How can you recruit speakers from underrepresented groups?

2 Identify your gaps

Next, you need to assess your current situation and identify the gaps in your speaker lineup. Who are the speakers that you already have or plan to invite? What are their backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise? How do they relate to your conference theme and audience? Where are the missing voices, stories, and insights that you want to include? You can use tools like surveys, audits, or metrics to evaluate your speaker diversity and equity and identify the areas that need improvement.

3 Expand your sources

One of the main reasons why you might struggle to recruit speakers from underrepresented groups is that you are relying on the same sources and channels that you have always used. To diversify your speaker pool, you need to expand your sources and reach out to different communities, networks, and platforms. For example, you can use social media, podcasts, blogs, newsletters, or online forums to discover new voices and topics. You can also ask for referrals, recommendations, or nominations from your existing speakers, partners, sponsors, or attendees.

4 Create a value proposition

Once you have a list of potential speakers from underrepresented groups, you need to create a value proposition that convinces them to join your conference. You need to show them that you respect their work, value their contribution, and offer them benefits and opportunities. For example, you can highlight the impact and relevance of your conference theme and audience, the exposure and recognition that they will receive, the feedback and support that you will provide, and the compensation and incentives that you will offer.

5 Build trust and rapport

Finally, you need to build trust and rapport with your prospective speakers from underrepresented groups. You need to communicate clearly, honestly, and frequently with them and address any questions, concerns, or requests that they might have. You also need to demonstrate your commitment to diversity and equity and show them that you are not tokenizing or exploiting them. You can do this by sharing your goals, values, and policies, inviting their feedback and input, and acknowledging their challenges and achievements.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?