The best idea in the world can fall flat with the wrong speaker, and the same is true for events. Even the most innovative session topics lose impact if the person delivering them can’t connect with your audience.

For event planners, choosing the right speakers can be a challenge. Reviewing submissions manually is time-consuming, overwhelming, and often inconsistent. But it doesn’t have to be.

With the right process, or with call for papers software, you can identify, evaluate, and confirm speakers who bring the right energy and expertise to your event. In this guide, you’ll find five proven tips for selecting the best speakers, with advice that works for all event types and extra insights for K-12 planners.

Key Takeaways

  • Know your audience before you choose your speakers. Use surveys, past feedback, and demographic insights to guide your selection. For K-12 events, tailor sessions to the specific needs of teachers, students, and parents.
  • Set clear evaluation criteria. Review speaker proposals based on credentials, content quality, and engagement potential so you consistently select the most relevant and effective presenters.
  • Streamline your review process. Require detailed proposals, involve the right reviewers, and consider a structured platform to save time and avoid last-minute decisions.
  • Avoid common selection mistakes. Watch out for vague proposals, off-topic content, repetitive sessions, self-promotional pitches, poor audience fit, and sessions without interactivity.
  • Book speakers early and communicate often. Secure top speakers 4-6 months in advance, agree on all session details, and maintain regular contact with technical checks and engagement planning.
  • Technology will help you make the process more efficient. Tools like Sched’s Call for Papers feature make it easy to collect, review, and manage submissions, all in one place, while improving the quality and variety of your speaker lineup.

1. How Do You Match Speaker Submissions to Your Audience’s Needs?

The foundation of a great lineup is understanding your audience. When speakers address the right topics in the right way, engagement skyrockets.

Follow these tips to ensure your speaker submissions align with your audience’s expectations:

  • Identify Your Audience: Define who your audience is. Knowing the demographic details can help tailor the content. For K-12 events, this could be new teachers seeking classroom management tips, veteran educators exploring new tech tools, or parents interested in student wellness.
  • Gather Insights: Use community-level approaches like research studies, reports, and demographic data to gain insights into your audience’s needs. Additionally, consider individual/group-level methods such as surveys and focus groups to uncover pain points and other deeper feedback. 

Match Content to Demand: Once you understand your audience, make sure speaker submissions address the topics your audience are interested in. Matching the two ensures a more engaging and relevant experience for attendees. 

Pro Tip: Review our guide to the hottest professional development topics before opening your call for speakers. It will help you frame your submission guidelines around in-demand content.

2. What Criteria Should You Use to Evaluate Speaker Proposals?

Making sure the speaker is covering the right topics is one thing. But delivery is just as important. A good idea carried out wrong isn’t worth much at the end of the day. 

These are three key evaluation areas:

1. Speaker submissions profile evaluation:

  • Assess professional qualifications, speaking experience, and presentation skills.
  • Observe speaking skills, delivery, audience engagement, and overall performance.
  • Determine alignment with the event’s tone, audience needs, and fee structure.

2. Content quality analysis:

  • Make sure the content is high-level, credible, relevant, and innovative.
  • The content should address current industry challenges and opportunities.
  • Use a variety of adult learning delivery formats suitable for multiple experience levels.

3. Engagement and interaction:

  • Analyze the speaker submissions approach to presentation and audience interaction techniques.
  • Review practical, real-world applications and the ability to introduce new ideas and methods.

Using a checklist keeps your review process fair and objective. For more advice, read our guide on how to launch a call for speakers at your next event. 

3. How Can You Review and Shortlist Submissions Efficiently?

Reviewing speaker submissions requires a structured and meticulous approach. So if you’ve ever been buried under dozens or hundreds of proposals, you know efficiency is key.

Steps to speed up the process without sacrificing quality:

  • Set clear requirements: Ask for a strong title, detailed description, and learning objectives that connect to your event’s theme.
  • Encourage offline drafting: Suggest speakers prepare and refine their proposals before submitting.
  • Involve the right reviewers: For education events, for example, include a mix of instructional leaders and classroom teachers to get a balanced perspective.

Structured reviews mean faster shortlists and fewer last-minute scrambles.

4. What Common Mistakes Should You Avoid in Speaker Selection?

Even seasoned planners can make these missteps, and each can have a real impact on attendee engagement:

Vague Proposals

Skip anything with unclear titles, generic descriptions, or missing details about the format. If reviewers can’t easily understand the session’s purpose, attendees won’t either, and the session risks being poorly attended.

Misaligned Goals

Every accepted session should tie back to your event’s primary objectives. Even an interesting idea can fall flat if it doesn’t support your strategic focus, whether that’s boosting teacher collaboration, introducing new technology, or addressing a key curriculum initiative.

