While I’m an extrovert (words just come out of my mouth sometimes), I’m not always comfortable speaking with people I don’t yet know. However, I want to make a real connection with other people. It doesn’t matter if I’m writing, speaking, or networking. I still want that real connection. I use stories and examples to […]
I’m reviewing experience report proposals for the XP 2023 conference. While I see potential in many of these proposals, I don’t see enough proposals that make me say, “Yes! I want to read this report! And see the speaker!” (Yes, I react in exclamation marks when I read a terrific proposal.) Experience reports allow us
I like to read, as well as to write. (You are not surprised.) Which means I discovered StoryBundle years ago. Most of the time, StoryBundle offers genre fiction. However, this time, it’s nonfiction for writers—the 2021 Write Stuff Bundle. Yes, I have a book in this bundle—Write a Conference Proposal. If you want to speak
I’ve spoken professionally at conferences for 25 years. I enjoy it. And, several people—all men, so far—have suggested I should “make room” for other voices. To me, that’s a solution in search of a problem. I ask them what problems they want to solve. They want speakers who are: More diverse in gender More diverse
I’m delighted to announce I published the Conference Proposal book! I collated all the conference proposal posts into a book. And, I added more content only available in the book. The book is through copyediting. You can buy it on Leanpub now in all electronic forms. Yes, I will upload the book to all the
You might wonder why I don’t start writing a proposal with a title. In my experience, a great title is something I need to ponder and experiment with. I do often start with a placeholder title. When I developed this multitasking talk, I used this title: Stop the madness. End the multitasking. That was a
Your bio establishes your expertise, authority, and credibility in your field. If your conference proposal has a speaking experience field, use that field to explain your expertise, authority, and credibility. I like to think of the bio and speaking experience fields as ways to connect with and invite the right people to your session: These
You know who your audience is because you framed the proposal. You started with outcomes, and you refined those outcomes when you wrote the abstract. Now it’s time to complete the rest of the proposal, excluding your bio and the title. Bios and titles are different from the rest of the proposal. (Those will be
You decided who your session is for: the people with the problems. You’ve got the outcomes. Now, it’s time to write the abstract. Conference proposals always have a short abstract. Some conferences, such as the Agile 20xx conferences, also have “Information for the Program Team.” You might think of that as the outline or more
Now that you’ve framed your proposal, start with what you want people to take away from the talk, the outcomes. Why? Because too many descriptions are a promise for an outcome or what people will learn. If you’re coy about the outcomes, people can’t select themselves in or out for your presentation. Speakers who say,