Nth Degree Trade Show and Event Marketing and Management Blog

If your role has anything to do with planning your company’s trade show exhibit, this post is for you. It addresses what can be argued is one of the most important factors of exhibiting – audience engagement. And more specifically, it addresses how not to fail at this crucial engagement opportunity!

After spending a few years curating content for your event, it has gained traction to the point where people are vying for a spot on the agenda. Does this sound familiar? Nice work! Now that you’ve reached this important milestone, what should you do? You launch a Call for Speakers, of course.

A Call for Speakers (CFS) is an open invitation to your community to submit a proposal to speak at your event. This process is critical to ensuring your content measures up to attendee expectations. Therefore, it needs to be carefully planned and executed—a strategy most event planners are familiar with. In the spirit of being prepared, here are 7 things to think about before launching a CFS. 

Panels are a mainstay in any conference agenda. They give your audience the opportunity to hear a variety of perspectives in one session. They are also a great way to get influential speakers involved that might not have the bandwidth (or the desire) to prepare a solo presentation. A panel discussion can provide a wealth of information - but if not prepared well, it can become a major waste of time for your audience.