Articles in this section

Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Email Campaigns

Published:
Updated:

This article covers building and sending emails to your Sponsors and Exhibitors outside the platform's automated notifications, from building a reusable template through to sending, saving as a draft, and reviewing what's already gone out.

This Article Covers
•  Where Email Campaigns lives in the Organiser View
•  Building an email template
•  Previewing a template
•  Sending a bulk email
•  Working with Drafts
•  Reviewing Sent campaigns
•  Troubleshooting common issues
•  FAQs
Continue To
•  New to the product? Start with the Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Overview for the core concepts and terminology.
•  Finding your way around the interface? Read Navigate Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager to see how the Organiser View is laid out.
•  Want to see the Sponsor side? Read The Sponsor Experience to understand what your Sponsors and Exhibitors see and do.
•  Ready to build? Follow Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager Forms and Workflows to set up your Event, Forms, branding, and invitations.
•  Managing an Event that's already live? Go to Sponsors and Submissions to track progress, review Submissions, send reminders, and export data.
•  Looking up an unfamiliar term? Head to the Terms & Glossary.

Where Email Campaigns Lives

Email Campaigns sits inside a Project, alongside Summary, Events, Sponsors & Exhibitors, and Submissions. It has its own section in the Main navigation with four destinations:

•  Email Templates - build and manage the Templates you send to Sponsors and Exhibitors
•  Send Bulk Emails - send a saved Template to some or all of your Sponsors and Exhibitors
•  Drafts - Bulk Emails you've started and saved to finish later
•  Sent - a record of campaigns you've already sent

See How the Organiser View Is Laid Out in Navigate Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager article for how this fits alongside the rest of the Project-level menu.

Note: Email Campaigns is separate from the automated emails Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager sends on your behalf, such as invitations, task assignments, and due-date reminders. Those aren't built or sent from here. See Manage Email Notifications in Sponsors and Submissions article for that side of things.

Email Templates

Email Templates is where you build and store the Templates you'll use for bulk sends. Open it from the Email Campaigns section to see your existing Templates. Once you open this, you'll see the following:

•  A search bar to find a Template by name
•  A + New Template button to start building
•  A Send Bulk Emails button, so you can jump straight to sending without leaving this screen

Each row in the list shows:

Column
What it shows
Template Name
The internal name you gave the template when building it
Subject
The email's subject line
Sent Campaigns
How many times this template has been used to send a bulk email
Updated
When the template was last edited

Each row also has a three-dot menu where you could do the following:

•  Preview - see how the Template looks with sample data (see Preview a Template below)
•  Edit Template - open the Template in the builder to make changes
•  Send this Template - jump straight into Send Bulk Emails with this Template pre-selected

Build a Template

Click + New Template to open the drag-and-drop builder and start creating from scratch. Start from a preset, or a blank canvas.

Before you start building, you can choose a starting point from the Start from dropdown in the top right:

Template
Best for
Task digest
A friendly summary of where each recipient's tasks stand
Not-started nudge
Chasing a recipient who hasn't started their tasks yet
Overdue reminder
An urgent, red-accented reminder for tasks that are past due
Blank canvas
Building your own layout from scratch

Presets are a starting point, not a locked layout. Every block in a preset can be edited, removed, or rearranged like any other.

The canvas

Drag blocks from the Content blocks panel on the left onto the canvas in the centre to build your email. Content blocks available:

Block
What it adds
1 Column
A single-column section
2 Columns
Two side-by-side columns
3 Columns
Three side-by-side columns
Text
Paragraph copy
Button
A call-to-action button
Image
A photo or banner
Divider
A horizontal rule
Group Social
A set of social media links
Social Element
A single social link
Spacer
Vertical gap between other blocks
Navbar
A row of navigation links
Navbar Link
A single navigation link
Hero
A banner section with a background
Wrapper
A section wrapper for grouping other blocks

Text, images, and buttons go inside a column block; layout blocks like 1/2/3 Columns and Wrapper give you somewhere to put them.

Dynamic blocks

Two blocks pull live information about the recipient rather than fixed content you write yourself:

Block
What it does
Task list
Shows the recipient's own outstanding tasks
Dashboard button
A button that links the recipient straight into their Sponsor Dashboard

Use these when you want the email to reflect each recipient's individual situation, for example a task digest that lists only what that Sponsor or Exhibitor still owes you.

The right-hand panel: Block and Email tabs

The panel on the right has two tabs:

•  Block - settings for whichever block is currently selected on the canvas. What appears here changes depending on the Block type. For example a Text Block shows formatting options, while a Button block shows a label and a link destination
•  Email - settings for the Template as a whole, regardless of which block is selected:
•  Template name - your internal name for the template, shown when picking a template to send. Not seen by Sponsors or Exhibitors
•  Subject - the email's subject line. Merge tags are supported here too
•  Merge tags for the subject - click to copy, or drag a merge tag into the subject or body

Merge tags

Merge tags personalise an email per recipient. Drag one into a text block, or into the Subject field, and it's filled in for each person when the email is sent:

•  Recipient name
•  Recipient email
•  Project name
•  Event name
•  Event description
•  Event start date
•  Event end date
•  Organiser name
•  Portal URL

Note: While you're building, merge tags are shown as placeholders (for example, {{ recipient.name }}) rather than real data, so you'll never see a tag rendered raw in a sent email. To see how a tag will actually look for a real person, use Preview (see below).

Save your work

Click Save template at any point to store your progress. A template isn't available to send until it's been saved at least once.

