Open Forum

Hi!!   We have been using cvent for a few years, and would like to start adding our recurring speakers to the Admin side so I don't have to constantly keep adding their information.  However, whenever I add them as a speaker, it creates a new contact, which is a duplicate, since they've attended our event year over year.  When I merge the contacts, and select to keep the new one (carrying over the data from the old one) it breaks the relationship with the speaker so no more updates can be made.  I have to delete the speaker and start over (with the same result!)  Is there anyway to add speakers on the admin side from the original contact?  Or do i just need to delete their original contact information (which includes attendance history, etc.)?   This seems like something that should be easy, but so far I'm finding no solution anywhere!

#SpeakerResourceCenter

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Karen Garrett
Meetings Manager
American Orthopaedic AssociationUnited States
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Hi Karen,

Thank you for reaching out. What you are seeing can happen when a speaker is added in the Admin Speaker Library and a duplicate contact record is created. If those contacts are later merged, the speaker record can remain tied to the older contact ID, which is why the Speaker tab may stop working correctly or the Go to Contact option may say the contact no longer exists.

The best way to handle recurring speakers going forward is:

1. Keep the original contact record so their attendance history stays intact.

2. Delete the broken Speaker Library record only, not the original contact.

3. Add the speaker at the event level first, using the exact same name and email address as the existing contact record.

4. Once the event speaker has been created successfully, use Add to Library from the event to add them back into the Admin Speaker Library.

This approach usually ensures the speaker is linked back to the correct existing contact and helps avoid the duplicate-contact issue moving forward.

Please do not delete the original contact record, since that would remove the contact history you want to preserve.

If you would like, I can also help review the specific speaker records with you to confirm which library entries should be removed and recreated.

Best,

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Sanjog Rana
Subject Matter Expert
Cvent Client Services
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