Collect speaker details into a per-session folder
Every speaker submission opens a folder for that session in Drive, with the bio, topic and AV needs already filed.
New event submission in formformform
Create a per-session Google Drive folder and file the speaker's details inside it
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
Programming an event means chasing the same three things from every speaker. This flow gives each proposed session its own Drive folder as the application arrives, with a details file inside carrying the bio, the topic and whether the speaker needs help with audio, video or slides.
Event teams use it because assets turn up over weeks and from several people. Once the folder exists on day one, the producer has somewhere to put the headshot when it eventually lands, and the run-of-show is assembled from folders rather than from a mailbox.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish the Webinar Speaker Application Form template and make Proposed Webinar Title required, because that answer becomes the folder name for the session.
- 2
In Drive, create the parent folder for this season or event and share it with the producers before the call for speakers opens.
- 3
Add a File Upload field for the headshot and a URL field for the slide deck. Uploads are capped at 2 MB per file, which suits a web-sized portrait but rules out most decks, so the deck comes in as a link to wherever the speaker already keeps it.
- 4
In Zapier, pick formformform as the trigger app with New Submission, choose the speaker application form, and load a test submission.
- 5
Add the Google Drive Create Folder action, set Folder Name to Proposed Webinar Title, and set the parent to the season folder.
- 6
Add a Create File from Text action and point its Folder field at the folder ID returned by the previous step, not at the season folder, or the details file lands one level too high.
- 7
Name the file after Full Name and write Job Title and Company, Topic Area, Speaker Bio, the AV answer and the deck link into the body, one per line. The headshot itself stays with the submission in formformform, where the producer downloads it.
- 8
Submit a test application, check the file sits inside the new session folder, then turn the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Webinar Speaker Application Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Google Drive |
|---|---|
| Proposed Webinar Title | Name of the session folder |
| Full Name | Name of the details file inside the folder |
| Job Title and Company | Introduction line in the details file |
| Topic Area | Track line in the details file |
| Speaker Bio | Bio section of the details file |
| Will you need technical support for setup (audio/video/slides)? | AV line in the details file |
Variations worth knowing
For a team running several events at once, add a Find or Create Folder step on an event name field first, then create the session folder inside whatever it returns. One Zap then serves every event, and each producer opens their own event folder to see only their sessions.
Add a Zapier filter branch on the technical support answer and prefix the file name with a marker when the speaker says yes. The production lead can then sort the season folder by name and see every session needing a tech rehearsal without opening a single file.
If something isn't arriving
The Create File step is still pointed at the parent. Open its Folder field, clear the static choice, and map the folder ID token produced by the Create Folder step above it. Zapier only offers that token once the folder step has run successfully in a test.
Create Folder never checks for an existing name. Use Find or Create Folder so the second submission reuses the first folder, and keep the file names distinct by building them from Full Name so both speakers' details survive inside it.
Frequently asked questions
Can speakers attach a headshot or their slides to the form?
The headshot, yes — a File Upload field takes it and the producer downloads it from the submission in formformform. Slides are usually the exception, because uploads are capped at 2 MB per file and a deck rarely fits, so ask for those as a link. Either way the asset does not reach Drive on its own: the Zap carries a reference to an upload rather than the file, so the details file holds the deck URL and the headshot is collected from the response record.
Can organisers edit the details file after it lands?
Yes, it is an ordinary Drive file once created. Edits stay in Drive and never travel back to the submission, so treat the file as the working copy and the response record in formformform as the untouched original.
What if a session title is very long?
Drive accepts it, but long folder names truncate in the sidebar and make the season hard to scan. Add a Zapier Formatter truncate step, or lead the folder name with the session date so the readable part survives the trim.
Related automations
- Archive every submission as a dated text file
Each submission becomes a dated text file in one shared Drive folder, readable by anyone with access to it.
- Create a project folder for every new client
A folder named after the client appears in Drive the moment intake is submitted, with the brief already inside it.
- Log customer suggestions as files the team can browse
Every suggestion becomes a file in a shared Drive folder, grouped by type so the whole team can browse the archive.
- Save every candidate registration to a hiring folder
Every registration becomes a candidate file in one shared hiring folder, named so a recruiter can scan the roster.
- Turn a quote request into a draft agreement
Each quote request copies your master agreement in Drive and fills in the client, the service and the scope.
- Append every support request to a running log
Every help desk submission appends a line to one shared Dropbox text file, so the team reads the day's requests in order.
Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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