Nominate a Presenter

NOTE: We have not yet confirmed plans for 2023, but if you wish to nominate someone (or yourself) anyway, the journey begins here:

How to get accepted:

We are looking for never-before-seen presentations, from people who have changed the world in terms of Technology, Entrepreneurship, or Design. Each presenter must be the inventor, the founder, the creator. Presenters must have personally made very strong achievements in the area they propose to discuss.

What to avoid:

No “inspiration” or “motivation”. Our audience is already inspired and motivated. We have already heard touching stories about someone’s personal challenges and how perseverance ultimately led to success.

Avoid commentary on the works of others. No philosophy about quantum mechanics unless you’re a physicist. No talk about how AI will change the world unless you made the AI. Do not ask to speak about entrepreneurship if you didn’t build a big company. Do not discuss a charity cause unless you successfully deployed it as scale. No pitches for unproven startups.

Our audience is not looking for advice or “coaching” about how to live differently. Our audience attends to meet and learn directly from inventors and designers and creators. We will reject anything that sounds like “the world would be better if only everyone would do what I suggest.”

We do not book candidates on speaking tours, book tours, or simply sharing personal observations.

What to expect:

Every talk at our events is new and original. For a nomination, be able to articulate clearly (a) what new idea are you sharing, (b) what qualifies you to speak about it, and (c) why should anyone care. Presenters support their points with minimalist slide decks, using strong text or imagery to support key ideas.

No teleprompters. Presenters practice a lot, in order to give an engaging talk within a compressed timeframe. We do not allow cluttered slides or reading from bullet points. No one gets on stage without first demonstrating that they can complete their talk, with slides, in the allotted time.

Presenters must be ready to work directly with our team through multiple iterations and rehearsals. We do not speak with agents, handlers, or proxies of any kind; we only work directly with the person who will be on stage. In exchange we’ll provide assistance with art, content, and delivery, to help craft a stellar presentation.

We try to give the courtesy of a response to all nominations, but pitches that fall outside the above requirements are simply deleted. Thanks for your understanding.