For those who don't know what an advisory board is, conference organizers get loads of proposals and need help deciding who should speak. So they ask others in the industry to provide some feedback. It was quite a learning experience.

He talks some about the "speaker backlash" that comes from being rejected, a lack of professionalism in some submittors and some basic (common sense) recommendations like:

• fill out the form completely, even if you don't think it's all useful
• start locally and then move up. A major conference isn't the place to try out your speaking first-shot
• whet the board's appetite - make them want to hear more about the topic or come up with something new
• share your unique experience with the technology
• use sites like Joind.in, Meetup and SlideShare to your advantage

The selection committee has a responsibility to pick the topics and speakers that they know will give the attendees the highest return on their training dollar. That is why you see a lot of the same speakers at each big conference. [...] So how does a new speaker break into the national level? Here is the advice I give each speaker that asks me after getting a Dear John, usually accompanied by specific advice on why their specific session was rejected if possible.

He includes five recommendations ranging from recording your talks and posting them for the public to see out to getting accepted at regional conferences first to get your name out there.

As the Call for Papers progresses for TEKX, it dawns on me that I have the distinct privilege of having participated in the Call and Acceptance process of all three of the major PHP conferences, ZendCon, the Dutch PHP Conference, and now TEK. Thinking back, this gives me a unique perspective on the process. Since I get a lot of questions about "how do I get my talk accepted," I thought I would share some of what I have learned. Here are a few basic rules I have discerned.

Cal gives some suggestions on becoming known for knowing the topic well (blog it out), tailoring the abstract to the conference's focus, thinking about the experts that already exist, being interesting and being respectful of the Call for Papers rules.

If you'd like to get your submission in, head over to the submission form on the TEK X website!