Introducing the Speaker & Facilitator List for RightsCon 2025

► Why are we introducing the Speaker & Facilitator List?

► How it works for Speakers & Facilitators

► How it works for Session Organizers

► Important guidelines

► Upcoming program timeline

This year, we are excited to introduce a new initiative, the Speaker & Facilitator List, for RightsCon 2025 (Taipei and online, Feb 24-27), with the aim of decentralizing the matchmaking process among session organizers and session contributors. If you have a thematic or regional perspective you would like to contribute to our program, consider nominating yourself now as a speaker or facilitator by August 16th.

Why are we introducing the Speaker & Facilitator List?

The RightsCon program is built with the community through the Call for Proposals, but the journey from proposal to session has many steps. Over the course of several months, together with session organizers, we work to fine-tune their sessions, provide facilitation training, and recommend key perspectives. While our role as a connector between organizers and potential speakers or facilitators is important, we recognize there is a vast well of expertise within our community that extends far beyond the Call for Proposals.

At the end of 2023, we hosted a series of Community Consultations, seeking feedback on our program structure and strategy and participant experience. A key takeaway from these discussions was the community’s desire for more avenues to participate in RightsCon beyond hosting a session. Additionally, community members voiced a wish for us to create more spaces where participants can connect directly.

The Speaker & Facilitator List is one new initiative aiming to provide session organizers with a comprehensive repository of potential speakers and facilitators. We see this resource as a way to help organizers secure their speaker and facilitator lineups, offer participants an additional way to engage in RightsCon, and enrich the overall program by decentralizing who is recommended to speak.

How it works for Speakers & Facilitators

Anyone, including session organizers, are free to apply to be a speaker or facilitator. As a reminder, speakers frame the conversation from an expert’s perspective and offer ideas for participants to question and consider (applies to dialogues). Facilitators, on the other hand, lead discussion and activities, offer perspectives, and steer participants to reach the session goal (applies to workshops, roundtables, and private meetings).

Potential speakers and facilitators may submit their bio, their area of expertise, and demographic details via the online form. Once the final program for RightsCon 2025 is confirmed in late August, the Speaker & Facilitator List will be shared with session organizers, who will be prompted to contact nominees directly if they are interested in engaging them.

How it works for Session Organizers

If you submitted a session through our Call for Proposals, your proposal is now being carefully reviewed by our Program Committee. If your session is accepted and confirmed, you will gain access to the Speaker & Facilitator List, which you can explore to enhance your session. As a session organizer, it will be your responsibility to reach out to nominees directly to invite them to participate, either as a facilitator or a speaker, depending on the format of your session. If the nominee accepts, session organizers can let our team know about the addition, through their session’s Update Form.

When considering which speaker or facilitator to include in your session, we encourage you to keep the following criteria in mind:

• Gender Diversity: Strive for a balanced representation of genders
• Regional Expertise: Include expert voices from relevant regions
• Programmatic Expertise: Align expertise with the specific program tracks or themes
• New Voices: Prioritize individuals who bring fresh, novel perspectives

Important guidelines

While we’re excited to broaden the ways participants can engage and the list from which organizers select speakers, we see this as a first step on which we can iterate over time. Please keep in mind the below guidelines and, as always, we welcome your feedback and questions.

1. The nomination process does not guarantee placement in a RightsCon session. The final decision rests with the session organizers. If you have registered your profile and have not been contacted by the end of November, this indicates that you unfortunately have not been placed in a session as a speaker or facilitator.
2. The list will only be available to session organizers. We ask potential speakers and facilitators to consent to sharing their contact information with our list of confirmed session organizers so that they may contact you directly. The list will be password-protected, and we will not share the password outside of with session organizers.
3. Private meeting additions. As an added resource, session organizers may choose to utilize the list for private meeting placements. In this case, they will reach out to invite nominees to join their closed-door session as participants.
4. The list will only be available to session organizers. We ask potential speakers and facilitators to consent to sharing their contact information with our list of confirmed session organizers so that they may contact you directly. The list will be password-protected, and we will not share the password outside of with session organizers.

Upcoming program timeline

• July 10: Speaker & Facilitator List open for registration
• August 16: Speaker & Facilitator List registration closes
• End of August: Proposal notifications sent out
• Mid-September: Update form and Speaker & Facilitator List is shared with Session Organizers
• Mid-October: Update form closes
• Mid- to end of November: Access to Speaker & Facilitator List is closed
• February 24-27: RightsCon 2025