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Lockup

12 – 13 June 2024  |  Manchester Central

Confed

12 – 13 June 2024  |  Manchester Central

Speaker guidance

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NHS ConfedExpo

A guide to confirming your speakers

While the content of your session may be interesting, the way it is delivered and by whom is equally important, as it will set the tone for the conference.

A key mission for NHS ConfedExpo is to engage, excite and inspire our audiences, with thought-provoking content, case studies of best practice, international perspectives and an opportunity to hear from some of the most influential figures from across the health and care sector. As a session lead, it is your responsibility to ensure that the speakers you invite, fit with the Conference values and objectives.

Things to consider

How will you ensure your session has balance?

When developing your session, it is essential that you consider the diversity of your speakers. Diversity, in this case, takes on many different forms. We are looking for sessions that are designed to speak to all audiences and truly reflect society. Delegates need to identify with what is being discussed and who is discussing it.

As a session lead, you need to ensure that you have representation from across the system, with the most appropriate speakers selected for your slot. You should be looking at speakers outside of the traditional NHS Confed or NHS England / Improvement roster and take into consideration age, sex, sexuality, race or disability, to ensure fair representation and balance in your session.

Have you considered the patient voice?

Patients are at the heart of everything that the NHS does. NHS England and NHS Improvement are committed to co-designing services with patients and the public – it’s the only way they can be sure services deliver the right care in the right way. Therefore, the patient voice should also be amplified in our main stage sessions.

As a session lead, if you can see an opportunity to involve the patient perspective within your session, be it as a panel member, of through patient focused case studies, then it is strongly recommended that you work this in. As described above, your session design should reflect all of society, and adding the patient voice would underpin this goal.

Inviting your speakers

Having decided on the format, content and audience for your session, you are now well equipped to start inviting speakers. As the session lead, it is your responsibility to get invitations out to speakers, but it does not necessarily mean that the invitation must come from you.

A personal approach is the most appropriate way to invite speakers to NHS ConfedExpo. As you are trying to attract speakers of the highest calibre, it may be appropriate to ask a colleague to assist with an introduction, if they have a personal connection to the speaker(s) you are looking to invite.

Please note, when you have submitted your final session proposal, including invited speakers, the NHS ConfedExpo programme management team reserves the right to adapt your session, or make suggestions for speakers or organisations to include. This is intended to further enhance your session and to ensure the right balance of speakers has been included.

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