Abstract management: Streamlining speaker submissions and session planning

Managing speaker submissions can quickly spiral into a logistical bottleneck for conference organizers. When dozens—or hundreds—of abstracts come in from potential speakers, the process of collecting, reviewing, selecting, and scheduling those sessions becomes a complex task with direct implications on event quality, attendee engagement, and brand credibility. Abstract management is the structured system behind this process. For event professionals responsible for educational programming, it’s the operational backbone that ensures content is relevant, vetted, and aligned with audience expectations.

What is abstract management?

Abstract management refers to the end-to-end process of collecting, organizing, reviewing, and approving presentation proposals, typically for conferences, academic events, or trade shows with educational sessions. Abstracts are short summaries submitted by prospective speakers outlining the topic, objectives, and relevance of their proposed session. In the event marketing context, abstract management is more than administrative sorting. It’s an editorial and logistical workflow that impacts agenda development, speaker coordination, session balancing, and marketing timelines. It usually involves submission portals, review panels, scoring systems, and automated communications to streamline decision-making and speaker onboarding. From a workflow standpoint, abstract management begins with a call for papers or proposals, followed by submission intake, reviewer assignments, scoring, decision notifications, and session scheduling. When executed properly, it ensures topic diversity, speaker quality, and alignment with attendee interests—all of which influence registration rates and sponsor satisfaction.

Why is abstract management important for event marketers?

For event planners: Reducing administrative load and human error

Event planners are often tasked with coordinating dozens of moving parts, and managing speaker abstracts manually can introduce unnecessary friction. Without a structured system, it’s easy to lose track of submissions, miss deadlines, or double-book session slots. Abstract management platforms reduce these risks by centralizing data, automating communication workflows, and enforcing deadlines. This frees up planners to focus on higher-impact tasks like venue logistics and attendee experience. It also ensures that every abstract goes through a standardized review process, improving the overall quality and consistency of event content.

For field marketers: Aligning content strategy with audience segments

Field marketers use content-driven events to engage niche audiences across different stages of the buying cycle. Abstract management plays a critical role in curating sessions that resonate with those segments. By reviewing abstracts through a strategic lens—looking at industry relevance, buyer intent signals, and solution alignment—field marketers can help shape an agenda that supports pipeline goals. It also enables early visibility into what topics will be covered, which informs pre-event promotion, email targeting, and post-event follow-up strategies.

For sales directors: Ensuring thought leadership that drives pipeline

Sales leaders care about events as revenue-generating channels. Abstract management directly affects the caliber of thought leadership presented, which in turn influences lead quality and brand perception. If session content is weak or poorly aligned with market trends, attendees disengage and sales conversations stall. A structured abstract review process ensures that only high-value sessions make it to the agenda—those that highlight industry challenges, showcase innovation, or tackle real customer pain points. This strengthens the sales team’s narrative and improves onsite engagement.

Common challenges in abstract management

Several recurring issues can derail the abstract management process:

• Volume overload: Events that attract high submission rates often lack the reviewer bandwidth to assess each proposal thoroughly, leading to rushed or inconsistent evaluations.
• Reviewer bias and inconsistency: Without a standardized rubric, individual reviewers may apply subjective criteria, creating discrepancies in scoring and selection.
• Communication gaps: Delays in notifying submitters or confirming speakers can impact travel planning, marketing schedules, and speaker readiness, especially for international events.
• Lack of integration: When abstract management systems aren’t integrated with broader event platforms (registration, agenda builders, CRM), data silos emerge, complicating coordination and reporting.
• Deadline drift: Without automated reminders and enforcement, it’s common for submission and review timelines to slip, compressing the agenda finalization window and increasing stress across teams.

Mitigating these challenges requires early planning, clear guidelines, automation, and cross-functional alignment between content teams, marketing, and operations.

How does momencio help with abstract management?

While momencio does not handle abstract submission directly, its post-abstract functionalities are highly relevant once speakers and sessions are finalized. momencio supports event teams by capturing attendee interest at specific sessions, enabling lead scoring based on content engagement, and integrating session attendance data into CRM workflows. For example, if an attendee engages with sessions tied to a particular product theme, momencio can flag that behavior for targeted follow-up by sales. This downstream intelligence enhances the ROI of abstract-driven content by connecting session engagement to pipeline activity.

Related Terms

• Session tracking — The process of monitoring which attendees participate in specific sessions during an event, often used for lead qualification and analytics.
• Agenda builder — A digital tool that allows attendees to view, filter, and customize their event schedule based on available sessions and interests.
• Speaker management — The coordination of speaker communications, logistics, bios, and materials before and during the event lifecycle.