Hi all -- each conference we have a small number of talks that are sent in NOT by the speaker, but by someone who is working for the speaker -- often someone working for a marketing firm hired by the speaker's company.
Our submission system isn't set up for this, and it causes a number of problems that are a PITA to sort out. But the worse issue IMHO is that these speakers tend to be unengaged with the conference. They don't care if they get emails from us, they don't
read what we send out, they take a long time to sign their speaker agreements, and sometimes their company will ask to send a substitute speaker after the talk has been accepted.
Ian and I once discussed adding some text to the submissions info saying something like "having your talk submitted by a third party is a detriment to its being accepted; our community values speakers who are involved and active participants."
What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Thanks.
Anne Jacko
Eclipse Foundation
503-784-3788 (cell)
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