2018 President Katharine Schopflin on the award to encourage new speaking talent at the SLA Europe Conference
Anticipating our first Conference (5th-6th September, Cambridge, UK), SLA Europe have been mindful that large conferences often miss out on great speakers because the cost of attending, even if the Conference place is free, is out of reach for many professionals. I myself have ended up raiding the family holiday fund to pay for train fares, overnight accommodation and to attend networking events.
To help to balance that, for our inaugural conference, I am personally funding a bursary for someone new to speaking at large conferences. This will cover a full residential place at the conference and £50 towards travel costs. So we can benefit from hearing from a diversity of voices, we’d like to give someone who would not normally be able to speak at conferences like these an opportunity to participate in the whole event. The Presidential team (myself, Simon Burton and Seema Rampersad) have agreed to call it The President’s Award and hope we can sustain it for future conferences.
You will be eligible if you have submitted a proposal on our Call for Papers page https://sla-europe.org/sla-europe-conference/call-for-papers/ and are relatively new to public speaking. You may have spoken at small events or at unconferences, or this may be your first time. We want to hear new voices, new approaches and topics we hadn’t thought about ourselves. We promise a supportive atmosphere and welcoming audience.
To apply, email after you have submitted your proposal using the link above. The deadline for applications for this award is Friday 14 June 2019.