What is the minimum data needed to build a conference app from a spreadsheet?

Talk/session title, date, start and end time, room or location, and speaker name. With these five fields, you can build a navigable timetable with offline access and personal schedule bookmarking.

Do I need to format my spreadsheet in a specific way?

No specific template is required. One row per talk or contribution with consistent column naming is the cleanest structure, but we handle mapping for non-standard formats. The main thing to avoid is merged cells, colour coding as data, and inconsistent value spellings.

How do I update the conference app when the programme changes?

Send an updated spreadsheet and we push a new version to the app. For most events, one primary import 2 weeks before and one final update 2-3 days before is sufficient. On-site urgent changes can be pushed directly through the Organizer Dashboard without re-exporting.

Does this work for events using EDAS, Softconf, Pretalx, or other platforms?

Yes. Any platform that can export its schedule to CSV, Excel, or XML can be treated as a spreadsheet source. EDAS, Softconf/Precision Conference, Pretalx, Whova, and Cvent all support schedule exports.

What is the best way to handle timezones in the spreadsheet?

Either add an explicit timezone column, append the timezone abbreviation to each time value (e.g. 09:00 CET), or include it in a metadata row at the top of the file. For international events, never leave times without an explicit timezone — UTC offsets are unambiguous and preferred.

How to Build a Conference App From a Spreadsheet – Complete 2026 Guide

Not every conference runs on Indico, ConfTool, or EasyChair. Many run on Google Sheets, Excel, a custom database, or a hybrid of emails and documents that someone eventually compiled into a table. These events deserve a proper mobile app just as much as any other.

This guide is for organisers who want to get their conference into a mobile app using spreadsheet data — without learning a new platform, retyping content, or hiring a developer. It covers what data you need, how to structure it, common traps to avoid, and what the setup process looks like in practice.

Already decided? Go directly to the solution: Conference App From Spreadsheet.

Who This Applies To

If any of these describe your situation, this guide is for you:

Your programme lives in Excel, Google Sheets, or a shared document
You use a conference management platform that isn't Indico, ConfTool, OpenConf, or EasyChair (EDAS, Softconf, Pretalx, Cvent, etc.) and can export a schedule
Your institution has a custom system that exports to CSV or XML
Your conference runs on a PDF or website and someone has to manually copy it into a table
You're running an internal corporate event or society meeting with a programme in a shared document

All of these are effectively "spreadsheet-first" from the mobile app's perspective — the programme exists as structured data that can be exported and imported.

The Data You Need

A conference app needs two types of information: structural (when and where things happen) and content (what they are). The structural data is mandatory. The content data improves the experience significantly.

Structural data (required)

Every session or talk in your programme needs at minimum:

Title — the name of the talk, session, or event block
Date — the calendar date (day, month, year)
Start time and end time — with a clear timezone for international events
Room or location — the physical space where it takes place
Presenter or speaker name — at minimum the primary presenter

With just these five fields you can build a functional, navigable timetable with offline access, day/room filtering, and personal schedule bookmarking.

Content data (strongly recommended)

Abstract or description — enables full-text search and makes the session detail page useful
Track or topic label — groups sessions thematically; enables filtering by research area
Session type — keynote, invited talk, contributed talk, poster, workshop, panel, social
Co-authors or co-presenters — for events where collaborative work is common
Affiliation or institution — adds professional context to speaker profiles
Paper or submission ID — useful for cross-referencing proceedings

Supporting assets (optional but impactful)

Speaker photos — URLs or a ZIP archive; makes profiles recognisable
Venue floor maps — PDF or PNG; essential for multi-building events
Sponsor list — name, tier, logo, and optional link
Event logo and primary colour — required for branded presentation

How to Structure Your Spreadsheet

There is no single required format. But certain structural choices make the mapping process faster and reduce the risk of errors. These are the patterns that work best:

One row per talk or contribution (preferred)

The cleanest structure is one row per individual talk, poster, or contribution, with every field (title, date, time, room, speaker, abstract) as a separate column. Sessions are identified by a shared session name or session ID column.

