How to Help Speakers Write Better Session Proposals

You can usually tell within the first few sentences whether a session proposal needs work. The title is clever, but neither it nor the description says what attendees will take away. They show up for a session based on what a description promises. When the session doesn’t deliver on that promise, they feel like they’ve just wasted their time and money.

Even speakers with strong expertise submit weak proposals because no one ever showed them how to write a good one. That’s a fixable problem: Give prospective speakers the tools to write better session proposals from the start.

 How to Help Speakers Write Better Session Proposals 

The fastest way to help speakers write better session proposals is to fix the process. Give speakers structured forms, real examples, and outcome-focused prompts, and proposals improve before they ever reach your review committee.

Why Weak Session Proposals Hurt the Attendee Experience

Vague session titles and descriptions force attendees to guess what they’re walking into. An attendee who chooses “Modernizing Your Membership Strategy” expects a session on restructuring membership tiers or launching automated engagement campaigns. But instead, they sit through a case study about a new membership database rollout. This gap between promise and delivery happens more often than program committees would like to admit.

When it happens across several sessions, it stops being a speaker problem and becomes a program design problem. Attendees start doubting the descriptions in your program guide. They pick sessions by speaker reputation alone and miss hearing innovative new voices. They also vent about their disappointment in your forums and on social media.

A weak proposal usually means no one ever taught speakers how to translate their expertise into a proposal that a reviewer can easily evaluate.

Four Places Session Proposals Usually Fall Short

Fix Vague Session Titles

A clever title falls flat if it doesn’t state a clear takeaway. It doesn’t matter how intriguing it sounds if it doesn’t tell a reviewer (or attendee) enough about what the session covers or who should attend.

Write Session Descriptions That Deliver a Promise

Many descriptions just restate the title in different words. Or they lean so heavily on insider jargon that a new professional can’t make sense of it. A strong session description also names who it’s for and hints at how the session runs. One line—"includes peer discussion time”—tells attendees what they’re walking into, not just what they’ll learn.

Turn Session Topics Into Outcomes Attendees Can Act On

Speakers often phrase outcomes as topics instead of actions attendees can do afterward. “This session will cover X” is not an outcome.

The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) offers a good model in its call for proposals: outcomes-focused descriptions capped at 150 words, plus learning objectives that complete the sentence “After this session, participants will be able to...” That sentence starter prompts a speaker to name an action attendees will walk away able to do.

Design Sessions Attendees Remember

Session design is what prospective speakers overlook the most, and it matters most once attendees are in the room. Speakers build many proposed sessions as straight lectures, one of the least effective ways for adults to learn.

During lecture-style sessions, attention drifts to phones. Attendees never get a chance to recall or apply what they just heard with the people around them, which is how learning sticks. Five minutes of question-and-answer time tacked onto a lecture does not make a session engaging.

Speakers aren’t adult learning experts, but a proposal form can prompt them to build in discussion or practice before they submit.

Should You Require Speaker Training?

Requiring speaker training has its upside. It creates consistency across your program, gives a first-time speaker the same starting point as a polished veteran, and cuts down on revisions your program committee has to request.

But it also has a downside. Most speakers volunteer their time for little or no pay. Asking them to complete training before they even know whether you’ll accept their proposal can push away busy practitioners with plenty to offer but limited hours to give. Building and running a speaker training program takes staff time too.

The middle path is to require structure and make coaching optional. EDUCAUSE, the association for higher education technology professionals, takes this approach. They pair a structured review rubric, covering outcomes alignment, quality, engagement, and practical application, with optional, complimentary speaker coaching.

Another option is Leading Learning’s “Presenting for Impact” program, a free, self-paced video training built to help speakers design sessions around how adults learn. It runs under an hour and includes a worksheet, so an association can require it without needing more staff time.

This approach also solves the biggest worry program managers have about adding requirements: pushing good speakers away. Use a form that teaches speakers what a strong proposal looks like and offer coaching for speakers who want it.

How to Teach Session Proposal Writing Without Adding to Your Workload

Display one strong and one weak proposal side by side, with notes on why each one works or doesn’t. Speakers can compare their own draft to these annotated examples before they submit.

Build good habits into the form itself. Separate fields for title, description, and outcomes prompt speakers to consider each element independently. A word cap on the description keeps it focused. A sentence starter in the outcomes field, such as “After this session, attendees will be able to…,” gives speakers a place to start.

Release a one-page tip sheet before your call for proposals opens, while speakers still have time to use it. For speakers who want more, point them to Leading Learning’s “Presenting for Impact” program. Because it’s free and self-paced, you can recommend it in your call for proposals email without adding a meeting to your calendar.

None of this has to live outside your submission process. Structured proposal forms with conditional logic can prompt speakers automatically for the right fields, the right word counts, and the right outcome language. The form does the teaching before a staff member ever has to step in.

Why Teaching Speakers Pays Off

Your review committee can score a well-written proposal faster because clear outcomes give them something specific to compare against their criteria. Straightforward session descriptions give attendees a sense of what to expect.

Speakers who enjoy a smooth proposal experience this year are the ones who apply again and tell colleagues your association is worth presenting for.

Somewhere in your next call for proposals is a speaker with a promising idea but no experience turning it into an engaging session. Give that person a clear example, a sentence starter, and a little guidance before they start the submission process, and watch the caliber of your proposals and sessions improve.

As an ASAE Strategic Alliance Partner, OpenWater helps associations teach speakers to write better session proposals through structured forms and review workflows. Schedule a personalized demo to see how it could work for your association.