The SES Speaking Gauntlet

Right now, I'm fully immersed in finishing speaker selection for our SES San Jose 2005 show. It's a giant, all-consuming job because I pretty much pick or approve all the speakers myself. We have around 60 sessions with panels of 2-4 people each. That's 150 or more speakers, at least.

It would be easier if I just handed off sessions right and left to other people to organize. In a few cases, I do have trusted moderators who do the heavy lifting on some panels. I'll be highlighting some of these sessions going forward. But for the most part, I like to do the selection and coordination to ensure I get the quality of of the sessions that I want.

Let me be clear up front. No one speaks because they've paid for a spot, not on the sessions I oversee. Some conferences work that way. People can get speaking slots because they are an exhibitor, sponsor or have literally purchased a seat. That's not how the SES events I organize run, nor do the shows that Chris Sherman operate this way.

Specifically for SES San Jose 2005, I'm organizing all of the panels outside of the JupiterResearch track on the first day (JupiterResearch will be along later to tell you more about their track). People are selected for those panels solely because I think they've got something interesting to say and share with the attendees.

Lots of people want to be on stage. Lots of people send me pitches to speak. I'm hoping this blog will help me better communicate with the many who pitch, so they know how, when and the best way to do so. That's especially important because most pitches are terrible.

For the record, every show now has a How To Speak page. The one for SES San Jose is here. Want to pitch? Read the page, understand the advice and follow it. It advises things like pitching for each session in a separate email and not to send attachments. Despite this, I get pitches violating all the rules from people. I even had one person tell me they read the instructions but decided to ignore them anyway. Don't. Please don't.

That How To Speak page points over to another page listing the actual openings I have. The openings are here. That's all I've got. As that page explains, I have short list candidates and returning speakers for any show. Any openings I have beyond these are listed on that page. So don't pitch for anything other than on that page, EVEN IF a session shows speakers as TBA. There's a delay between when we get some people confirmed and actually posted on the agenda.

Haven't put you off pitching? Then consider pushing your PR firm aside and pitching yourself. Honestly, PR firms can be helpful. But the vast majority of times, their involvement in pitching for SES is a waste of time. The requests I get from them show they aren't familiar with the conference and often haven't read up on the session they're pitching a speaker toward. Then when I reject a pitch as being completely off topic and not suitable, it doesn't surprise me to get the pitch back with virtually no changes other than to aim it at a different session. It's a waste of time all around, and no one has that time to waste.

It's also hard dealing with vendors, people who have some product related to a particular session. Here's an example. There are upteen million measuring tool vendors out there. I can't have them all speak. I don't have a stage big enough for that. In addition, no matter how non-commercial a vendor may promise to be, audiences still feel like they are hearing a commercial. In short, if you're a vendor that has some product that seems perfect for a session, I almost certainly don't want you.

I'm not anti-vendor. Vendors can have great search marketing insight. It's just best when they pitch concepts and technique for panels that are completely independent of their tools or services. A rare few manage to do this, and I love them. If you're a vendor and can't do this, then encourage a customer to share a case study of their experiences with your product for a suitable session. However, if a customer ends up seeming like some puppet you are controlling from behind the scenes, that gets noticed and has an impact on future participation.

What's the very best way to get to speak at the show? Pitch me a new session idea when I ask for new session ideas. This happens long before the show agenda is organized. I love new, original ideas. Give me a new twist on something I find intriguing, and you're likely in.

As said, the blog is meant to help with the communication process. Going forward, we'll make it clear when we're looking for pitches for new session ideas, when actual speaking openings are available and so on. Watch the blog, and if anything should open up or change, we'll tell you.

In the end, if you're hoping to speak, please remember that my job is to produce the best conference I can for attendees, not to put you on stage. I really value having a diverse group of speakers, and I love having new people when they are a fit. But not everyone is a fit, despite best intentions.