LinkedIn's Creator Dashboard and Advice Sessions: What the Region Gets

On 15 October 2026, LinkedIn published a product update titled “New Ways to Build Meaningful Connections, Grow Your Side Hustle, and Earn on LinkedIn”. It bundles seven changes: a creator dashboard, a digital business card, private profile notes, pinned comments, a test “Network” feed, In-Stream Ads for creators and paid Advice Sessions.

The headlines that travelled fastest were about earning money, and those are the parts least available in the Gulf and Egypt. This piece sorts the update by what a consultant, trainer, founder or executive in Riyadh, Dubai, Doha or Cairo can expect first, what is still further off, and what is limited to the United States or a few test markets. It also covers what to do in the meantime.

What LinkedIn announced, and where each feature is available

The table below follows LinkedIn’s own wording in the post and its FAQ. Where LinkedIn gave no availability, the table says so. LinkedIn has not published a separate list for Middle East and North Africa markets, so “global” here means what LinkedIn stated, not a confirmed launch in any specific Gulf country or Egypt.

Why LinkedIn is making this move

LinkedIn frames the update around people who work across more than one role. In the post it says the number of founders on LinkedIn is up 70%, that the share of members reporting more than one ongoing position has increased 26% since 2019, and that more than 80% of LinkedIn creators build content alongside another role. LinkedIn does not name a source or method for these figures, so read them as LinkedIn’s own platform claims rather than independent research.

The direction is still useful to understand. LinkedIn is building tools that treat an individual’s profile as a small business: a storefront (Advice Sessions), analytics (the dashboard), a contact tool (business card and notes) and, for some, a revenue share (In-Stream Ads). For a regional consultant or trainer, that means the profile is increasingly judged as a commercial front, not only a CV.

What arrives first: the creator dashboard and profile notes

Creator dashboard

The dashboard is the most practical item in the update for anyone posting regularly. Its value depends on what you do with it. When it reaches your account, use it to answer three questions every month:

1. Which posts reached the people you sell to? Reach from your own industry and target companies matters more than total impressions. A post that 2,000 procurement and engineering managers saw is worth more than one that 20,000 students saw.
2. Which formats work for your topic? Compare short text, documents, video and image posts on the same subject before deciding what to produce more of.
3. Which language performs with which audience? If you post in Arabic and English, look at results by language separately. The answer often differs between, say, a Saudi government-facing audience and a UAE audience of multinational buyers.

Keep a simple monthly record outside LinkedIn: topic, format, language, the reaction from the people you care about, and any conversations it started. The dashboard shows what happened; the record tells you why.

Profile notes

LinkedIn says private profile notes are available globally to Premium subscribers, so if you already pay for Premium, check whether the option appears on profiles you visit. They are most useful for people who meet many contacts face to face, at exhibitions, majlis-style business gatherings, conferences and site visits, and lose track of who said what. A good note is short and factual: where you met, what they need, what you promised and when to follow up. Do not record anything you would not want the person to read; notes are private, but treat them with the same care as any client record.

What is coming: the digital business card and pinned comments

The digital business card is due to roll out globally “over the coming months”. For the region, its natural use is in-person events. Exhibitions such as Intersec in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, industry conferences and launch events produce many first meetings for B2B companies, and paper cards are often lost before the follow-up (the wider problem is covered in why exhibitions produce badge scans but no pipeline).

Prepare before it arrives, because the card will only be as good as the profile behind it:

• Your headline should say what you do and for whom, in the language your buyers use.
• Your banner and featured section should give a newcomer a reason to keep reading after scanning the card.
• Your contact details and company page link should be current; a card that leads to an out-of-date profile wastes the meeting.
• If your company sends a team to an exhibition, align profiles before the event so every card points to a consistent brand.

Pinned comments let a post’s author highlight a useful comment. LinkedIn did not state where this is available, so check your own posts. When it works for you, pin a comment that adds substance: a client’s clarifying question with your answer, a correction, or a link to a longer resource. Avoid pinning praise; it reads as self-promotion.

What is limited to the U.S. and test markets: Advice Sessions, In-Stream Ads and the Network feed

Advice Sessions are the feature most relevant to consultants, coaches and trainers, and they are currently limited to Business Premium subscribers in the United States. LinkedIn says more markets are “coming soon” but has given no dates or countries. Do not tell clients you can be booked through LinkedIn until it appears in your account.

In-Stream Ads are a test with select U.S. creators and advertisers. There is no announced timeline for other markets, so they should not be part of any revenue plan in the Gulf or Egypt.

The Network feed is a test that LinkedIn says starts with the U.S., India, the U.K. and Australia; no GCC country or Egypt is named. It signals that LinkedIn wants posts from people you actually know to be easier to find, which reinforces an old lesson: a well-built network of real buyers, partners and peers is worth more than a large follower count.

What regional consultants, trainers and executives should do meanwhile

If the paid features do reach the region, they are likely to favour people whose profiles and content already prove expertise. That work can start today, and none of it depends on a U.S. launch.

1. Make the profile sell a defined service. State what problem you solve, for which type of client, and in which markets. “Training consultant” says little; “sales training for B2B distributors in Saudi Arabia” tells the right buyer to keep reading. Our guide to LinkedIn profiles for corporate trainers shows how to write it.
2. Show proof without breaking confidentiality. Gulf clients often do not want to be named. Describe the type of client, the problem and the type of result instead of naming companies, and only with permission.
3. Set up a clear route to a paid conversation. Until Advice Sessions reach your market, the path is usually a featured item explaining your session, a contact route, and your own booking and payment process. Check LinkedIn’s current User Agreement and Professional Community Policies before adding links or offers, as rules can change.
4. Post on a steady rhythm in the right language. A consistent weekly post on your specialist topic builds the track record the dashboard will measure.
5. Use Premium deliberately. If you are deciding whether to pay for Premium, profile notes are one more reason for people who network heavily in person; Business Premium also matters if Advice Sessions later arrive in your market, since that is the tier LinkedIn has tied it to in the U.S.

For executives whose profiles are handled with help, these features do not change the basic rule: the member stays in control, approves what is published and keeps their login secure. Our earlier guide on LinkedIn for Gulf executives covers what a CEO should and should not post, and executive LinkedIn ghostwriting and management sets out how access and approval should work.

Where a managed LinkedIn presence fits

Most of what this update rewards, a clear positioning, a strong profile, consistent content and a network of the right people, is groundwork that busy founders and senior professionals rarely have time to build. RX Designer’s LinkedIn and personal branding service covers new or rebuilt profiles, headline and About writing, banner and profile visuals, keyword structure and, if wanted, monthly content and network management, with the member approving content before it goes out. You can see examples in our LinkedIn profiles work.

The useful question is not whether you will get Advice Sessions this year. It is whether, when a paid booking button does reach your market, your profile will already give a stranger a reason to press it.