Selection Process and Recommendation Guidelines
Each year, the Symposium Committee undergoes a rigorous process to curate what we hope is an informative, educational, and inspiring panel of speakers. Moving forward, we aim to more proactively engage our members and encourage them to suggest potential speakers. This form is open year-round for members to submit suggestions at any time. Submissions will be considered for future symposiums or as potential candidates for other events organized by SMG.
As context, our selection process involves reviewing potential speakers from various sources, including:
- Our shortlist from the previous year
- Suggested speakers from members and symposium stakeholders
- New names researched and proposed by committee members
Each year, we consider 50+ potential speakers before finalizing our selection.
We review potential speakers with the following considerations in mind:
- Geographic diversity, including local Northwest artists and foreign artists, as the budget allows
- Ethnic diversity
- Gender diversity
- Age diversity
- Practice diversity, including hollowware artists, sculptors, enamelists, blacksmiths, fine goldsmiths, educators, gallerists, historians, and more
- Ability to engage an audience: When possible, we review videos of previous speaking engagements and/or rely on the personal experiences of committee members who have had exposure to the individual
- Appeal to our audience: The SMG membership includes hobbyists, students, emerging artists, professional artists, educators, and gallerists, each with their own interests. The symposium panel should appeal to a broad range of members.
After selecting a well-rounded panel of speakers, we also identify 2nd and 3rd choices for each position. This ensures that we have a readily available list of alternative speakers to contact if one or more of our originally chosen panelists is unable to participate.
With all this in mind, we’d love to hear your speaker suggestions—who you’d like to hear, why you’d like to hear from them, and how they align with our considerations noted above.