Every year tens of thousands of companies from industry giants to aspiring upstarts apply to speak at conferences. They pump millions of dollars into these events hoping to find new customers strengthen their brand and meet new partners. Sadly for most of them things dont go that way. Submitted topics arent chosen when they are they come across as tonedeaf sales pitches.. What does it take to be chosen to speak and to rock the mic when given the chance. This book takes you behindthescenes of the conference process showing you how to submit plan and deliver a talk that matters. Event organizer alistair croll provides many examples based on his experience with a wide range of conferences including oreillys strata velocity web2expo and toc conferences.. Learn 11 items that help your submission stand out and 11 items that will get it tossed.Explore the hurdles your proposal has to clear before its accepted.Tailor your talk to a conferences topics and themes.Discover why images work better than words in your slide deck.Achieve your business goals by engaging the audience before during and after your talk. Weve been running successful events worldwide for over a decade and the simple truth is that the people who get chosen and give great presentations follow the rules in this book. Gina blaber vp conferences oreilly media.