By Jamie Gillenwater, Conference Committee Program Manager
With only one week left to submit a proposal to speak at the STC Summit, it’s important to evaluate your own proposal before the committee reviews it.
Just like your résumé or technical documentation, first impressions count. Your session title should grab people’s attention. Humor and life experiences often catch the eye. For example, consider two proposal titles for a usability presentation:
“An Introduction to Usability” vs “Helping Users Help Themselves with Usability Studies”
Next, consider your abstract. Explain who your audience is, what problems they might be struggling with, and how you expect to help them solve their problems. This abstract will be in the program for attendees, so it should be compelling enough to help attendees understand and choose the main point of your session.
Use your session proposal to share the details about how you plan to present your topic. An outline of your presentation, a description of interactive elements for session attendees, and information about any handouts or slides you plan to use should be included here. If you have already created slides for this presentation or you have related presentation slides, share a link.
Take advantage of the bio space to share your qualifications as a speaker. Tell the review committee about why you are the most qualified speaker to share information about this topic. Have you applied these practices in the real world? Or is your work based on credible sources? You may also use this bio to detail your past speaking experience as it relates to this presentation.
In summary, consider these questions when submitting your presentation:
- How interesting is the presentation?
- Is this topic likely to attract new conference attendees?
- Is the speaker qualified to present on this topic?