Conference Manager Survey Results – The Speaking Trends that Surprised Us This Year
Contracting Session Length; New Gen AI Policies; and the Impacts of Shifting Global Dynamics
These and other trends are revealed within Scarlino Speaker Strategies, LLC’s State of Conference Speaking in 2025 survey findings. Conference organizers from around the world answered our call to divulge lessons learned from producing events last year and what they are seeing as they begin planning for 2025. As in previous years, we sought to better understand what subject matter experts and executive speakers can expect over the next 12 months. Some of this year’s notable findings included:
Session Timeslots Continue to Shrink – This is true across all session formats. Last year, 66% of conference organizer respondents said their keynote sessions were 30 minutes or less, and that figure has grown to 70% in 2025! Meanwhile, 60% of panels are 45 minutes or less, and fireside chats followed the same pattern. Lengthy sessions are becoming a thing of the past.
New Submission Policies Related to GenAI– After Speaker Strategies encountered speaker applications that contained restrictions around the use of Generative AI (particularly related to drafting a topic abstract) in 2024, we added a survey question to determine how common speaker application policies around GenAI really are. Although only a small percentage of organizers currently prohibit or discourage the use of generative AI in drafting topic abstracts for speaker applications, we expect to see more stated policies throughout 2025.
Geopolitical Forces Impact Conference Topics and Timing –The responses to our question Will shifts in global and geopolitical dynamics impact any of the following event planning elements for your organization or events in your portfolio in 2025? were varied and eye-opening! A whopping 83% said that global and geopolitical dynamics will have some effect on their 2025 gatherings. Unsurprisingly, the biggest anticipated impact was on conference topics (78%). With a new administration taking the reins in Washington, D.C., conference organizers of both U.S. and international events are waiting to see how business and technology policies play out so that they can create relevant sessions/panel discussions. Respondents also noted that the type of event speakers they recruit may change based on geopolitical and macroeconomic forces. There is growing interest in what policy makers and influencers have to say about various trends, and conference organizers are keen to include those voices on their stages.
Percentage of Accepted Proposals Remains Low – Our findings showed little change in the percentage of speaker proposals accepted by conference organizers. Most conferences still accept fewer than 30% of the proposals they receive. In our experience, that number still ranges between 15 – 25% on average, regardless of the conference size or industry. Getting a spot on that coveted stage is as competitive as ever!
What does this mean for your executive visibility speaker program in 2025?
Speaker Strategies has a few pieces of advice on how to increase your chances of getting on the right stages at the right time with the right message (besides working with us, of course):
- Manage Expectations – Help your executive speakers understand they will probably not find a conference that will give them an hour-long timeslot to speak about any topic they choose. (At least not without a hefty sponsorship – and even then, most conferences maintain editorial control of the topic.) Sessions will continue to be brief and topically relevant to the zeitgeist.
- Keep an eye on AI policies – Read the fine print in call for speaker forms and speaker agreements. With an increasing awareness and understanding around the practical uses of AI, we expect more conferences to create policies around its use in the speaker application process, speaker presentation development, etc.
- Topic Alignment – When targeting a conference for executive speaking, it is still important to review past agenda and consider the types of topics and speakers they have invited previously. But you should also look at the current event through the lens of what is happening globally and domestically that could affect the conversation on its stage. Conference organizers and attendees are interested in how the intersection of technology, industry, and global issues will affect their businesses.