Program Lead

Role description

Throughout entire event:

• Manages Agenda committee, Track leaders, Speakers committee, Lightning Talk Lead and Sprints Committee.

Before event:

• Together with the conference lead, they develop the conference’s call for papers
• Coordinates the track leaders.
• Creates the schedule.
• Ensure that the agenda committee members get the schedule logistics sorted out.
• Responsible for making a conference with a well rounded and balanced content.
• Takes responsibility for the paper review process
• Recruits suitable keynote speakers that fit the theme of the year.
• Ensures that the talk registration, tracking, approval and review system is working properly and is used by the track leaders.

During

• Handles any schedule changes. This includes communicates with MarCom lead on posting cancelled sessions, changes of rooms and times, as well as posting information about extra sessions.
• Introduces the keynote speakers.
• Organises the handover of gifts to the keynote speakers.
• Ensure keynotes expenses have been paid for.
• Ensure other speakers’ necessary expenses have been taken care of by speakers committee.

After

• Thanks the track leaders
• Prepares a preliminary list of interested track chairs for next year.
• Sends a thank-you message to keynote speaker.

Guidelines

Speakers

If you want to choose the right speaker for your conference there’s so much more to consider than just their ability to deliver an entertaining keynote.

The second they step onto your stage to address your delegates they become more than just a public speaker – they’re a representation of your entire event. So it’s vital you weigh up whether they reinforce your goals, resonate with the audience and reflect the tone you want to set.

Five Quick Tips for Choosing the Right Conference Speaker:

• See them speak and have a conversation with them in person before you decide
• Make sure they’re willing to interact with delegates and agree what this involves
• Get a complete breakdown of their fees, and be realistic about any budgetary issues
• Think carefully about booking a speaker whose content might cause division among your audience Don’t book anybody who you wouldn’t be happy to choose as the public face of your brand

Looking internally is a great way to stretch your budget further, retain more control over the speech’s message, and establish your organisation as the home of thought leaders – you may even unearth hidden talent in your ranks.

This can be an especially effective route to take when your speaker needs to be highly knowledgeable about the intricacies of your industry, understand the nuances of your corporate culture or have a background specific to your organisation.

It’s also a great opportunity to reward employees with time in the spotlight and integrate delegate-led content into your conference. And if your in-house candidate lacks confidence or public speaking experience, it’s easy to find training.

Talk Selection Process

• Keep speaker names on proposals during reviews
• Organize scheduled talks into themed tracks

Program Planning

• Make it clear to speakers on the theme of the year so that the contents they propose is coherent.
• Have a hardcoded and public calendar of deadlines and accomplish them.
• Answer clearly to all the submitters, telling them if their paper has been accepted or not, and why.
• Consider providing a choice of 20, 30 and 40 mins talk as many talks vary in terms of subject.

Launch an early call for papers and close most part of the schedule as soon as possible ideally at least 2 months before the event. This will attract real attention to the event. Speakers and participants will be able to decide before what to do and book tickets & hotels.

Leave slots empty for late additions, although it will be good to have the main sessions (invited keynotes and community rock stars) clearly scheduled as soon as possible. This will help the press & marketing team getting focused on promotion and press releases.

The schedule should never start before 09:00. Ideally, it should start at 10:00 and finish not too late because conferences tend to be exhausting.

Lightning talks should normally be scheduled after lunch for best attendance.

Other regular items in the schedule:

• Opening and closing sessions

If the schedule is to be on the badges, the following is to be taken into consideration:

• The talk titles need to be short, ideally up to 50 characters long
• Speakers names need to be kept short

Other possible items to be included in the schedule to add more variety:

• panel discussions
• clinic
• Student tracks

Also check on step 7 & 8 of quick guide for reference.