Is it Necessary to have a Gender and an Ethnic Diverse Speaker Roster in your Conference Program?

The answer is, no.

After reading this article, I’m certain that I might upset many readers but let’s admit the fact that not everyone acknowledges an invitation be it to speak or attend an event for various reasons. Such as:

·        Timing

·        Arrogance

·        Lack of confidence in public speaking

·        Lack of knowledge on a subject

·        Irrelevant topic

·        Not a decision-maker, and more.

It does not take much time for a speaker prospect to accept a speaking invitation. Yes, there are compliance protocols that must be followed but those are at later stages. The first process is to invite the speaker, then ONCE the speaker accepts the invitation, we gracefully follow the organization’s confirmation process.

I had recently invited a good friend to speak at my conference, and I was a bit shocked by his reply asking me to have more female speakers. Yes, I was inviting a male speaker and I was inviting him for a valid reason based on a digital marketing topic. Since we’re friends, I opened up the typical Pakistani Punjabi style.

I was like: “OH YAAR, Ki siyapah hai!!! Hudh hogai…”

I’ll translate the entire conversation, “What the hell Mann… I’ve invited God knows how many female digital leaders, and none of them replied nor acknowledge receipt of my invitation except for one. What am I supposed to do? The show must go on. I need to get the speakers. My event needs industry professionals irrespective of their gender.”

I’ve found the speaker for a presentation topic irrespective the gender and race, why should I take an effort to find someone else? It’s good to have a backup but when the job is done, the job’s done.

Lots of respect to those who acknowledge receipt of your invitation, to those who accept your speaking invitation, and to those who decline the invitation. Yes, the latter must be respected because they have taken the time out from their busy calendar to gracefully reply to your invitation no matter the end result.

But what about the conference producer/event organizer who takes the time and effort to research your credentials and invite you as a speaker? Sadly, that conference organizer ends up in the middle of gender and an ethnicity war.

Why are event organizers tossed to a corner where they have to confront these unnecessary battles? WHY? WHYY??

Instead of bashing the conference organizer, why don’t you help them? The conference organizer needs to meet a criterion to ensure a quality event. They cannot shoot in the dark and invite everybody as a speaker or moderator.

The conference producer tries their best to balance things by having a combination of technical leaders, thought-leaders, and most important the decision-makers as part of the speaker roster. Whether the decision-maker is a male, female, or even a monkey, it does not matter. The person who signs the cheque is most valuable to the sponsor. The speaker with the most knowledge and who speaks sense is valuable to the delegate.

The Global B2B events industry is worth US$ 2000 Billion and more. That’s a lot of money and people do make money from events be it as an event organizer or as a speaker, attendee, visitor, exhibitor, and sponsor.

My humble request to speaker prospects, please, do not create gender and the ethnic war on a conference program. If you’re invited to be a speaker irrespective of your gender and race, either accept the invitation or gracefully decline it so that the conference organizer can move on.

LinkedIn InMails are not free either. Reply to the InMail by accepting the email but decline the invite in a reply if you’re not interested to speak at the event. The same goes for accepting a connection request and reverting to the sender with a feasible reply.

As much as your calendar might be busy, the event organizer has a busy calendar as well. The expectations are high and you are a valuable person for the opportunity to speak at the event. It hardly takes a few seconds to reply to an invitation.

And last, this goes to all, stop making a business event platform a gender and ethnicity war.