Import a CSV file to create or update many sponsors at once, with their categories, booth settings, carousel slides and sidebar links. Export sends you a CSV file of the event's sponsors that you can edit and import again.

Before you start

You need to be an organization admin or an event admin. Sponsor admins can't import or export.
The sponsors feature must be on. If Sponsors shows "Sponsors feature is not active", select Activate.
The import runs in the background. Rows that work are saved even when other rows fail. Retry failed sponsor rows. For failed media rows, include their owning sponsor row too; see Fix a partial import.
Categories named in the file that don't exist yet are created with the size Large and added to the Sponsors tab. Names are matched exactly, including letter case.
Warning: an empty Yes/No cell counts as No. When you update existing sponsors, an empty Enable Chat cell turns their chat off, an empty Automatic Linking On cell turns automatic linking off, an empty Linking Domains cell removes their domains, and an empty Category cell moves them to a category named "Uncategorized". Export first and edit the export to keep current values.

Where to find it

Sponsors > Settings > Import & Export in the admin panel.

Import and Export section with the Import .csv button and the two Export .zip buttons

Prepare the file

Get a file to start from. Either select Import .csv and then CSV template in the dialog, or export your current sponsors first.
In the template, delete rows 2 to 6 and keep only the header row. Row 2 describes the columns and rows 3 to 6 are example carousel and sidebar rows; the import reads all of them as data.
Enter one sponsor per row. Name is required.
To add carousel slides or sidebar links, add one row per item directly under the sponsor's row. Fill in only Media Type, Media Title and Media URL; leave the other cells empty.
Save the file as CSV with UTF-8 encoding.

Columns

Column	What it does	Values
Id	Brella's ID of an existing sponsor. Filled in by the export. Leave empty for new sponsors	Number from an export of this event
External Id	Your own ID for the sponsor. Use it to update the sponsor in a later import	Text, unique in the event
Name	Company name. Required	Text
Category	Category name. Matched to an existing category by exact name; otherwise created. Empty: the sponsor goes into a category named "Uncategorized"	Text
Subtitle	Subtitle on the sponsor card and booth	Text
CTA Text	CTA text of the booth button. Empty: the apps show "Visit booth" (or "Visit" plus your renamed booth term)	Text
Enable Chat	Enable chat switch	Yes/No
Enable Traffic Analytics	Traffic analytics switch	Yes/No
Enable Lead Scanning	Lead scanning switch	Yes/No
Enable Meet-at-Booth	Meet-at-booth switch	Yes/No
Automatic Linking On	Automatic linking switch	Yes/No
Linking Method	Linking method. Other values are ignored and leave the current method unchanged	`partial`, `exact`, `domain` or `custom_field`
Linking Domains	Email domain(s) for the `domain` method	Domains separated by commas, for example `abc.com, abc.fi`
Website, Facebook, Linkedin	Link buttons on the booth	Full `http://` or `https://` addresses
Twitter, Instagram	X handle and Instagram handle	Handle, for example `@brellanetwork`
Content	Description of the booth. Plain text; each line becomes a paragraph. The export writes Brella's rich text format, which imports back unchanged	Text
Logo	Logo. Brella downloads the image from the address	Direct link to an image file, up to 5 MB
Cover Image	Cover Image, shown for sponsors in a Large category	Direct link to an image file, up to 5 MB
Map Link	Address opened by the map button on the booth. The import is the only place in the admin panel to set it	Full `http://` or `https://` address
Media Type, Media Title, Media URL	One carousel slide or sidebar link per row. Media Type is `Carousel` or `Sidebar`. Use an embed URL for Carousel. Sidebar uses a page URL in the apps; see the note after this table	Text, text, full `http://` or `https://` address

Carousel URLs must allow embedding. Sidebar links open in the attendee’s browser. If the sponsor widget also shows sidebar content, use a URL that allows embedding there. See Add links to a booth.

Yes/No columns: yes, x, enabled, checked and true mean yes, in any letter case. Anything else, including an empty cell, means no.

A row with a Name is a sponsor. A row without a Name but with Media Title and Media URL is a carousel slide or sidebar link for the sponsor above it. Any other row fails.

Example: a sponsor and two booth items

This example shows only the columns needed to explain the row order. Use the full template for your import and set the booth switches you need.

Id,Name,Category,Media Type,Media Title,Media URL
,Lattice Current,Partners,,,
,,,Carousel,Company presentation,https://example.com/embed/presentation
,,,Sidebar,Contact us,https://example.com/contact

The first row creates a sponsor. The next 2 rows have no Name, so they belong to that sponsor. Replace the example addresses with your own.

The preview scrolls horizontally. Check Name and Category on the left, then scroll right to check the media columns.

Sponsor import preview with Name and Category filled only on the first row

Media columns showing Carousel and Sidebar rows with titles and example URLs

For an existing sponsor, start with a current export. Keep its Id, Name, category and settings; do not use this shortened example to update it.

