Go Back

Speaker Expectations in an Open World

Very interesting find over on code site github--a post/manifesto by a professional speaker, for professional speakers and meeting professionals.

"Open Conference Expectations," by Paul Irish, itemizes what speakers reasonably expect from event planners and what planners should reasonably expect from speakers.

I love this.

Everything cited is based in common sense and, it appears, significant experience in the meeting/event industry. It's nice to see it spelled out, though.

Excerpts below, but you REALLY should read Paul's entire post.

Recordings: Organizers should prioritize recording all talks and sessions. Now, ideally this would involve video recording, but hey, we acknowledge that quality video recording is both expensive and time-consuming -- audio recordings paired with the slides is a decent compromise if video isn't possible. Recordings should be made available under a permissive license (CC-BY-*) within six months of the event, information can get too stale after that. (If you're worried that releasing video will depress ticket sales, other conference organizers will vouch that, to the contrary, recordings are an excellent tool for driving ticket sales in future years, and are also an excellent sponsorship opportunity.)

Lodging: Conferences will offer to obtain and pay for lodging for speakers for at least the night before and the night after a speaker's talk. Again, a speaker may opt out of provided lodging, and those saved costs can be put to good use.

...

We will respect our audience. We will rehearse our talk in front of a small audience in order to ensure we are prepared. We will ensure that our talk does not go over the allotted time. We will think about the people in the back row, and think about whether the room will be light or dark, when we design our slides. We will say "um" as little as humanly possible. We will deliver talks that are current, correct, and of genuine interest to attendees; we promise not to make our talks a sales pitch. We will refrain from language, images, or behavior during the conference that may reflect poorly on the conference, and will adhere to a conference's code of conduct if one is established. We will post our content and demos on the web within 48 hours after the conference.


Image (CCKmeron

Conversation (1)
  • thom singer July 23, 2012

    As a speaker I also support the part that says the speaker knows that his commitment is MORE than just the time on stage (I paraphrased that a bit).  Too many speaker jump in at the last minute and then leave after the applause.  Unless the speaker is a celebrity on the level of Bill Clinton, they should be committed to participate in the event for some level of time.  People enjoy meeting the speakers (even those who are not famous), and organizers should ask speakers up front how long they intend to stay around after their talk. 

Post a comment!


  1. Formatting options
       
     
     
     
     
       
  2. Captcha Image

Contributors Archives MPIWeb Suggest a link Subscribe PlusPoint