If you've been considering making the jump from conference attendee to speaker, Cal Evans has some great tips for you to help you get that proposal accepted at that next PHP conference.

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.