Earlier this year I posted a piece about finding conference venues in conference planning “behind the scenes” . At the time I didn’t realize that this would become a continuing series.

Demystiying Conference Program Development & Selecting Speakers
I work for a number of organizations to design and develop conference programs. Some events are private, some are for an organizations’ customers or staff, but most are offered for a fee to targetted audiences. The development process of programs and selection of speakers varies.

Some, like Information Today conferences, have a “call for speakers” process where individuals or teams can send in a proposal to speak through a form on the conference web site. The proposals are reviewed by an organizing or advisory committee made up of experienced practitioners and experts, and streams of appropriate topics/content are focused into “tracks” such as “Integrating Content: Content Management & Mashups for Libraries”, a track at the upcoming Internet Librarian, Oct 23-5, Monterey CA. Sometimes there may be holes in a particular content stream and the committee or I find an appropriate speaker to fill that spot. All potential speakers are reviewed for their content (new, exciting, leading edge), their context (where they practice), speaking ability (where they have spoken in the past), and reputation (writings, blogs).

Some organizations hire Dysart & Jones for their network of potential speakers and want to develop their program in conjunction with our company. In that case, they are the reveiwers or advisors.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, we’re always looking for speakers and practitioners who want to share their experiences and learnings. Let me know if there’s something you’d like to talk about in the near future.