Show Me the Love

Do you appreciate your speakers the way you should?

There are many reasons for speaking at an event. A sense of giving back to your peers by sharing something you have learned, or a desire to get your name out there as an industry thought-leader are two of the most obvious reasons. Often times, however, speakers start to feel unappreciated. Sometimes, it goes beyond feeling unappreciated and speakers feel downright resentful about receiving no financial compensation, and even paying out of pocket to be at the event.

Here’s the way many event organizers view the situation: I’m asking attendees to put in extra work to participate in a conference they would have paid for anyway, and receive one of the benefits listed above. In order to keep costs low (regardless of how much profit an event might generate), paying speakers usually isn’t an option.

What do you do, then, if you are listening to your community, and they’re telling you they feel unappreciated? What if you aren’t getting the quality or quantity of submissions to your call for presentations that you need? We have some ideas for how you can “give your speakers some love.”

Public acknowledgement

Any chance you get, have your speakers stand and be recognized. Put their names in lights (on screens, in programs, on signs). If it is a small enough group, make sure all of your staff or board members recognize your speakers, and verbally thank them when they see them in the hallways of your event.

Highlight them as thought leaders

Using a Twitter wall or other social media display, it is relatively simple to create a content generating initiative aimed at your presenters. To keep this content separate from the main event conversation, create a special hashtag or website where you collect their thoughts, videos, and pictures. Their content will be better than the average tweet about your event and could be used in many ways before, during and after your event. Some speakers may view this as more work, but others may be honored to be included in the program if it is communicated well. At the International Society for Technology in Education conference (ISTE 2016), speakers used the #PresentersOfISTE hashtag 633 times on twitter and 65 times on Instagram. They displayed these posts on a special monitor in a high traffic area of the conference.

Social media

ISTE 2016 also created a Twitter list of their speakers. Elizabeth Glau, CMP, ISTE's Attendee Experience Manager shared some tips for getting the most mileage out of this initiative. “It helps to collect twitter handles as part of your presentation submission process. Once you have the list together, it’s a good idea to share the list periodically to promote it. Make sure your speakers know they are on it via direct message or other communications. They’ll love this. Whether they’re speaking at your conference out of a spirit of contribution or gaining exposure, this tactic will make them feel supported and appreciated.”