Event and Speaker Selection

What the framework is

Event and speaker selection compares speakers, sessions or proposals so a programme committee can choose in a structured, transparent way. The template starts with five criteria: Audience Relevance, Engagement Potential, Originality, Expertise and Strategic Fit. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

What the result looks like

When it earns its place

Use it for conference calls for papers, festival line-ups, workshop programmes and judging panels, wherever several reviewers choose from many submissions.

The trap is the familiar name. Well-known speakers win on reputation before anyone reads the proposal. If you can, review the proposals without names, and compare them on each criterion separately.

How to run it with a group

1. Shortlist the submissions to a number each reviewer can compare; split a long list into tracks.
2. Agree the weights for this event.
3. Reviewers compare the proposals two at a time on each criterion. Participants do not need an account to respond. Three to six options keep it manageable: with five options and five criteria, each person makes 50 comparisons.
4. Read the overall ranking, then the ranking per criterion, and build the programme from the top, checking the mix of topics and speakers.

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