With [event_speakers] you embed all participants as a portrait grid or a list – the classic “Our speakers” page. A click on a tile opens the speaker detail view.
Building an “Our speakers” page
- 1Create a page
Pages → Add New, e.g. “Speakers”.
- 2Add the shortcode
A “Shortcode” block with
[event_speakers]. Without options, all publicly visible speakers appear alphabetically (by sort name) in five columns. - 3Narrow down
With
parent_id="123", only people appearing at this event or one of its sessions count.role="host"shows a single role. - 4Choose the display
layout="list"instead of tiles,columns="4"for a tighter grid. On tablets and phones, the column count is reduced automatically.
Speakers with the visibility “Only inside events” never appear in the directory – they have no page of their own either.
Search, filter, group
Under Settings → Design & Options, section “Speakers & Speaker Directory”, you set the defaults for all directories. The parameters further down and the Shortcode Generator override them per page.
| Setting | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Search & role filter | off | Shows a toolbar with search field and role filter above the directory. |
| Layout | Grid | Grid, list or “Grid (Desktop) / List (Mobile)”. |
| View switcher | on | Grid and list buttons in the toolbar. In the desktop/mobile layout they are hidden on phones. |
| Sorting & grouping | alphabetical | Alphabetical by name or grouped by role. |
| Role on cards | on | Hides the role in the grouped view because the heading already names it. |
How your guests search and filter
- Search: While typing, only people whose name, role, company or position matches remain.
- Role filter: Several roles can be selected at once. The selector has its own search field, and “Reset filter” clears it.
- Combination: Search and role filter apply together. In the grouped view, groups without matches disappear.
- No results: A note appears. You maintain its text in the text and label manager.
- Phones: With the floating search bar turned on, the search sits at the bottom of the screen and the roles open via the filter button.
The sorting variants
| Variant | Parameter | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabetical | orderby="name" | By sort name, otherwise by name. This is the default. |
| By role | orderby="role" | One continuous list by role name, within a role by name. |
| By company | orderby="company" | By company, ties by name. |
| Random | orderby="random" | Reshuffled on every page view. |
| Reversed | order="DESC" | Reverses the order; no effect with random sorting. |
| Grouped by role | group_by="role" | One heading per role, sorted alphabetically, within it by name. People without a role come last under “Other”. orderby and order have no effect here. |
| Not grouped | group_by="none" | Turns a globally set grouping off for this directory. |
The full-screen page /?ec_speakers uses the same directory with the same defaults. Speakers always open in the pop-up there, so guests stay in the app.
Company logo instead of company name (PRO)
If the “Speaker: Company Logo” switch is on, tiles and the list view show the linked exhibitor’s featured image instead of the company name. Without a logo or a linked exhibitor, the text stays. The logo is not clickable, and the directory search still finds the company.
show_company="false" also hides the logo. There is no separate shortcode parameter.
On tiles, the logo has no area of its own. White logos with a transparent background cannot be seen there. Ideally use a logo with a background or a dark version as the featured image.
Shortcode parameters
| Parameter | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
parent_id | (all) | Only speakers appearing at this main event or one of its sessions. Post ID or event ID. |
role | (all) | One or more roles, name or slug, comma-separated: role="speaker,dj". |
layout | Setting | grid (portrait tiles) or list (rows as on the session detail page). |
columns | 5 | Grid columns, 1 to 6. |
orderby | name | name (uses the sort name if set), role, company or random. |
order | ASC | ASC or DESC; no effect with random. |
limit | 0 | Maximum number; 0 shows all. |
include / exclude | – | Only or without these speakers (post IDs, comma-separated). |
show_role, show_position, show_company | true; role in groups: setting | Hides the respective line on the tile (false), show_company also the company logo. |
link | true | false shows tiles without a link to the detail view. |
detail_view | (setting) | page or modal – for this directory only. |
show_events | (setting) | Shows or hides the “Appearances” section on the detail view. |
smart_events | (setting) | true: hide past appearances while upcoming ones exist; false: always both. |
show_booths / smart_booths | (setting) | The same for exhibitor booths (with the exhibitor plugin). |
empty_text | (empty) | Text when no speaker matches. Empty outputs nothing. |
layout="responsive" | – | Grid on computers, list on phones. |
search | Setting | true or false: search and role filter. |
show_view_toggles | Setting | Show or hide the grid/list switcher. |
group_by | Setting | role groups by role, none turns grouping off for this directory. |
floating_search | Setting | Floating search bar on phones. |
[event_speakers parent_id="123"]
[event_speakers parent_id="123" role="workshop-leader" layout="list"]
[event_speakers columns="4" orderby="random" limit="8" link="false"]The shortcode generator has the “Speaker directory” type with all fields.