An Opportunity for Speakers and Organizations

When we think about speakers' bureaus, it's useful to think that they are about the organizations first the speakers second. This will place the proper perspective for this conversation - hosted at this moment by Geoff Livingston at The Buzz Bin about why women do not seem to be represented fairly on speakers' rosters at conferences.

When I published the idea of a W-List here two years ago, all hell broke loose - I even got chided by some members of BlogHer. Ragan Communications wasn't kind, either. Of course, I still get their direct marketing mailers for courses and products to buy.

My experience is consistent with Kami's - women discriminate against women just as much as men do. What is it? Insecurity? Scarcity mindset? It's a fine line between healthy competition and just plain foolishness - let's face it, some are better than others at walking that line. Wendy in the comments to Geoff's post says she learned that life isn't fair.

We make life - we can be fair.

As Kathy Sierra writes, we must support what we value, and value what we support. Isn't social media about finding new ways to help elevate participants?

Why behave as if this - it could be any situation, really - was merely happening to us and we couldn't do a thing about it?

True, if it weren't for Geoff, Chris, the other Chris, Tim, and Mike I would be even less known today - even though I've been at this social network and media thing for more than 9 years. With two exceptions - the fabulous women at Mediabistro, especially Kirsten Cluthe, and Ann Handley and Beth Harte at MarketingProfs - all of my speaking opportunities (so far) have come from men.

And no, the answer is not to go out of our way to look at women as a special, must include, group. I believe the opportunity resides in raising the awareness that it's us - all of us - making this a reality.

Submitting speakers' proposals is hard work indeed. It was hard work to prepare for, qualify and take the IABC accreditation exam, pass the Associate in Risk Management exams, become licensed in insurance, learn about child brain neurological development, learn to operate in regulatory environments and government agencies, earn a doctoral degree in linguistics, performs 1,200 hours of interpreting work and simultaneous translation - from and into English.

I've been in marketing communications in 5 industries for more than twenty years - in two to three languages. I worked on the agency side early on, in non profit, in consulting roles and in advisory capacity. Start-ups, mid sized companies, and Fortune 500. I've got hands on experience and I've lead teams. Mentoring, coaching, facilitating, and building community are all things I have done and love doing.

I don't know everything - I do have a lot to share and teach. Maybe I don't talk enough about what I do and know - taking myself a little bit for granted. At the end of the day it comes down to what people perceive are the results we bring to the table.

Judging from the number of posts I write that get scraped, I'd think it safe to say my content fares pretty well. I have experience with unconference format, panels, single and keynote presentations. My name doesn't come up as often as one might think, yet.

It will.

Right now I'm working on supporting the community, and kicking ass on projects. At the end of the day, there is more satisfaction in doing - and of that we have plenty of opportunities. 

Who's in the doing camp with me? That's a place where opportunity still abounds. And that is valid also for speakers organizations and bureaus.

What are three things you can do today to get on your way to speaking more?

1. prepare speaking abstracts tailored to the attendees at events you'd like to speak at, write a brief bio and have a photo handy. Keep track of conference abstract submission guidelines and submit. As you do that, remember it's not about you. You are a steward of the learning conference attendees hope to have.
2. write down your case studies - actually take the time to articulate how you achieved results (this will come in handy in your career transitions as well). The two plans I submitted to be admitted to the IABC accreditation exam, for example, were good practice. I also take the time to write reports at work - quarter on quarter/year over year break downs of results and program components
3. volunteer to speak - rehearse, tape yourself and do watch how you do. If you've taken media interview or crisis communications courses, you'll know that it a valuable component of the program.

If this information interests you, in a future post we can discuss ideas on preparing a facilitated conversation with a panel. One more thing - ask! Ask for help, ask to speak, propose, be proactive and active. In other words, hustle. 

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Side note: conference attendees sometimes are motivated to provide feedback that is not entirely constructive, sharing expectations that don't match the session focus.

Same rule applies everywhere - squeaky wheels often do take center stage. Nothing you can do about that. Do take the feedback. What you can do is take it holistically - include more tips throughout, learn to read the audience better, time yourself to their non verbal cues. Give people practical tips to write down. Provide an experience. Be memorable. Inspire action.

Comments

[Rick Simmons]

I have been fortunate enough to have you participate with me in programs and I have heard you speak a number of times and I can say to anyone out there listening that if anyone is biased because of your gender they are truly missing out on an opportunity to hear one of the best - thanks for just being you.

[Craig Landes]

Valeria, thanks for tackling this issue head on. I've wondered about this same question, in the business world and in the religious world (where I still have a pinky toe dipped in) "progressive" or "conservative" organizations - doesn't matter. Men still take up most of the speaking slots. You've got a good call to action here.

