Speaker Application Guidelines
How Are Sessions Selected?
Part of DPW’s mission is to provide superior content. We are aiming for a program filled with content that will be compelling, interesting, fresh, diverse, and actionable for attendees. We look for innovative formats, complete submissions, and unique perspectives. Submissions should not be repeats of presentations made elsewhere and it’s important to avoid sales pitches as they simply wont make it through the review process.
How Do I Increase My Odds Of Getting Selected?
We always receive more submissions than we can accept for our annual conference. We seek to ensure the majority of our speakers and presentations are brand new for each conference. Well thought out, complete, unique submissions are rewarded. Intermediate to advanced content scores the best. Don’t shy away from controversy – this is a forum for industry discussion so debates and out-of-the-box thinking are welcome – our audience likes a challenge.
What Are The Main Reasons Sessions Don’t Get Selected?
The #1 reason is incomplete submissions – the session detail portion of the submission is the most important piece of the entire submission. Sales pitches are also extremely easy to spot and we are quick to eliminate them from consideration. We also get a lot of similar submissions and with the limited number of sessions we have, it’s important we choose the subjects and presenters that we think best address the topic. And remember: DPW2021 brings together a sophisticated, senior-level audience. Due to the high number of submissions we receive we won’t be selecting past presenters who’ve been poorly evaluated by attendees or basic sessions or topics.

"The new global standard for procurement events."
Themes & Topics for DPW2021
Strategy & Organisation
- Aligning digital transformation investments with business objectives
- Overcoming the roadblocks of digital procurement transformation
- Building hyper-resilience and agility through digital transformation
- Digital and the purpose-led procurement organization
Process & Governance
- Digitization of procurement processes and augmentation of decision making
- Developing a framework of collaboration with startups
- Implementing new concepts to fund and incubate new digital technologies
- Developing supplier innovation ecosystems
People & Culture
- Managing change and enabling employees to adapt to digital transformation
- Finding and developing digital artisans
- Creating a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation to succeed in generating innovation
- Articulating the digital transformation plan with the CDO and CIO
Technology & Capabilities
- Scouting new digital tools that have the greatest impact and ROI
- Achieving data mastery for digital procurement success
- Leveraging RPA and AI to rewire processes around customer needs
- Implementing blockchain to drive digital transformation
Note: We are open to alternative topics as long as they are within the overarching theme of digital procurement.
Need more inspiration? See our 2019 agenda here
Session Types Available
Keynotes
20-min Ted Talk inspired plenary session speeches
Breakouts
35-min real world case studies and use cases
Learning Labs
90-min interactive and deep-dive workshops
Panel Discussions
A small group of people brought together to discuss their content and expertise
Ignite Talks
Speaker gets 5 minutes on the keynote stage to illustrate a big idea, a series of lessons learned, or a compelling story
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