Are You Ready to Share Your
Expertise at the 2017
ISPA Conference?
BY
BRIANA
LEE
APPLY
TO BE A
SPEAKE
R!
ear after year, education
remains the number one
reason attendees choose to
come to the ISPA Conference
& Expo. In order to consistently provide
high-quality educational sessions to
Conference attendees, ISPA relies on its
Speaker Task Force to develop a lineup of
qualified and engaging speakers.
The Speaker Task Force is a group of
ISPA members who volunteer their time
and knowledge of the spa industry to
curate each year’s lineup of Professional
Development Sessions. The ISPA
Conference & Expo speaker application
is open to those in and outside the spa
industry with expertise in categories
such as management, marketing,
finance, social media and spa industry
topics. To help you understand the
rigorous selection process as well as
successfully apply if you are interested
to speak, here are pointers to keep in
mind from members of the Speaker Task
Force.
Y
Make your application stand out.
Scott Duncan says outlining a well
thought-out session along with
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PULSE
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December 2016
supporting documentation, such as a
video from a past speaking engagement, is
a good place to start. “The ability to
observe the energy level and to hear the
message allows the task force to have a
baseline to not only make decisions, but
also to allow the task force to coach a
speaker in the direction that will best
serve the membership,” he says.
Keep in mind that the selection
process is rigorous.
Jennifer Wayland-Smith encourages
speakers outside the spa industry to apply.
“While the spa community is full of
professionals who have valuable information to share, we also look outside of
the spa community for speakers to
provide a fresh perspective that can be
applied to our daily operations and spa
world,” she says.
She adds that the most challenging
phase for the Speaker Task Force is
reviewing all of the applications, understanding their topics and value to ISPA
members. During the first-round of application reviews, task force members sort
applications into Yes, No, and Maybe
categories based on criteria such as
relevance, specificity and level of
advanced content. The applicants who
receive the largest percentage of Yes and
Maybe votes are then pared down further
by the Speaker Task Force who selects a
group of candidates to move forward to
the interview stage.
Be clear on how you plan to engage
the audience.
Interviews give potential speakers the
chance to provide further details about
their proposed sessions. At this point, it is
important for the potential speaker to
explain how they plan to drive audience
engagement and how they will tailor their
session content to meet the specific
needs of the ISPA audience.
Lisa Hills looks for “someone who can
connect with the audience, is engaging
and can keep the session on track no
matter the distractions or questions.”
Wayland-Smith adds that “having several
specific takeaways for the audience to
apply in their business when they get
home is top-of-list important.”
Be receptive to coaching.
Once a lineup of speakers has been