📖 user-guide

Content Submission

Speakers submit their presentation title, abstract, and materials through a guided portal

Last updated: June 13, 2026 Reading time: 6 minutes File size: 10.1 KB

Implemented — Epic 6.3, refactored to Cognito auth in Epic 11.E.3

Last Updated: 2026-06-13

Overview

After accepting an invitation, speakers submit their presentation content through the self-service portal. The organiser receives the submission automatically, reviews it in Phase C (Quality Review), and approves or requests revisions.

Content submission happens behind the speaker’s Cognito-authenticated session — the speaker signs in to BATbern (email + password, or “Continue with Google”) and opens the submission page for the relevant event. The page identifies the event by its eventCode in the URL path (e.g. /speaker-portal/events/BATbern57/content); there are no magic-link tokens.

Accessing the Submission Portal

From the Speaker Dashboard, the speaker clicks Submit Content on the event card. The acceptance confirmation email and deadline reminder emails also link straight to the login page — after signing in the speaker lands on the dashboard and picks the event.

Because the portal is Cognito-secured, a speaker can only submit content for events they were invited to: the backend resolves the speaker’s pool entry from (authenticated username, eventCode) and returns 403 Forbidden if no matching invitation exists.

Submission Wizard

The submission form has three main sections:

1 — Presentation Details

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Presentation Details                                │
│                                                      │
│  Title *                          [ 0 / 200 chars ] │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │                                             │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│                                                      │
│  Abstract *                      [ 0 / 1000 chars ] │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │                                             │    │
│  │  💡 Tips: Include what attendees will       │    │
│  │     learn, key takeaways, and lessons.      │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│  ⚠️  Abstract is under 200 characters — consider    │
│      adding more detail for attendees.               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Field rules:

Field Required Limit Notes
Title Yes 200 characters Real-time character counter
Abstract Yes 1000 characters Warning shown if under 200 chars

2 — Presentation File (Optional)

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Presentation File (Optional)                        │
│                                                      │
│  ┌ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ┐  │
│  │   Drag and drop your file here, or           │  │
│  │        [  Browse Files  ]                    │  │
│  │                                               │  │
│  │   Accepted formats: PPTX, PDF, KEY           │  │
│  │   Maximum size: 50 MB                        │  │
│  └ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Files are uploaded directly to S3 via presigned URL — they are never sent through the backend. The speaker’s Cognito Bearer token authorises the request; the presigned-URL endpoint is scoped to the event’s eventCode. A progress bar is shown during upload.

3 — Review & Submit

The speaker reviews all entered details before submitting:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Review Your Submission                              │
│                                                      │
│  Title:    Digital Transformation in Practice       │
│  Abstract: 487 / 1000 chars ✅                      │
│  File:     presentation-v3.pptx (2.3 MB) ✅        │
│                                                      │
│  [  ← Back  ]                  [  Submit  ]         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Draft Auto-Save

The portal automatically saves a draft every 30 seconds. If the speaker closes the browser and signs back in, the draft is restored from the server (keyed to the speaker’s identity + the event).

Last auto-saved: 30 seconds ago  [  Save Now  ]

Manual saving is also available at any time.

After Submitting

When the speaker submits:

  1. Speaker status transitions: ACCEPTED → CONTENT_SUBMITTED (recorded in speaker_status_history with changed_by_username = the speaker’s Cognito username)
  2. Organiser notified automatically (domain event triggers in-app notification)
  3. Speaker sees a success page with the content deadline and a link back to their dashboard:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ✅ Your submission has been received!               │
│                                                      │
│  The organising team will review your content       │
│  and get back to you if any changes are needed.     │
│                                                      │
│  You can track the review status on your dashboard. │
│                                                      │
│  [  Go to Dashboard  ]                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Revisions

If the organiser requests changes (Phase C Quality Review), the speaker receives a revision request email containing:

  • The reviewer’s feedback
  • A link to sign in and reopen the content submission page for that event

The portal shows the feedback at the top of the form:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  📝 Revision Requested                               │
│                                                      │
│  Feedback from organiser:                           │
│  "Please shorten the abstract to focus on the key   │
│   takeaway for the audience. The current version    │
│   is a good start but reads as too technical."      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The speaker edits the form and resubmits. Each resubmission increments the version number (v1, v2, v3…), and all versions are stored for the organiser.

Submission Status

Status Meaning Workflow state
Not submitted Speaker has not yet submitted content ACCEPTED
Under review Content submitted, awaiting moderator review CONTENT_SUBMITTED
Approved Moderator approved the content QUALITY_REVIEWED
Revision needed Organiser requested changes — speaker must resubmit CONTENT_SUBMITTED + revision flag

The speaker can see their current status on the Speaker Dashboard. Once content is QUALITY_REVIEWED and a slot is assigned, the speaker is publishable (the legacy CONFIRMED state, removed in Epic 11, is replaced by this derived is_publishable condition).

Organiser: Uploading on Behalf of a Speaker

Organisers can also submit content on behalf of a speaker directly from the Phase B: Outreach screen (hybrid workflow). This is useful when a speaker is not comfortable with online submissions or has provided content by email or phone. Both the speaker-self and organizer-on-behalf paths traverse the same ContentSubmissionService.

See Phase B: Outreach → for the organiser-side content collection flow.

Troubleshooting

Speaker can’t open the submission page

The page requires a signed-in speaker session. If the speaker sees a login redirect, they should sign in with their BATbern account (the credentials from the invitation email, or “Continue with Google”). If they reach the page but get a 403, confirm they were actually invited to that event — the page is scoped per event.

File upload fails

Common causes:

  • File exceeds 50 MB — ask the speaker to compress or split the file
  • Unsupported format — only PPTX, PDF, and KEY are accepted
  • Browser timeout on slow connection — try a smaller file or a faster connection

Speaker submitted the wrong file

The speaker can resubmit from the portal — each submission creates a new version. The organiser sees all versions and can mark the correct one for review.