[Lauren Vargas]

As Geoff stated in his post, we have become accustomed to this behavior. My first reaction was to ignore the list and move on, but in this post you have shown me how that decision is just as destructive. It is an excuse to say life isn't fair. Life is what we make it.

Thank you for this balanced post (as always) and the fact that you did not just spew your opinion, but gave actionable steps to follow to make the working world a better place for all of us.

[Stuart Foster]

Awesome advice Valeria. I'm taking a lot of these suggestions to heart and am going to try and work hard to achieve them :).

[Tiffany Monhollon]

Valeria - The W list! I think that's how I ended up discovering you, so to me, it was actually a very important formative experience for me in this whole arena.

Thanks for your advice to women who want to break into speaking. I'm prepping for a speaking opportunity in a few weeks, so this is top of mind for me right now.

[Kami Huyse]

Great advice for aspiring speakers.

I especially appreciate the idea of case studies. I would also add that you have to show up a lot for free before you get paid to speak. Also, speaking on a panel about one of those case studies is a good first step. Team up with others that have great case studies and apply to the conferences with your ideas - most have a call for presentations about a year to six months out.

I also will add that putting my presentations up on Slideshare has been useful. People look at those presentations to see what topics I can cover. I would highly recommend putting together two to three presentations on subjects that you are skilled in talking about and offer to give them wherever you can in order to get practice.

And it does take practice. I go back, look at any surveys and use them to tweak my presentations. People will forget about 95 percent of what you say, so the presentations need to be focused and provide lots of resources that your audience can walk away with. I am finding that less is more in the number of ideas that you present - still working on that one.

Thanks for taking this chat to the practical arena.

[Mary Jane Kelly]

Excellent observation, Valeria. I just recently started to notice women pushing down other women in the tech industry. It's so different than the situation I enjoyed in college where we girls stuck together and helped each other out with both class assignments and moral support.

Thank you for bringing this up now. I hope that, with talk like this and the growing numbers of groups for women in technology, more women will embrace their natural strengths and work together with each other instead of competing with their male colleagues in a masculinity contest.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Rick - you are very kind, thank you.

@Craig - early in my career, a friend shared with me that she partnered with a couple of non white males in her career so that they would help catch her up on the conversations and decisions that took place in the spaces reserved to men only. In turn, she helped coach them.

@Lauren - it's very challenging to be a voice of reason and leadership when the world (and the cliches) reward the more controversial and let in one favored woman at a time, comparing among choices that are not even in the same category.

@Stuart - glad to hear the post was useful.

@Tiffany - I'm sure you'll do very well, preparation is key.

@Kami - yes, Slideshare is a very useful tool and network for one's portfolio. Thank you for the suggestion and addition. We do contend with the internal conversation while presenting, that's true.

@Mary Jane - the scarcity mindset shows up everywhere, alas. Part of the problem is that we don not learn to value individuals for the specific qualities they bring to the table, but just compare them to each other, as if they were interchangeable. People do tend to play pawns in this conflict more often than they realize. All we control is ourselves and how we act.

[Jeff Hurt]

Valeria:

Thank you for couching this post as new opportunities for speakers and conferences. As a professional event planner that has hired more than 2,500 speakers in the past 10 years, there is so much more to this discussion than pointing fingers and placing blame. I agree that there can always be more diversity on conference agendas.

I also beleive that the social media strategists, and the professional speakers and event professional industries are foreign to each other. The more we educate each other and help each other know of the opportunities that exist for both sides, the better off conference attendees will be.

I wrote more about here: http://jeffhurtblog.com/2009/07/31/time-to-build-bridges-create-new-media-brain-alchemy/

[Kathy Sierra]

This is one of the most truly USEFUL posts I've seen on the topic of speaking at conferences, and excellent advice for anyone--not just women looking to do more presentations. And I'm not at all surprised that it's from you, Valeria.

Thanks again for a great post.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Jeff - thank you so much for extending the conversation and helping us see the opportunities and next steps. Lack of information is the roadblock to most misunderstandings in this knowledge economy. Now I'm going over to your blog to comb your list of resources and learn more.

@Kathy - attending many conferences for years before being asked to speak has helped. I'm relatively new to the tech space, and have relied on many others who have shown the way. Speaking at events has also helped me become a better presenter at work. May be fodder for a future post. This topic seems to be of interest (aren't blogs presentations of our won thinking after all?). You've been an inspiration ever since I started reading blogs, which is a lot longer than I've been authoring. Thank you.

[Chris Guillebeau]

Thanks for this great info, Valeria - and great photo too! I like it on the new banner.

Yes, I agree that your name will come up more and more as you keep plugging away with helpful info like this.