For conferences, it's extremely important that attendees get top-quality content from industry experts. As a highly compelling format of educating others based on experience and research, conferences stand to be one the best sources of refined knowledge available. Still, it's important for a successful event to have a few guidelines to ensure quality content from the best and most appropriate speakers. Below is a set of guidelines for conference organizers that ensure quality content for attendees and the community.
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Video recordings: Organizers should prioritize recording all talks and sessions. A conference that only teaches the ~300 people in the room has constrained value and is not worthwhile to a speaker who wants to benefit the community. When recorded, video will be available online under a permissive license (CC-BY-*) within six months of the event.
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Reimbursement: Conferences will reimburse travel and reasonable transportation costs, such as taxis to and from the airport.
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Lodging: Conferences will obtain and pay for lodging for speakers for at least the night before and the night after a speaker's talk.
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Wifi & Internet Access: The speaker hotel should provide wifi; if the wifi isn't free, the conference should ensure its cost is covered. Speakers should have prioritized wifi access at the venue; if wifi is not available, speakers should have some means of accessing internet at the venue.
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Honoraria: If attendees are asked to pay more than $1,000 for an event, speakers will be provided with an honorarium of at least 50% of the ticket price.
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Food & Beverages: The conference will provide water to speakers throughout the day, and will also provide the speaker with lunch on the day of their talk. If attendees are asked to pay more than $200 per ticket, the conference will provide both speakers and attendees with lunch, drinks, and light snacks throughout the day.
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Schedule: Conferences will let speakers know the time and duration of their talk at least two weeks before the event.
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A/V & Power: Conferences will provide a quality projector with at least 1024x768 resolution, projected onto a screen that is appropriately sized and readily viewable by all attendees in the room. Conferences will also provide video adapters for common computers, and power outlets at the podium.
If an event costs less than $100 to attendees, then we will make enormous exceptions to the above items.
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The speaker hotel should have room service available (at the speaker's expense) during breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all 3 days, in case the speaker wants to stay in and focus on their talk.
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The conference venue should include a space where speakers can prepare for their talk without being disturbed by attendees.
- We will deliver a quality talk
- We will ensure that our talk does not go over the allotted time
- We will ensure that our slides are legible and well-designed
- We will consent to the distribution of video and audio recordings under a permissive Creative Commons license (such as CC-BY, CC-BY-NC, or CC-BY-SA; the exact license is at the discretion of the speaker)
- We will commit to spending time with attendees during the event
- We will commit to publicizing the fact that we'll be speaking at your event
- We will deliver talks that are current, correct, and of genuine interest to attendees; we promise not to make our talks a sales pitch
- We will refrain from language, images, or behavior during the conference that may reflect poorly on the conference, and will adhere to a conference's code of conduct if one is established.
- We will post our content and demos on the web within 48 hours after the conference
This document written by @rmurphey @nimbupani and @paulirish in June 2012. It is a living document and open for edits from the community.
As a speaker, please feel free to reference this document and its contents when discussing speaking at a conference.