Preview a Template

Open a template's three-dot menu and select Preview, or click Preview from inside the builder, to see two tabs:

•  Preview - shows the finished email exactly as a specific recipient would see it, with merge tags filled in using sample data rather than a real Sponsor or Exhibitor's details
•  Merge tag values - where that sample data comes from. Set a sample recipient here (for example, a placeholder person like "Alex Reeves") so the Preview tab has something realistic to fill tags in with

Note: The sample recipient here is only for previewing. It has no connection to your real Sponsors and Exhibitors, and switching it doesn't affect anything they'll actually see.

From the Preview screen, you can:

•  Click Edit to go back into the builder
•  Click Send this template to move straight into Send Bulk Emails

Send Bulk Emails

Send Bulk Emails sends a saved Template to some or all of your Sponsors and Exhibitors. It's a three-step flow.

Step 1 - Template

1.  Choose a Template from the dropdown
2.  Click Next: Audience

Note: A template needs to exist before you can send it. See Build a Template above if you haven't created one yet.

Step 2 - Audience

Choose who should receive the template:

•  All Sponsors & Exhibitors in this project - every registered Sponsor and Exhibitor team across all Events
•  Sponsors & Exhibitors registered to specific events - pick one or more Events from the dropdown
•  Specific Sponsors & Exhibitors - pick individual Sponsor or Exhibitor teams from the dropdown

Click Next: Preview

Step 3 - Preview & send

1.  Check that everything looks correct
2.  Click Send test email to send a copy to your own inbox before sending to anyone else

From here, choose one of:

•  Back - return to an earlier step to make a change
•  Save as draft - store your progress in Drafts to finish later (see below)
•  Send - send the campaign to your chosen audience

Drafts

Drafts holds any bulk email you've started and saved with Save as draft, so you can pick it up later rather than finishing it in one sitting.

From Drafts, you can:

•  Search for a specific draft
•  Filter and choose which columns display
•  Download the list
•  Click Send Bulk Emails in the top right to start a new one

Selecting a draft resumes it from wherever you left off in the three-step flow.

Sent

Sent is your record of bulk emails you've already sent, kept separate from Drafts so the two lists don't mix in-progress work with completed campaigns.

Troubleshooting

Use this section when something doesn't behave as expected while building or sending an email campaign.

I can't send my Template

A Template needs to be saved at least once before it's available to send. Go back into the builder, click Save template, then try Send this template again.

Preview doesn't show the details I expected

Preview fills merge tags using whichever sample recipient is set on the Merge tag values tab, not a real Sponsor or Exhibitor. Open Merge tag values and check or change the sample recipient there.

I can't find the settings for a block I've added

The Block tab on the right-hand panel is contextual: it only shows settings for whichever block is currently selected. Click directly on the block on the canvas first, then check the Block tab.

A merge tag is showing as {{ tag }} instead of real text

If you're seeing this while building on the canvas, that's expected: tags are shown as placeholders until an email is actually previewed or sent, precisely so a real recipient never sees a raw tag. Use Preview or Send test email to check how it renders with data filled in.

Send test email doesn't arrive in my inbox

Check your spam or junk folder first. Test emails come from the same Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager system address as your other campaign and automated emails, so the same filtering that catches one can catch the other.

The Task list block looks empty in a sent email

This isn't a fault. The block only ever shows a recipient's own outstanding tasks, so it will look empty for anyone who currently has none.

FAQs

These FAQs cover building and sending email campaigns to your Sponsors and Exhibitors.

Is there a broadcast or messaging feature to contact all Sponsors and Exhibitors at once?

Yes. Use Send Bulk Emails to send a template to all Sponsors and Exhibitors in the Project, everyone registered to specific Events, or specific Sponsors and Exhibitors you choose. See Send Bulk Emails above.

What's the difference between a bulk email and an automated notification?

Automated notifications, like invitations, task assignments, and due-date reminders, are sent by Sponsor & Exhibitor Manager on your behalf without you building or triggering them individually. Bulk emails are ones you build and choose to send yourself, useful for things like a venue change or a general update that isn't tied to a specific outstanding task. See Manage Email Notifications in Sponsors and Submissions article for the automated side.

Can I test what an email looks like before sending it to my Sponsors and Exhibitors?

Yes, in two ways. Use Preview to see the email with sample recipient data filled in, or use Send test email during Step 3 of Send Bulk Emails to receive an actual copy in your own inbox. Neither counts as sending the real campaign.

Do merge tags ever show up unfilled or raw to a recipient?

No. Merge tags are always filled in with that recipient's real details when an email is actually sent.

Can I reuse a template I've already built?

Yes. Templates are saved in Email Templates and stay available to use again, edit, or send from, until you choose otherwise.

Does sending a bulk email affect a Sponsor or Exhibitor's tasks or Submissions?

No. Bulk emails are informational. Sending one doesn't change any task status, Submission, or due date. Dynamic content like the Task list block reflects the recipient's current tasks at the time the email is sent, but doesn't alter them.

Can I see how many times a template has been sent?

Yes. The Sent Campaigns column on the Email Templates list shows how many bulk emails have used that template.

Who can see the emails I send from here?

Only the Sponsors and Exhibitors you choose as the audience receive the email. Other Sponsors and Exhibitors, including those in the same Project but outside your chosen audience, don't see it.

Was this article useful?
Like
Dislike
Help us improve this page
Please provide feedback or comments
Access denied
Access denied