This format is unambiguous, easy to sort and filter, and maps directly to the app's data model.

One row per session (also works)

If individual talk details are separate from session blocks, a two-sheet approach works well: one sheet for sessions (with time, room, session name) and one sheet for talks (with session ID or session name linking each talk to its parent session).

Avoid merged cells

Merged cells in Excel and Google Sheets look clean visually but break programmatic reading. If you've used merged cells for multi-talk sessions or multi-day blocks, unmerge them and repeat the value in each row before sharing the file.

Avoid colour coding as data

If track membership, session type, or any other data field is encoded only through cell colour, it will be lost in a CSV export. Add a text column for any information that currently only exists as formatting.

Use consistent values for repeated fields

Room names, track labels, and session types should be spelled identically across every row. "Hall A", "Hall A (Main)", and "Main Hall A" will be treated as three separate rooms. Pick a canonical form and use it consistently.

Common Mistakes to Fix Before Sharing

These are the issues that reliably cause delays or errors in the import process. A 15-minute check before sharing your file avoids most of them.

Missing or ambiguous timezones

"09:00" means nothing without a timezone. For international events, include the timezone explicitly — either as an additional column, as part of the time value (e.g. "09:00 CET"), or in a metadata row at the top of the file.

Inconsistent date formats

"June 3", "3 Jun", "03/06/2026", and "06/03/2026" are all ambiguous in different ways. Use ISO format (2026-06-03) or a consistent unambiguous format. Month names are safer than month numbers.

Sessions without room assignments

A session without a room can't be placed in the timetable correctly. If the room isn't yet confirmed, use a placeholder ("TBC — Conference Room") that can be updated later rather than leaving the field blank.

Overlapping or inconsistent speaker names

"J. Smith", "John Smith", "SMITH John", and "John A. Smith" are all the same person. Standardise speaker names to First Last format across all rows. If one speaker appears in multiple sessions, the same name spelling creates a unified profile.

Multiple organisational levels in one column

"Session: Machine Learning → Talk: Attention mechanisms in transformers" in a single cell mixes hierarchy into one field. Keep session names and talk titles in separate columns.

Abstract text in a separate file or linked document

Abstracts in a linked Google Doc, a separate PDF, or a website are harder to process. Export them as a column in the same spreadsheet or a companion file with a matching paper ID.

Handling Updates After the Initial Import

Unlike Indico (which syncs automatically via API), spreadsheet-based events require manual updates. This is manageable with a simple workflow:

Keep a canonical master spreadsheet

Designate one person as the owner of the programme spreadsheet. All changes go into this file — not into the mobile app, not into a parallel PDF, not into someone's local copy. When the programme changes, the spreadsheet changes first.

Planned update windows

For most events, two planned updates are sufficient:

Primary import: 2 weeks before the event, when the programme is largely finalised
Final update: 2–3 days before the event, capturing last-minute changes

Outside these windows, minor changes (room swaps, cancellations) can be handled directly through the Organizer Dashboard without re-exporting the entire spreadsheet.

Communicating on-site changes

For urgent changes during the event itself — a speaker cancellation, an emergency room change — push notifications via the Organizer Dashboard are the fastest path. You don't need to re-export and reimport for a single change; you edit it directly.

Platforms That Export to Spreadsheet

If you use a conference management system that isn't Indico, ConfTool, OpenConf, or EasyChair, the spreadsheet approach covers you as long as your platform can export. Most can. Here are the common ones and where to find the export:

Platform	Where to find the schedule export	Format
EDAS	Paper Assignments > Export; Session Schedule > Download	CSV, Excel
Softconf / Precision Conference	Programme management > Schedule export	CSV, XML
Pretalx	Schedule > Export > CSV or JSON; or public API	CSV, JSON, XML
Whova	Organiser portal > Export agenda	CSV, Excel
Cvent	Reports > Session report > Export	CSV, Excel
Google Sheets	File > Download > CSV or XLSX	CSV, Excel
Custom in-house system	Ask your IT team for a database export of the sessions table	CSV, XML, or JSON

If your platform isn't listed here, contact us and we'll confirm the best export approach.

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