Writing a Strong Session Proposal

It’s almost time again - the submission deadline for the Annual International Aquatics and Water Safety Conference is coming up on August 15! If you’ve ever thought about submitting but didn’t know where to start - or maybe you submitted previously and weren’t selected - we’ve got some tips and tricks to help you write the strongest proposal possible. 

Why Should You Consider Submitting?

Before we go on, there are a lot of reasons to consider submitting - and then speaking! - at Conference. Establishing yourself as a thought leader and expanding your professional network is a great way to give back to the industry. Speaking is also an excellent way to enhance your communication and leadership skills - a valuable skill that can directly transfer to your day-to-day work at any level in your organization. It also increases visibility for your organization and for the work that you’re doing, and presenting ideas to a live audience invites new perspectives! 

Where Should You Start? 

The best place to start is to find the right topic for your presentation. Maybe you have a great story to tell about a successful program, how you manage your lessons or swim team, or how you develop leaders, or perhaps you’d like to share something you’ve learned about risk management or leadership. Think about topics that you’re passionate about, that might help other professionals in their work, or that might give practical advice to other aquatics leaders. 

Another great way to choose a topic or refine your idea is to do a quick “needs analysis”. By identifying gaps in content, you may find that you have a helpful insight. Whether you think about things you wish you’d known when you were a new aquatics professional or something you had to figure out on your own when you got new leadership or moved to a new position, or even trainings that you had to create for your own teams because the resources weren’t there, look around and think about content that would give direction to others. 

Building Out the Proposal

Once you have a topic, there are five (5) key pieces to your proposal. 

1. Develop your session title, and keep it short and sweet - five to seven words is perfect! Think about using action-oriented or results-oriented words, or choose a title that evokes emotion. And be sure that the title reflects the actual content.  

2. Write a strong, engaging description. An ideal description encapsulates the content in 75 - 100 words. Think about starting with an engaging sentence to hook the reader, articulate the problem or solution you’ll be speaking about, and think about what’s in it for the attendee. 

3. Prepare your learning objectives. These objectives - using words from Bloom’s Taxonomy - specify what attendees will learn or be able to do after attending your session. You should have 3 - 4 objectives to complete your proposal. 

4. You’ll also be asked to provide a session outline. This outline should include the topics / activities in your presentation with the time sequence associated with each such as Introductions, Background and Overview - 5 minutes. 

5. Finally, you’ll need to provide speaker information. Session evaluators will be looking for proof that you have experience in the industry and experience presenting or teaching. 

Once you have all of your information together, you can submit your proposal here. And remember - it’s easy to copy and paste from a Word document right into the session submission form. 

Submit Your Proposal by August 15

Sessions are generally one hour and ten minutes long, and sessions that include time for practical application, hand-on activities, or brainstorming and idea sharing are always encouraged. Be sure to submit your session by 11:59 pm Eastern on Friday, August 15 to be considered!

Get More Tips & Tricks

For more information about putting together your proposal or ideas for session topics, check out the Speaker Submission Guide here. Or, join us for our live webinar, Pitch Perfect, on DTBT; click here to register! (will be live when the date is decided)