This tweet about a habit of conference organisers:
It does not make sense. Nobody prepares slides that long before a presentation, nobody reviews presentations 1 month in advance, and the request is probably not credible.
Why do conference organisers try?
- To spot potential content disasters early
- To spot potential time over-runs early
- To spot potential layout disasters early (bullet points…)
- To spot potential technical issues early (‘What, no Apple Keynote?”)
These are valid concerns and the solutions is possible somewhere in between.
- Rather than sending a broadcast request, do some research about your speakers, leaving the pros, and focus on possible weak links with coaching (and hassle)
- Ask for a draft of a “typical presentation” way in advance to get some sense of what is coming
- Set a very credible deadline 2-3 days for the event (“we are building the conference hard drive”)
And, if you are a speaker and do not have a story on the shelf (it is the story that matters, not the slides), it is probably a good idea to start getting your head around what you want to say a few weeks in advance. Slides can be made in a couple of hours (try using SlideMagic, it is really easy), crafting a compelling story takes a lot longer. Starting to think about it early means that your brain worries about it, even when you are not actively aware of it and things will fall in place later.