Session Mapping
Strategically organizing concurrent sessions to minimize conflicts and maximize attendee value throughout an event.
Definition
Session mapping is the art and science of scheduling concurrent sessions to minimize painful choices for attendees. Good mapping considers content clustering (grouping similar topics so attendees with specific interests aren't constantly conflicted), speaker magnetism (not pitting marquee speakers against each other), and audience journey (ensuring natural progression paths through the content).
Advanced mapping uses past attendance data to predict conflicts and optimize schedules before publishing.
Why It Matters
Poor session mapping frustrates attendees who constantly feel they're missing valuable content. Strategic mapping demonstrates respect for attendee time and increases satisfaction scores.
Smart mapping also benefits speakers by ensuring appropriate audiences rather than split rooms.
Examples in Practice
A tech conference separates all AI sessions so attendees interested in that track can attend everything, rather than choosing between concurrent AI options.
Session mapping places the most popular speaker in the main room while putting a niche but important topic opposite a general session, avoiding a conflict that would hurt the smaller session.
Analysis of last year's session feedback reveals two topics have overlapping audiences—this year they're scheduled at different times.