Congratulations! Your speakers have accepted your invitation to participate in your Run The World conference. Here are 5 steps you need to take to make their experience easier:
Step 1: Confirm session date and time with every speaker
Step 2: Explain what a Run The World conference is
Step 3: Let them know the expectations for a good talk
Step 4: Discuss with them the ideas for their talks
Step 5: Communicate when and how much they would expect to get paid
Step 1. Confirm date and time with every speaker for their individual sessions
It is always recommended to organize your speakers' availabilities in an excel sheet. When you want to confirm dates with them, give them a few options to choose from, and write down the dates of their choice in the sheet.
If a speaker needs to change the date of their sessions, make sure that the change is reflected in your excel sheet and there's no conflict with other speakers' sessions.
Step 2. Explain what a Run The World conference is
As you can see, a Run The World conference is very different from any traditional webinars. It is heavily audience-engagement focused but though a digital format.
It will be a good idea to explain what it is so that your speaker will have an idea of what kind of talk is the most appropriate and the most effective for your conference.
Step 3. Let them know the expectations for a good talk
It is recommended that you familiarize your speaker with the audience's side of the webinar interface, all the fun engagement activities (quizzes, ask-a-question, etc.) so that they can structure their talks in a fun way. Below are a few items you should check in with your speakers:
Are they going to use slides? If so, set up a date when they can send over their slides for you to review.
Ask them about the initial ideas of their talks. It's okay if they don't have any at this point, but set up a date for them to send over some general outline, to see if their talk aligns with your conference themes.
Make sure that they are aware of the audio and video specificities and can dial into the webinar 10 minutes before their session to test equipment
Have them think about their location when the talk takes place. Are they going to be in their office, at home, or outdoors? Anywhere with good ambient lighting will be fine.
Step 4. Discuss with them the ideas for their talks
This is one of the most important things you have to figure out with your speakers. While this is largely up to the speakers to decide what they want to talk about, you can prompt them with some questions to better help them brainstorm and find a good angle:
What is an idea about the conference topic that you have personal stories to tell?
What are some common misconceptions that people have about the field?
What are some interesting trends that you see in this industry?
How is this industry going to evolve?
Step 5. Communicate when and how much they would expect to get paid
Make sure you discuss and reach an agreement with your speakers about how much they are getting paid, and if they are getting paid before or after the conference. Lastly, make sure to thank your speakers for their valuable time!