaker readiness
  • Transcription, Attendee Hub, Advocacy, and Awards on one speaker CRM

Frequently asked questions

Evaluating Sessionboard against X-CD for the program layer — not a forced rip-and-replace.

For the program layer after abstract acceptance — yes. X-CD may stay for registration modules you already contract; Sessionboard owns committee depth, speaker CRM, and content capture.

Yes. One annual meeting or specialty track is the common entry point beside an existing registration or abstract stack.

Yes — Live Transcribe capture, batch transcription, Media Library, Attendee Hub, and Create are native on Content Marketing.

Registration can stay on Cvent, RainFocus, EventsAir, or Cadmium. Sessionboard owns the program layer between acceptance and content reuse.

Sessionboard pricing follows meeting and abstract volume — request a demo for a scoped quote.

Evaluating X-CD alternatives?

Talk through your event workflow — abstracts, speakers, content, and marketing on one program graph.

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