Repetitive Topics Being Covered

Too many similar sessions make your event agenda feel stale and limit learning variety. Look for fresh perspectives or different formats to keep the program dynamic and appealing to a wide range of attendees.

Overly Self-Promotional Content

Avoid proposals that focus more on selling a product or service than delivering real value. Attendees can quickly disengage if they feel they’re sitting through a sales pitch instead of a learning opportunity.

Unclear Audience Fit

Some speakers may have strong expertise but fail to tailor their session to your audience’s context. For school events, that might mean using corporate jargon or overlooking classroom realities, which can create a disconnect with educators.

Lack of Interactivity With Attendees

Sessions without opportunities for Q&A, discussion, or hands-on learning can lead to passive audiences. Prioritize proposals that include clear engagement strategies to keep attendees involved.

In school contexts, remember that niche topics still need to connect with the broader educator audience. For example, a session on STEM competitions should still address how other teachers can adapt the concepts to their classrooms.

5. How Do You Finalize and Communicate With Selected Speakers?

The final stage is more than just “you’re in.” Smooth communication sets your speakers, and your event,  up for success. Follow these best practices: 

Book Early 

Start the booking process 4-6 months in advance to secure your top choices. The most in-demand speakers often fill their calendars quickly, especially during peak conference seasons or the academic year for school-based presenters. Early booking not only guarantees their availability but also gives both sides ample time to coordinate logistics and promote the session as part of your event marketing.

Align on the Details

Discuss content, style, and negotiate fees while considering your budget (including speaker fees, travel, expenses, and accommodation). Offer compensation, if applicable, that aligns with the speaker’s needs and your event’s resources.

Stay Connected

Maintain ongoing communication to understand technical and logistical needs. Provide speakers with all necessary details including session duration, room setup, and promotional strategies. Make sure to schedule at least one rehearsal or tech check, and collaborate on engagement strategies like live polls, breakout activities, or Q&A sessions to ensure a highly interactive experience.

How Sched’s Call for Speakers Tool Simplifies the Entire Speaker Submission Process

An Exampe Of Our New Conference Management Software The Speaker Submissions Tool
Speaker Submissions Tool

Managing speaker submissions doesn’t have to be a messy mix of emails, spreadsheets, and Google Forms. Sched’s Call for Papers tool gives you advanced features that make it easier to attract top speakers, collect complete proposals, and manage reviews, all in one place.

Why Sched is a smarter choice than Google Forms:

  1. Easily attract top talent: Create a polished, professional submission experience that makes your event stand out to high-quality speakers.
  2. Effortlessly manage the selection process: Built-in tools keep everything organized from submission to final selection.
  3. Easy for all speakers: Simple, intuitive forms that work for even first-time presenters.
  4. Multistep committee review: Assign reviewers, gather feedback, and make decisions faster with transparent, trackable workflows. 
  5. Multispeaker support: Sched lets you add and manage multiple speakers for a single session, each with their own dynamic profile.
  6. Split session information: Organize proposals with unlimited fields and 10 field types for precise detail collection.

Sched’s Call for Papers tool takes the stress out of speaker submissions so you can focus on building a compelling, diverse, and high-quality event.

💡 Ready to make your next speaker lineup the easiest, and best, you’ve ever built? Start your free Sched trial and see how effortless the call for speakers process can be.

FAQs

How do you run a fair and transparent call for speakers process?

To run a fair and transparent speaker submission process, start by creating clear submission guidelines and scoring criteria. Use a platform that allows anonymous reviews, multiple evaluators, and role-based access so reviewers only see what’s relevant to their role.

How can event planners avoid bias when selecting speakers?

If you want to avoid bias when selecting speakers for your event, use standardized scoring rubrics, remove speaker names during initial reviews, and involve a diverse review committee. A tool like Sched allows blind reviews and custom visibility settings to reduce unconscious bias.

What common mistakes do event planners make when choosing speakers?

Some common mistakes event planners make include accepting vague proposals, selecting topics that don’t align with the event’s goals, overloading the agenda with similar sessions, or booking speakers without confirming audience fit and engagement plans.

What is the best way to evaluate speaker proposals for a K-12 education event?

The best way to evaluate speaker proposals for K-12 school events is to assess each proposal for subject relevance to educators, clarity of learning objectives, presenter qualifications, and audience engagement strategies. Give extra weight to sessions that include classroom-ready takeaways or proven teaching methods.

How does Sched’s Call for Papers tool help with speaker selection?

Sched’s call for papers tool streamlines the entire process by providing a professional submission form, automated shortlisting, multi-speaker support, and an easy committee review system, all in one platform. This saves time and improves the quality of your final lineup.