Speaker Selection Process

Pubcon has earned a reputation as the leading edge conference for marketing and web developer technology. The high level of presentation content at PubCon sets us apart from other tech conference available. We get those leading presentations because of the speakers and how we develop session content. We have often heard speakers say that they find PubCon to be the most rewarding conference they have ever spoken at.

There isn't much in the conference business that isn't public information, but our speaker and session selection process is unique. We have intentionally not talked about our system, because we use processes that we feel are proprietary - they are our trade secrets to be protected.

I wanted to talk a little bit about it now because we get numerous requests from speakers that want to go session shopping. They get confused that we don't list our sessions before taking speaking proposals. We don't do it that way, and I felt it was time to talk a little bit about the process.

Most conferences create a default set of panels and then go looking for speakers to plugin to those panels. We call this the Conference First approach because the conference is only worried about the conference. The conference is the one that decides what is important. The Conference First process is the process of the conference chair deciding and decreeing the topic-of-the-day and expecting the speakers to fall in lock step line with those assumptions. I have found that system to be out of touch with what is really hot and excites speakers and audiences. It leads to inappropriate speakers trying to fill a slot (often with a buddy) and ending up with half-hearted beginner level content.

We use a process we call Speakers First. We let speakers propose the topic they want to talk about. That allows speakers to propose sessions straight from their expertise and passion. We then create a panel around them or rewrite an existing session topic to fit their needs. This leads to speakers talking from their expertise and passion about topics that are currently hot in the community and market place - it leads to speakers bringing their A game and enjoying it. Attendees win.

Does "Speakers First" really work that way in the real world? An example: Bob-the-PPC-guy went to a conference that had a session called "inside SEO secrets" (or similar gimmick name). Bob was put on that session and talked about his best SEO tricks. Bob-the-PPC-guy then came to PubCon and was pretty shocked to find out his best SEO tricks had been talked about by another speaker four years ago at PubCon. What happened, was that the conference went looking for a speaker they thought would work on a "SEO tricks" panel, only to end up with Bob-the-PPC-guy talking in an area outside his domain of expertise. We have actually heard of cases were people have been selected for panels and then went out and bought books so that they knew the subject matter.

Speakers First is not full proof or perfect, but I think it is the best system available that puts attendees and speakers first. We have a great deal of pride in our speakers and session proposal process. Our best advice is to propose a session that speaks directly from and to your expertise. Propose the type of presentation where you will find it enjoyable to create the Power Point and practice your presentation.

-Brett