My speaker rider
I’m honoured that you want to invite me to speak at your event. Here is what you need to know before you send me your invitation.
I love speaking about front-end Web technologies. I love talking not only about the what and why, but specifically the how technologies are used, from the basics all the way to using them to solve common design & development challenges. If you’re familiar with my talks, you know that my talks are highly technical, full of practical tips and take-aways from real-life projects. So, if you believe my talks will bring value to your event, please take a couple of minutes to read the following information as it is integral to my speaking agreement.
Costs & expenses
- I require flight, ground transportation, and accommodation to be covered, as well as meals for the entire duration of the conference, plus an honorarium.
- Flights, ground transportation and accommodation: should be booked up front, not reimbursed. If I am booking my own flights, I expect to be reimbursed promptly, not after the event. Please note that I will not fly economy for long haul (> 5hrs) flights.
- Hotel: please book a non-smoking room, with good wifi, and have all room expenses including taxes and incidentals covered. I will not provide a credit card at the hotel. I only use debit cards, which means that, unlike a credit card where the incidentals deposit is merely a hold on the card, the hotel will actually take money out of my account at check-in right away, and it will take at least 7 days after I check out for me to get that money back. Whether debit or cash, I need that money to be available for me to use during my trip.
- Meals & expenses: some conferences prefer to offer a daily per diem instead of collecting receipts for reimbursing expenses such as meals. This is my preference as well.
- I usually charge a fee to speak. That fee may vary according to the ticket price. Unless otherwise agreed, I require the fee payment to be made in full at least two weeks ahead of the event.
That being said, my fee is open to negotiation, especially for non-profit, community-driven events. If you would like me to create and deliver a new talk, then I expect to be paid for the time that goes into creating it. I also sometimes waive my fee for smaller events in exchange for covering one or two extra nights in the hotel. In the case I give a talk for free, the talk needs to be made available for free to everyone. - If I need to apply for a visa to speak at the event, I require visa costs and expenses to be reimbursed.
Note: Visa applications usually require my passport to be held at embassies for a non-trivial amount of time. Since I live in Lebanon, I need to apply for visas a lot, so I usually take that into account when planning my conference engagements. Unless your event is held in the US, Canada or the EU (Schengen area), depending on your event dates, I may not be able to apply for a visa for your event and may unfortunately need to decline your invitation for this reason.
Stage and tech specs
- For any group more than 25 people, I need a microphone. I prefer a lavalier/lapel or countryman/headset to a handheld microphone. I sometimes like to live-code on stage, so I need both my hands to be free for that. I also tend to move around a little on stage.
- I’ll only present from my own laptop: a 16-inch 2019 Macbook Pro.
- I usually use Keynote for my presentations, and bring my own presentation remote. Default slides aspect ratio is 16:9. Please let me know if the projector requires different.
- I’ll let you and your technical team know well in advance if my presentation includes any audio and will test the connection and volume at the technical check before my talk.
- For MCs: I have provided a set of biographies for MCs to use to introduce me on stage in my Press Kit.
- Other preferences:
- Unless mandatory, I prefer to skip on-stage Q&A after my talk. I’ll take any extra time you give me to present the talk itself. And I am usually around for attendee questions off-stage after the talk.
Other info
- Biographies and photos for public use are provided on my press kit
- I will provide more information about my travel details and preferences, meal restrictions and preferences, and answers to other questions you may have in a separate email.
Sending your invitation
In order to help me prioritize a response to your email, please include “Invitation to Speak at…” in your email subject line, plus the following information in your invitation:
- When and where is the event taking place?
- Why are you inviting me to speak at the event? I know this may be a weird thing to include, but I’ve had organizers invite me to speak only because I’m a hijab-wearing and Muslim woman, without even knowing enough about me and/or the value I would bring to their event as a professional developer and speaker. Please don’t be one of those organizers.
- What kind of audience will attend? (Mostly designers? developers? beginner, intermediate, advanced skill levels?) This helps me determine if my talk is a good fit for the audience, and it also allows me to tailor the talk to said audience better.
- How many attendees are you expecting at the event?
- What kind of talk topic you’d like me to give? Ideally you’d already have an idea.
- Have you invited other speakers whose talk topics might overlap with mine?
- How long is the speaking slot? 40–50 minutes is usually ideal.
- How much does a ticket cost for attendees?
I’m fortunate enough to be in demand, so the sooner you get in touch regarding your request, the better. Confirmed events are listed on my speaking page. I also have other professional engagements, so please send me an email if you would like to check availability. That said, please note that I do not like to confirm events more than 8 months ahead of the conference date.