Import the file

Open Sponsors > Settings.
Under Import sponsors, select Import .csv. The Import sponsor list dialog opens with the steps Upload file, Map columns and Preview.
Drag the file onto "Click or drag a file to this area to upload", or select the area and pick the file. Select Next step.
Under "Map CSV columns to sponsor fields", check that each Brella field points to the right column of your file. If your file has all 25 template headers, the columns are mapped for you. Id, Media Type, Media Title and Media URL are locked against changes; select the lock icon to change their mapping. Select Next step.
Under "Confirm whether your mapping is correct", check the preview. The count "N sponsors will be imported" includes carousel and sidebar rows. Keep Exclude CSV header row from imported data selected.
Select Import. Brella shows "Your import is being processed. You will be notified by email in case of any error."

Cancel import on the first step and the dialog's close button discard the upload. Previous step goes back.

How rows are matched

A row with an Id updates the sponsor with that ID. Use only Id values from an export of this event.
A row with an External Id and no Id updates the sponsor with that external ID, or creates one with it.
A row with neither creates a new sponsor every time it is imported.
The same Id or External Id twice in one file: the second row fails with "A row with ID N has been processed in this import already." or "A row with External ID N has been processed in this import already."
When updating, empty text cells leave the current value unchanged. Empty Yes/No cells set the switch to no, an empty Linking Domains cell removes the domains, and an empty Category cell moves the sponsor to "Uncategorized".
A logo or cover image whose address has not changed is not downloaded again.
Carousel and sidebar rows exported from Brella carry the item's ID in Id and update that item. Rows without an ID update an item with the same type, title and address, or create a new one.

New sponsors are created the same way as in the Create sponsor drawer: Brella adds a schedule location named "<Company name> Booth" and runs automatic representative linking. See Create and edit a sponsor and Link representatives to a booth.

Check the result

The import appears in Cloud sync (the cloud button in the top bar) as EventSponsorsImport. Open it to read the Background job report. If any row failed, Brella also emails the admin who started the import. The subject is "Sponsor import for" followed by the event name, and the email links to the report. See Track imports and bulk actions with Cloud sync.

Fix a partial import

Each error names the row: row 1 is the first row under the header.

Export the current sponsors before preparing a retry.
Correct each failed sponsor row. For an existing sponsor, keep its Id, Name, category and settings from the export. For a new sponsor that was not created, leave Id empty.
For a failed media row, copy its owning sponsor row immediately before it, even if that sponsor imported successfully.
Keep an existing media item’s Id when correcting it. Leave Id empty only for a new item.
Check that every media row follows the intended sponsor, then import the retry file.

Do not import media rows on their own. An item belongs to the preceding sponsor row, so that context must stay in the retry file.

Export sponsors

Open Sponsors > Settings.
Under Export sponsors, select Export .zip. Brella shows "Your export will be delivered by email shortly."
Open the email with the subject "Brella admin report". The zip file is named after the event and ends in -sponsors; it holds one CSV file with the same name.

The file has the 25 template columns plus Linking Custom Field, Linking Values and Linking Match Mode. Sponsors are listed by ID. Each carousel slide and sidebar link is a row under its sponsor, with the item's ID in Id and Carousel or Sidebar in Media Type. Yes/No columns hold Yes or No.

To add sponsors to an event, add rows to the export without an Id and import the file. To update sponsors, edit their rows and import the file.

Note: the import dialog has no fields for Linking Custom Field, Linking Values and Linking Match Mode, so these three columns are not imported. Set a custom field rule in Edit Details > Booth Control instead.

Export in the selection menu of Sponsors > Sponsors, and Export all sponsor data under Import & Export, export analytics files, not the sponsor list. See Read a sponsor's booth and representative analytics.

Limits

Name is required. Website, Map Link and Media URL must be full http:// or https:// addresses.
Logo and Cover Image: 5 MB each, downloaded from a direct image link. A page that shows the image, such as a file-sharing page, does not work.
Linking Method takes only partial, exact, domain or custom_field.
The file has no columns for Industry, Location, matchmaking Tags, custom fields, products, downloads, the meeting cap or Tab Customization. Set these in the admin panel.
Only the first file row is treated as the header. Delete the template's description and example rows.

Troubleshooting

"Malformed CSV:" followed by a message
The file could not be parsed and nothing was imported. The message names the line. Check quotes and commas on that line, then save the file as CSV again.

"Unknown content: sponsors must have a name and media items must have a title and a URL."
The row has no Name and lacks Media Title or Media URL. Fill in the row or delete it. This also happens when the template's description row was left in place.

"Sponsor in row: N" followed by a message
The sponsor's values failed validation; the message says which field. For example, a Website that does not start with http:// or https://.

"Category in row: N"
The category could not be created. Check the Category cell.

A carousel or sidebar row was not imported
The sponsor row above it failed, so the row was skipped without an error, or the row is above the first sponsor row. Follow Fix a partial import and include the owning sponsor row with its current ID and settings before the corrected media rows.

The columns were not mapped automatically
A header differs from the template, or a column is missing. Map each field by hand on the Map columns step, or copy the headers from the template.

A logo did not import
The address was not a direct link to an image file, or the file is over 5 MB. Upload the logo in Edit Details instead.

Import and export sponsors with a CSV file