When you're organising a conference, you know that you want the top speakers from your field to attend. But how can you maximise the chances that they will accept your invitation?

Give plenty of notice

One of the most important things you can do to increase the chances that a speaker will attend your conference is to ask them far in advance. Senior academics have busy schedules, and top speakers even more so, and their calendars will fill up fast. If you want them to speak at your conference, especially if they live far away, then you want to give them plenty of notice. Six months is a good minimum, but realistically you might need to give up to a year's notice in order to find time in the calendar of the heads of your field.

Make use of your network

You'll have more success in convincing senior speakers to attend your conference if you can make use of your network. Do you know anyone who is working in their department or at their institution? If so, reach out to them when you first send out the speaker invitations. Let your network know about your conference plans and ask them to put in a good word for you. This can help because top speakers will receive so many invitations that they might forget about yours or not have time to consider it fully. If a colleague recommends you and your conference to their interest, they're more likely to consider your invitation and to accept.

Offer to cover travel and accommodation

If you are inviting speakers to a conference, it is generally expected that your institution will cover the speakers' travel and accommodation costs. Some conferences will offer honorariums of up to a few hundred Euros too, but how common this varies between fields. If you are in need of funding, check whether your institution or department has a conference budget which you could use. When you send an email inviting someone to speak at your conference, make it clear where the conference is and that you will cover their travel and accommodation costs. The potential of a free trip to an interesting location is appealing to everyone!

Mention other speakers you are inviting

When you write to invite your speakers, do let them know about which other speakers you will be inviting too. Many senior academics in specialist fields know each other well, and letting them know that some of their friends and colleagues are being invited to your conference too will make it more attractive to them. You might want to invite a few more speakers than you are planning slots for – say, if you have time for 4 main talks, you might want to invite 6 speakers – on the basis that some of them will turn you down. But don't send out spammy invitations to everyone you can think of, or you'll make it seem like you're not respectful of the speakers' time and the specific knowledge that they can bring to your conference.

Ask the speakers for specific topics

It might seem like it would be more attractive to offer an open-ended invitation: one that says “please attend our event and give a talk about whatever you like!” But in fact, this kind of vagueness is not conducive to organising a good conference. Firstly, it makes it look as if you do not have firm plans for what the conference will be about, and secondly, it put the onus of deciding an appropriate topic onto the speaker. You can have more luck asking speakers to present a specific topic, such as a concept or an idea from their most recent book or paper. Of course, you can also invite the speakers to present on a different topic if they'd rather, but giving them an idea of what aspect of their work you are most interested in is helpful.

Show how your conference is related to their work

Finally, one of the most important things you can do to persuade someone to speak at your conference is to show how the conference will be relevant and interesting to them. Tell them about what sort of turnout you are expecting and what range of topics you hope to cover. Also, if your institution or department has particular expertise in a related topic, let them know.