--- title: "Portals (Beta)" slug: "portals-beta" updated: 2026-10-12T15:54:23Z published: 2026-10-12T15:54:23Z canonical: "docs.blackthorn.io/portals-beta" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.blackthorn.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Portals (Beta) Portals give speakers and sponsors a self-service web experience where they can manage their own profiles, session details, deliverables, and contracts — reducing back-and-forth with your event team. Beta feature — PORTALS_ENABLED flag required Speaker Portal and Sponsor Portal are separate beta features, each toggled independently on /beta. They are also gated by the PORTALS_ENABLED server environment flag. Both features are in active development; the standalone portal apps (speaker and sponsor) will replace the current Forge-route previews before general availability. ## What it does ### Speaker Portal The Speaker Portal is a self-service website where accepted speakers can log in (via a secure magic link sent by Forge), view their session assignments, update their bio and headshot, submit presentation files, and complete any event-specific deliverables — without needing access to Salesforce or your internal Forge workspace. - Magic-link authentication — no password required for speakers - Profile editing: bio, headshot, social links, company, title - Session overview: assigned sessions, time slots, room assignments - File upload: presentation slides, speaker photo, additional assets - Deliverable checklist configured by the event team - Session abstract editing (if permitted by event settings) - Speaker acceptance/decline for session invitations > 🖼️ **In the Forge app:** The Speaker Portal dashboard showing session assignments, profile completion status, and pending deliverables for a speaker at Planner Conference 2026. ### Sponsor Portal The Sponsor Portal is a self-service website where confirmed sponsors can log in, manage their sponsorship profile, upload logo and brand assets, review their benefits and deliverable checklist, and sign off on contractual items — reducing sponsor management overhead for your team. - Magic-link authentication for sponsor contacts - Brand asset upload: logo, banner images, brand guidelines - Sponsorship benefits display: what is included at their tier level - Deliverable checklist with completion tracking - Contact management: sponsor point-of-contact details - Contract review and digital sign-off (when enabled) - Booth assignment and logistics information (when Tables & Seating is enabled) > 🖼️ **In the Forge app:** The Sponsor Portal benefits view for a Gold sponsor at Planner Conference 2026 showing deliverable status and asset upload. ## How to enable 1. Go to /beta and toggle Speaker Portal on (for the speaker portal) and/or Sponsor Portal on (for the sponsor portal). These are independent toggles. 2. Ensure your Forge deployment has PORTALS_ENABLED set to true in the server environment. Contact your administrator if you are unsure. 3. Open your event in Forge. A Portal Settings section will appear in the event Settings tab. 4. Configure portal access: choose which speakers/sponsors receive magic-link invitations, and customize the deliverable checklist. 5. Click Send Invitations to dispatch magic-link emails to your speakers or sponsors. 6. Recipients click the link in their email and land on the portal without needing a password. 7. Monitor completion from the Forge event workspace: the Speakers and Sponsors tabs now show portal deliverable completion status. ## Authentication and security Portal sessions use signed magic links. Each link is valid for 72 hours and is single-use. After first use, a session cookie is issued that expires after 7 days of inactivity. Portal sessions are completely separate from Forge staff sessions — a speaker or sponsor cannot access the Forge management workspace. Magic link security Magic links are sent to the email address stored in the conference360__Speaker__c or conference360__Sponsor__c Salesforce record. Verify contact email addresses in Salesforce before sending invitations. A compromised email account could grant portal access — treat portal invitations like any sensitive access credential. ## Salesforce data model | Forge | Salesforce Object | Salesforce Field | | --- | --- | --- | | Speaker profile | conference360__Speaker__c | Name, conference360__Bio__c, conference360__Title__c, conference360__Company__c | | Speaker session assignment | conference360__Session__c | conference360__Speaker__c lookup, session time, room | | Sponsor record | conference360__Sponsor__c | Name, conference360__Level__c, conference360__Account__c | | Portal session (auth) | portal_sessions (Forge Postgres) | Signed magic link token, expiry, Salesforce record Id — no PII stored in Postgres | ## Current limitations - Speaker and Sponsor portals currently run as Forge Next.js routes (under the Forge domain). Standalone subdomain apps are planned before GA. - File uploads are stored in Salesforce Files linked to the Speaker/Sponsor record — Forge is a pass-through and does not store files in Postgres. - The deliverable checklist is configured per-event and is not yet templatable across events. - Sponsor contract sign-off is in preview — legal validity depends on your jurisdiction and terms. - Portal email invitations use Forge's transactional email system. Custom sender domains require SendGrid configuration. - Portals require PORTALS_ENABLED=true on the server — this is not a UI-only toggle. - The staging portal deployment (separate ECS/ALB/Route53 configuration) is in progress. Self-service staging portal testing may not be available for all tenants yet.