A speaker brief template

Speakers do what they are told, if they are told clearly and once. Most speaker problems at conferences are briefing problems: a talk that overruns because nobody said the slot included Q&A, a deck that arrives in the transition because the deadline was in paragraph four, a Q&A that dies because the speaker did not know it existed.

The brief below is one page. That constraint is the design: a two-page brief gets skimmed and a five-page one gets filed.

Send it twice

At confirmation. The speaker is planning the talk now, and the things that change how they plan are the speaking time, the audience, and the format. Send those immediately, even if the room is not confirmed.

One week out. Everything practical: the room, the timings, the tech, the arrival instructions. Put the materials deadline in the subject line. This is the email that gets read.

The template

Copy everything between the rules. Replace the bracketed parts.

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SPEAKER BRIEF — [EVENT NAME]

Thanks for speaking at [EVENT NAME]. This is everything you need, on one page. Anything unclear, reply to this email and [NAME] will answer.

Your session

• Title: [TITLE AS IT WILL APPEAR]
• Day and date: [DAY, DATE]
• Room: [ROOM NAME AS SIGNPOSTED AT THE VENUE]
• Slot: [START] to [END]
• Speaking time: [N] minutes. The slot also contains a [N]-minute introduction and [N] minutes of Q&A.
• Format: [talk / panel / workshop / fireside]
• Expected audience: [NUMBER], mostly [ROLE OR BACKGROUND]
• Track: [TRACK NAME]

Getting there

• Venue: [VENUE, ADDRESS]
• Please arrive at the speaker room by [TIME], which is [N] minutes before your slot.
• Speaker room: [LOCATION]. [NAME] will meet you.
• Your contact on the day: [NAME], [MOBILE].

The room

• Setup: [theatre / cabaret / classroom], seating [NUMBER].
• Screen: [16:9 / 16:10], [one / two] screens.
• You will have a confidence monitor showing [your slides / your slides and notes].
• Microphone: [lapel / headset / handheld]. Radio mic fitted by AV [N] minutes before.
• Lectern: [yes / no]. You [can / cannot] move around the stage.
• Clock: a countdown timer will be visible from the stage.

Slides

• Send to [EMAIL] by [DATE].
• Format: [PDF / PowerPoint / Keynote], 16:9.
• We load your deck to the house machine. You may present from your own laptop only if arranged in advance.
• Bring a copy on a USB stick as a backup.
• Minimum font size 24pt. The back row is [N] metres from the screen.
• If a slide should not be photographed or shared, say so on the slide and tell us in advance. There is a shared photo album in the event app.

Q&A and audience interaction

• Questions come in through the event app during your talk, and attendees upvote them.
• A moderator will hand you the top three questions [N] minutes before your speaking time ends.
• Please read each question aloud before answering, for the room, the recording and anyone joining remotely.
• If you want to run a live poll, tell [NAME] by [DATE] and we will set it up.

Accessibility

• Please describe any images or charts you show, briefly, as you go.
• Read out anything essential that is only on a slide.
• Avoid relying on colour alone to make a distinction.
• [Captioning is / is not] provided. [A sign language interpreter is / is not] present.
• Tell us about anything you need from us. We would rather arrange it than assume.

Recording and photography

• Your session [will / will not] be recorded.
• The recording will be [published where, to whom, when].
• If you do not want to be recorded, tell us by [DATE] and we will arrange it.
• A photographer will be present.

What we need from you, and by when

Item	Deadline
Confirmed session title and description	[DATE]
Biography, [N] words	[DATE]
Photograph, square, at least 800px	[DATE]
Slides	[DATE]
Dietary and access requirements	[DATE]
Travel and accommodation details, if we are booking	[DATE]

Practical

• Expenses: [policy in one sentence].
• Fee: [amount, or "this is an unpaid speaking slot", said plainly].
• Your pass covers [what], and you are welcome at [which social events].
• Wi-Fi: [network], [password].

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The eight things speakers ask

Answer these in the brief and your inbox stays quiet.

“How long do I actually have?” The most common question and the most common briefing failure. State speaking time separately from slot length, in bold, near the top.

“Who is in the room?” Number and background. A speaker pitches differently to 40 practitioners than to 400 executives, and they will get it wrong if you do not say.

“Will there be Q&A, and how does it work?” Three sentences. Speakers who are told will do it well.

“Can I use my own laptop?” Have a policy and state it. House machine is the right default because it removes an adapter failure from the transition, and speakers accept it when told early.

“Will it be recorded, and where does it go?” Ask in the brief rather than in the room. A speaker who objects on the day is a problem; one who says so three weeks out is an arrangement.

“What is the screen ratio?” Trivial to answer, and getting it wrong means a talk with the edges cut off.

“Is there a confidence monitor?” It changes whether somebody writes speaker notes.

“Who do I call when I am lost at the venue?” One name, one mobile number, on the document.

For panels

Panels need a different brief, and they need it because panels drift more than any other format.

• Send every panellist the other panellists’ names and one line each. A panel where people meet on stage is a panel that spends ten minutes on introductions.
• Send the first three questions in advance. Not the whole script; the opening.
• State who moderates and that the moderator will interrupt.
• State the format: “the moderator asks, you answer, please keep answers under 90 seconds”.
• Say that audience questions arrive through the app and will be brought in at a stated point.

Upvoted questions matter more on a panel than anywhere else, because they are the only reliable instrument for pulling a drifting panel back to what the room came for. There is more in running live Q&A and polls.

For workshops

• Confirm the room setup and whether it can be reconfigured.
• Confirm the group size cap and whether it is enforced at sign-up. If your app enforces capacity server-side, say so, because it changes what a speaker plans for.
• Ask what materials they need and who is printing them.
• Ask whether attendees need anything installed or brought.
• Confirm whether there is a waitlist and whether people will be promoted into the room late.

After the session

Two things, both cheap, both appreciated more than they cost:

Send them their feedback. Session ratings and comments, within a week, with the vote counts on the questions they were asked. Almost no conference does this and every speaker remembers the ones that do.

Send the unanswered questions. Ten minutes of written answers posted in the app that evening is the follow-up attendees notice most, and speakers are usually glad to be asked.