That's a post I've been meaning to write for a while. Back before I had a reputation as a fairly decent (tech conference) speaker, I had a proposal which was a

That's a post I've been meaning to write for a while. Back before I had a reputation as a fairly decent (tech conference) speaker, I had a proposal which was accepted at the Business of Software, which was a bit of a reach for me honestly. I'll find the exact text if anyone is interested, but it hit three bullet points: 1) Social proof that I had something interesting to say (I run a blog, somebody you the conference organizer knows has cited me favorably before) 2) A one-sentence pitch for why my topic would be interesting and topical for the attendees 3) The (accurate) prediction that people would talk about my talk even after the conference was over, because (for a for-profit conference) this helps accomplish their #1 business goal, which is selling more tickets for next year (n.b. point #1 also speaks to selling tickets if you can claim an audience which will follow you to the conference)