Programme and delivery tools
Event speaker briefing generator
A speaker has accepted, and the brief that goes out must not claim anything the organiser has not yet confirmed.
Opens WhatsApp with a draft you can edit before sending. Nothing is sent automatically.
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The short answer
The generator turns what you know about the session into a speaker brief you can edit and send yourself. It covers the purpose, audience, format, timing, arrival time, the deadline for slides and technical needs, and the permissions you are asking for.
Anything you leave blank is printed as open and counted. The tool never supplies a speaker name, biography, fee, hotel or consent, and a blank permission is never read as agreement.
What to enter
- The session: title, purpose in your own words, audience in general terms, and the format (keynote, panel, workshop and so on).
- Timing: date, start time, session length, the time the speaker should arrive and the date and time slides and technical needs are due.
- Permissions: recording, livestream, sharing slides afterwards and photography. Select agreed only if the speaker has said yes, and keep their written answer yourself.
- Anything about the speaker (name, biography, fee, travel and hotel) only if it is confirmed and you can paste it in as agreed.
How open fields are handled
A blank field is printed in the brief as open, to be confirmed, and counted in the total. The tool does not guess a name, write a biography or suggest a fee.
This keeps the draft honest: a speaker who receives it can see what is settled and what is still waiting on the organiser.
Permissions and consent
Each permission has three states: open, agreed or declined. Agreed is a record of what you were told, not a form of consent in itself. A declined item is shown in capitals so nobody records or shares by mistake.
If the speaker's consent matters for your event, the written agreement stays with you. The brief only reflects your record of it.
Before you send
Read the open list first and decide who will close each item. Check the dates: the tool warns if the slide deadline falls after the session, or if the arrival time is not before the start.
The brief is a draft in plain text. Add contact details, venue directions and anything the speaker needs from you before it goes out. For rehearsal times use the rehearsal schedule builder, and for the moderator of a panel use the moderator briefing builder.
Limits
The generator does not check facts, agree fees or arrange travel. It does not send anything. What the speaker is paid, how they travel and whether they may be recorded are decisions between you and the speaker.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional opening keynote
Fictional session and figures, to show how open items appear.
A fictional association briefs its opening keynote speaker: 45 minutes from 09:00 on 10 March 2027, arrival at 08:15, slides due on 3 March at 17:00. Recording is marked as agreed. Nothing else about permissions is known.
The brief shows 12 fields filled and 7 open: speaker name, biography, livestream, sharing slides, photography, fee, and travel and hotel. Each is printed as open, so the speaker sees exactly what is still to be settled.
| Item | In the brief |
|---|---|
| Speaker role | Keynote speaker |
| Recording | Agreed (recorded by the organiser; keep the speaker's written agreement) |
| Speaker name | OPEN: to be confirmed |
| Fee or honorarium | OPEN: to be confirmed |
Use this yourself
Speaker brief checklist
Use this before any speaker brief leaves your desk. Each line is either a confirmed fact or an open item with an owner.
- Session title, purpose and audience written in your own words.
- Format, date, start time and session length confirmed with the programme owner.
- Arrival time and the deadline for slides and technical needs stated, with a date and a time.
- Speaker name and biography included only as confirmed and supplied by the speaker.
- Fee, travel and hotel stated only as agreed in writing, otherwise marked open.
- Recording, livestream, slide sharing and photography each marked agreed, declined or open.
- A named role to contact at the organiser, with contact details added by you.
- Every open item has a person responsible and a date to close it.
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- One speaker, a simple format and an organiser who owns every decision in the brief.
- The permissions are already agreed in writing.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Many speakers need briefs with different terms, and open items must be chased against a deadline.
- Fees, travel and recording rights are still being negotiated and several people hold part of the answer.
- The briefs must stay consistent with the run-of-show, the rehearsal plan and the moderator pack.
Need speaker briefs kept consistent and chased?
A project lead can keep the speaker briefs aligned with the programme, chase each open item against the deadline and route decisions to the people who hold them. Fees, consent and content stay with you and the speaker.
Questions organisers ask
Can the tool write a speaker biography?
No. A biography is used only as the speaker supplied it. If the box is blank, the brief shows it as open.
What does agreed mean for a permission?
It records that the speaker said yes and that you hold the written answer. A blank is never read as agreement.
Does the tool send the brief?
No. It produces text for you to edit and send yourself.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.