Fundamentally, I believe dev communities should (and can) be gathering everywhere worldwide. This article is part of a series to share the knowledge I’ve gained from years of hosting developer events — from small local meetups to internationally renowned conferences.

Now that we’ve covered the absolute bare bones of hosting a meetup in Minimum Viable Meetup, let’s increment on our effort to step it up to the next level. We’ll start with booking speakers.

Speakers

Unless you live in a big city (and maybe even then) getting speakers can be tricky. Many people haven’t given a talk before and either don’t know how to prepare one or are afraid of speaking. Oftentimes it’s both.

Where to find them
My recommendation is to keep a talk submission form open somewhere people can find it easily and submit talk ideas. This way you can keep a pipeline of potential speakers for your event that you can refer to. I like Google Forms because it’s free and easy to use, but there are more sophisticated options out there such as Typeform if you prefer a more elevated, branded experience.

Even with this application pool you may have to reach out to get a speaker. To find someone in the near term, it’s helpful to have an idea of who is in the local ecosystem and what you’d like them to talk about. For my events, I keep a constant running list of interesting people I come across and some things I would love to learn from them. When I’m struggling to find speakers, I consult this list and start sending DMs.

How to convince them
The most ideal scenario is that someone will enthusiastically accept the opportunity to speak at your event, making it quick and easy to book them. However, stage fright is very common and many people who don’t have a lot of experience speaking may need some encouragement to accept a presentation slot. One way to boost speakers' confidence in accepting an opportunity is by clearly outlining what they can expect. These are some details that I find helpful to share:

Atmosphere — What is the atmosphere of the event? Casual, formal, roundtable, etc.
Audience — Who will be there? Developers, people in tech in general, senior, junior, all skill levels, etc.
Attendee count — Approximately how many people will be there?
Setting — What tools will be provided? Is there a stage, microphone, screen? Are talks inside or outside? Is the event hosted in an office or restaurant?
Additional event features — What else should they know? Will there be a Q&A, open discussion, activity?

To effectively secure speakers for your event, maintain an accessible talk submission form and actively reach out to potential speakers within your local network. Boost their confidence by clearly communicating event details such as atmosphere, audience, attendee count, setting, and additional features to ensure they feel prepared and supported.

Honorariums

Occasionally, you may want to commit to booking a notable speaker. Possibly someone who’s an international speaker, library author, or holds a prominent accolade in your field. When this arises you may have to consider paying honorariums and/or travel reimbursements. Of course the ideal scenario is to have someone present for free, however this may not always be appropriate to ask, so here is my advice when you’re ready to “punch up”.

Start with trying to find the most impressive personalities in your area. This will not be too hard if you live somewhere like London, New York City, or Toronto, and will ensure that you won’t need to provide flights, hotels, or per diems. However you still may be asked to pay an honorarium which I’ve seen range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. Generally, I find the high level executives and academics request honorariums, and folks in the OSS or dev world tend to speak for free. Usually this is because they find a lot of value in the audience you’ve gathered. Again, this is a generalization and experience may vary.

If you are more rural or want to invite someone outside of your region, you may be asked to pay for some or all of the above (flights, hotels, per diems, honorarium). The best case scenario is that a sponsor covers this. Another alternative is that you charge for tickets which can be set up easily in apps like Luma. In either case, you have to make sure the value is indisputably clear. The end must justify the means, therefore it’s important to be prepared to explain the ROI for either sponsor or attendee purchasing a ticket.

From a sponsor perspective → Will this speaker draw a larger crowd that they can engage with?

From an attendee perspective → Is this someone who I may never otherwise meet or will teach me something I would have a hard time learning elsewhere?

If your event is not strong financially, you may want to seriously limit how often you attempt to go this route and save it for very special occasions. One thing that I hold steadfast to is that if you are charging for a ticket you should always offer upfront to pay for a speakers flight and hotel. Sometimes you get lucky and a speakers company is invested in community events in which they may offer to cover travel or even sponsor. However, if you expect to make a profit off of someone’s work or reputation, then they should be compensated.

Reflection

In my experience, the request for such reimbursements has waxed and waned over the years. Throughout the last decade we’ve seen the rise, fall, and rebuild of local community events. We’ve experienced the pain of meetups and conferences disappearing, and have collectively realized the importance of gathering consistently as a community. It’s now become abundantly clear that organizers are not “raking in cash” and meetups are far from profit machines. Because of this I’ve noticed a leveling of asks and expectations. Many speakers and builders are now very appreciative of the effort organizers put into hosting their events and will often work with you to find a sensible agreement where it benefits all parties.

Vibe Check

One thing I want to stress is that a speaker is a reflection of the kind of event you want to have and the audience you want to invite. Finding a speaker that fulfills the technical requirement of the role is only one aspect. Whether it be for a conference or meetup, the speakers you select should embody the values or intention of the event.

To give an example of what I mean, here is a mental checklist I go through when selecting speakers for any event I run:

Will the speaker show up prepared?
Will the speaker be excited for, or at least engaged in, the event?
Will the speaker be respectful and kind toward attendees/staff?
Bonus point — will the speaker stay at the event beyond their presentation to chat with attendees?
Super bonus point — will the speaker support the event by sharing it with colleagues or online?

It’s important to be discerning even when you don’t think you’re in the position to be picky. In my opinion, if you can’t find a speaker, it will be better for you to present yourself than to cancel an event or choose a speaker that is unprepared, rude, or disengaged. Choosing the wrong speaker can have a negative impact on the impression attendees take away from your meetup. As they say, trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets.

Selecting the right speaker is crucial as they reflect the event's values and can significantly impact attendees' impressions. Prioritize speakers who are prepared, engaged, and respectful, and consider presenting yourself if a suitable speaker cannot be found to maintain the event's integrity.

Final Thought

As with everything, practice makes perfect and you will learn more about how to book speakers and what you’re looking for as you bring in more people. Keep and open mind, always be appreciative of speakers time/effort, and don’t be afraid to “punch up” — you may be surprised by who would love to present at your event.

What’s Next?

If you like this post or have questions, please feel free to share here! I would love to hear what you think and what you want to learn about next.

Some upcoming posts I’ll be writing include:

Stepping up your event — getting sponsorships, booking venues…
Running an event — agendas, atmosphere, set up…
Overcoming failure — aka no one showing up, things going awry…

➡️ Let’s connect!
Twitter/X: https://x.com/MichelleBakels
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bakels-2052687a/

Booking Meetup Speakers