Running a Call for Proposals (CFP)

The Call for Proposals (CFP) is how you collect and review session proposals from prospective speakers. Open Call for Proposals from the Stage landing page. You configure a public submission form, share its link, and review what comes in on a pipeline board.

In CFP Settings, turn the CFP on and configure:

• Submission Deadline
• Description / Instructions — what you're looking for
• Session Formats and Suggested Topics (comma-separated) that submitters choose from
• Double-blind review — hide submitter identities from reviewers
• Hide reviewer identity — show reviewers as anonymous pseudonyms in discussion

The Submission Form builder lets you keep the standard fields (name, email, title, company, bio, headshot, session title, abstract, format) and add your own custom questions — short/long text, selects, number, yes/no, URL, or file upload — each optionally hidden during blind review.

Proposals land on a kanban board with five columns: Received, Under Review, Waitlisted, Accepted, and Declined. Move proposals between columns as you triage. For each one you can:

• Score it 1–10 — multiple reviewers can each score, and the board shows the average
• Discuss it in a per-proposal comment thread (with @mentions)
• Read the full abstract, bio, and custom answers

With blind review on, submitter names and details are hidden so you're judging the idea, not the name.

Here's the payoff: when you Accept a proposal, Gythr automatically creates a draft speaker in Stage and a draft session in Agenda from the submitter's answers — both unpublished, ready for you to review. The submitter entered all that detail once on the form, so you don't re-key it across two modules.

The rebuilt CFP adds tools beyond scoring:

• Comparison voting. Instead of scoring in isolation, reviewers pick the stronger of two proposals, and Gythr turns those head-to-head votes into a ranked shortlist. Scoring and comparison are both always available, so use either or both.
• AI abstract summaries. A one-line summary on each proposal so reviewers move faster.
• Emerging themes. Gythr clusters your submissions with AI to surface the themes actually forming in your pile, matches them to the themes you have defined, flags brand-new ones, and lets you promote any cluster into a theme in one click.
• Bulk email from the pipeline. Email everyone in a column at once: send a branded decline or waitlist note, or a custom message, with a preview of how many recipients already received it.
• One-click speaker confirmation. Accepted speakers confirm their spot from an email in a single tap, no login. On confirmation they get a self-service speaker portal, a branded speaker card, and ready-to-post social copy for LinkedIn, X, and Instagram.
• CSV import. Bring last cycle's proposals, statuses, and custom answers in from another tool.
• Returning speaker import. Past speakers can pull their saved profile into a new submission, verified by a code sent to their email.