How it works

For program chairs

Anyone can search the Directory and read published profiles without an account. To contact a speaker, you need verified officer access.

1. ChairSearches the DirectoryBy topic, format, location and fee
2. ChairSends a requestEvent, date, format, audience, compensation
3. SpeakerGets an emailNo account or sign-in needed to answer
4. SpeakerAcceptsOr declines, or asks you a question first
5. BothYou're introducedAn email to both of you with their contact details

1. Request officer access. Tell us your association, chapter and role. A person reviews every request and approves or declines it, usually within two working days. Access lasts a year, because officer terms end.
2. Search. Filter by topic, certification, delivery format, location and fee. Each listing shows the speaker's own affiliation disclosure, so you can see up front whether a session is likely to reference a vendor's products. Verified officers also see facts-only records that haven't been claimed yet (see Claiming a record), but those can't be contacted until the speaker confirms them.
3. Send a request. A short, structured form: the event, date, format, expected audience, session length, compensation, and a message. You can track every request under Your Requests.
4. The speaker answers by email. They can accept, decline with a reason, or ask a question, which we email to you with a link to answer it. If they don't answer, they get at most two reminders (on days 3 and 7), and the request expires after 10 days.
5. On acceptance, you're introduced. We email you both, with the speaker's contact details. The request shows them your name, role and chapter, but until they accept, neither of you sees the other's email address.

To keep requests worth answering, an officer can send up to 10 a day, and no more than two to the same speaker in a month.

For speakers

If you speak on these topics and want chapters to find you, you can add yourself. It takes about ten minutes.

1. YouAdd yourselfTopics, background, and your affiliation
2. YouConfirm your emailA link we send you, valid for two days
3. UsA person reviews itUsually within a couple of days
4. YouSign in and publishCheck your listing, then make it live
5. ChairsRequests arriveBy email, from verified officers only

1. Add yourself. Your name, role, topics, a bio in your own words, and three short affiliation questions: what kind of employer you work for, whether it sells to organizations like our members' employers, and whether your sessions reference its products. None of the answers disqualifies you. They're shown as your own declaration, never as our assessment.
2. Confirm your email from the link we send, then a person reviews the submission.
3. Sign in and publish. Once approved, we email you a sign-in link. There's no password: you sign in with a link sent to your email each time. Your listing isn't visible to anyone until you press Publish.
4. Answer requests from your inbox. Each request comes by email from a verified chapter officer. Accept, decline, or ask a question, straight from the email, without signing in. Your contact details are shared only with an officer whose request you accept.

From Your Listing you can update your profile at any time. Changes to a published listing are reviewed before they go live. You can also pause your listing (indefinitely or until a date), pick your top three topics, link up to three past presentations, or delete the listing entirely. We don't ask why.

Referring someone

Seen a good speaker? Anyone can refer them, whether or not you're a chapter officer.

1. YouRefer a speakerName, topics, where you saw them
2. UsA person reviews itAfter you confirm your own email
3. ThemGet an invitationSaying you referred them
4. ThemDecideClaim the listing, or decline and it's deleted

1. Tell us who they are. Their name, employer, topics, where you saw them speak, and why you'd recommend them. Add their email if you have it. If you don't, we'll email you a note to forward so you can make the introduction yourself.
2. Confirm your email if you aren't signed in, then a person reviews the referral.
3. We invite them. The invitation says you referred them and quotes your recommendation. Your email address is never shown.
4. They decide. Nothing is published unless they claim the listing. If they haven't answered after 30 days, we send you one short note so you can mention it to them. If they decline, we don't tell you. That's their decision to share.

Speakers already on the site can also refer someone they present with. See Co-presenters.

Claiming a record

Some records start from a referral or from a chapter's own files rather than from the speaker. Until the speaker claims one, it's held to strict limits:

• Facts only. Name, employer, role, location and topics. No bio and no photo, because those belong to whoever wrote or took them.
• Officers only. Visible only to verified chapter officers, kept out of search engines, and impossible to contact through the site.
• Never kept indefinitely. If the speaker does nothing, the record is deleted after 12 months.

1. ThemGet one invitationPlus at most two reminders, on days 10 and 30
2. ThemReview what we holdFrom the email, with no sign-in needed
3. ThemClaim it, or declineDeclining deletes the record and contact details
4. ThemFinish and publishAdd a bio and photo, then publish when ready

The invitation shows exactly what we hold. Claiming it creates a sign-in account so the speaker can finish their listing. Declining deletes the record and its contact details straight away. We don't keep a “declined” marker. Every invitation says in its footer how many emails it will send, and we keep to that.

Calls for speakers

Requests go from chairs to speakers. A call works the other way round: a chapter says what it needs, and speakers raise their hands.

1. ChairPosts a callTopic, dates, format, closing date
2. SpeakersSee matching callsPublished speakers, by their topics
3. SpeakerSays they're interestedWith an optional short note
4. ChairSends a requestThrough the usual request process

• Posting. A verified officer posts calls for their own chapter, open for up to six months. A call can be limited to speakers who aren't vendor-affiliated.
• Seeing calls. Only published speakers see calls. Calls on their topics, or open to any topic, are listed first.
• The chapter, not the person. A call shows the chapter's name, never the officer who posted it, so a list of calls is never a list of people to contact.
• No contact details change hands. Saying you're interested shares your listing with that chapter's chair. Contact details are released only if you later accept their request.

Feedback and ratings

Ratings come only from chapters that actually booked the speaker through the Directory.

• Who's asked. Three days after the event date on an accepted request, the officer who sent it gets one email asking how it went: overall, content, and delivery, plus whether it was more of a sales pitch than an educational session.
• Who sees ratings. Verified officers only, never the public. No score is shown until at least five responses are in, because a score built from one or two looks like a signal without being one. Ratings older than three years drop out.
• How they're used. By default, search results are ordered by how well a speaker fits the search, not by rating. Officers can choose to sort by rating if they want to.

Co-presenters

Speakers who present together can link their listings.

• Both must agree. A published speaker invites another published speaker from Your Listing. The link appears on both listings only once the other accepts.
• Declining is private. If the other speaker declines, the inviter isn't told. To them, it looks the same as no answer.
• Not listed yet? “Refer them” sends a referral (see Referring someone). If they join and publish, they'll find your invitation waiting.