27 March 2013
Speaking & Events

Why The Same Old Faces?

In an earlier post I discussed one reason why some people may perceive a lack of new faces on the speaker circuit — namely that by the time you reach the point in your career where you're being asked to speak at conferences, you will most likely have had so much exposure already that you'll no longer feel like a new voice.

This being said, there is a small but growing number of people who are continually asked to write articles, comment on news stories or speak at conferences. Is this due to lazy editors and event curators, or due to the existence of an "old boys network" that aims to exclude outsiders in favour of it's own?

While it's easy to assume that the road is blocked by others, sadly the truth is usually more mundane. Being an awesome designer or developer doesn't necessarily make you a great writer or speaker. I've met some truly outstanding practitioners who show almost no interest or ability in sharing their knowledge on the public stage. Conversely I've met plenty of often only slightly above average designers and developers who have an amazing ability to tell stories and communicate ideas.

It turns out that the ability to inspire, inform and entertain is pretty rare, so is it any wonder why these people are approached time and again? In fact, wouldn't it be a little strange if conference organisers and publishers routinely ignored people with a track record in favour of less experienced people?

It also turns out that being knowledgeable in a particular topic doesn't make you automatically attractive to conferences and magazines. Especially if there are dozens of other people talking about the same thing. Being a recognised authority in a subject is attractive to commercial organisations as it helps increase sales and minimise risk. So it's important to build a strong following, whether that's because you were the first, the best or simply the most prolific. Self promotion isn't necessarily a bad thing, just as long as it has some substance to back it up.

One reason for seeing the same old faces is because they are the ones offering to write content or speak at events. There seems to be an unhealthy belief that it's solely the responsibility of publishers and conference organisers to discover talent. However that's not true. It's also down to the individuals to promote themselves, and some of the most recognisable faces happen to be the ones that put themselves out there time and again.

Reliability is another big factor here. One of the reasons I get asked to comment a lot in magazines is because I respond quickly and have something relevant to say. This feels like such a small thing, but if you're working to a deadline and you know somebody is slow to respond and variable in quality, you'll simply stop asking. We've had similar issues with speakers. You'll set deadlines for speakers to send in bio information, provide talk descriptions and confirm flights. People are really busy these days so you have to make allowances, but if folks are continually late sending you information, you eventually stop asking, no matter how good they are.

These are just some of the many reasons why you see the same people cropping up time and again. It's not that they are necessarily the best designers and developers out there, or that they have the most cutting edge things to say. It's usually because they put themselves out there, can spin a good yarn, respond to their emails in a timely manner, consistently deliver the goods and a host of other pedestrian reasons.