Terms & Conditions for Speakers

Speaker Agreement Terms & Conditions:

Acceptance of Terms

Checking the box on the WriteOnCon RSVP form represents an understanding and acceptance on your part of the terms below. If you do not agree with these terms, you should not apply to become a speaker. WriteOnCon Inc. (“We”) reserves the right to modify or update these terms at any time, at WriteOnCon Inc.’s (“our”) discretion. WriteOnCon Inc. will send the new terms to the email address you submitted and it is your responsibility to contact us to cancel your participation if you do not agree to the new terms.

If you are under 18 years of age, you must review these terms and conditions with a parent/guardian. Your parent/guardian must give you permission before you sign up to participate in WriteOnCon.

Personal & Professional Information

To sign up for WriteOnCon, you must provide us with:

Your legal name and penname (if applicable)
Your email address
Your profession
A headshot
A short bio
Web links, including social media (optional)
Up to five book covers (optional)

We reserve the right to publish content such as your headshot, bio, web and social media links, book covers, testimonials, and details about your participation on our social media, in our newsletter, and on our forums and website.

By sending us your headshot, images for a blog post, book covers, or other materials, you are warranting that they are in the public domain, you have permission to share them, or you have copyright ownership over them. WriteOnCon Inc. claims no copyright or ownership on the materials posted on our website or forums, and we reserve the right to remove anything found to be an infringement of copyright if directly contacted by the copyright owner. Should you be sued for a breach of copyright, WriteOnCon Inc. is not liable for any damages in any legal, financial, or other sense.

In addition, the WriteOnCon Inc. website collects IP addresses and uses browser cookies to provide you with a streamlined experience on our website.

WriteOnCon Inc. takes your privacy seriously and will not share your personal information (such as your email address) with third parties unless it is deemed necessary due to safety or legal reasons.

Speaker Selection

Filling out the WriteOnCon RSVP form does not guarantee you a place in our conference, raffle, forums, or fundraiser. We reserve the right to decline any speaker at our discretion. Generally this might occur because of agency/press sales records or concerns over unprofessional behavior, but we will never do so on grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, or other marginalization.

By signing up to take part in WriteOnCon, you are attesting that you meet our eligibility requirements. Should we discover that you do not actually meet them, we reserve the right to cancel your participation.

Speakers are expected to maintain communication with WriteOnCon. Please ensure that you check your spam filter to prevent missed messages. We reserve the right to remove at our discretion any speaker who repeatedly does not respond to our email messages.

Podcast speakers are expected to make reasonable effort to schedule podcast interviews. If a speaker’s availability is limited, they should provide the coordinator with ample notice to ensure a suitable time is arranged. If a speaker is unable to keep their scheduled interview time, they must let the coordinator know as soon as they are able. We reserve the right to remove at our discretion speakers who cancel or reschedule more than once without suitable explanation.

All Content

Event topics will be assigned from the selections provided to WriteOnCon by the speaker on their RSVP form. Topics are on a first-come, first-served basis. If a speaker wishes to change their event topic(s), we may accommodate the request at our discretion.

All speakers are expected to adhere to the requirements of each participation method they sign up for, as explained on the Participation Options page of our website.

As this is an all-ages conference, speakers are asked to please keep their language and content appropriate for a general audience. Speakers who do not may be removed from the conference.

Speakers are not allowed to use their event as a sales pitch or to promote their own work directly. However, they may use their own work as examples to illustrate points they make in their event. Any overt self-promotion will be edited out of prepared events by staff.

Speakers are expected to adhere to all WriteOnCon deadlines. While we have some leeway for extenuating circumstances, we cannot accommodate extreme tardiness. Any missed deadlines that have not been approved by the Director will result in removal from the conference without payment.

Pre-scheduled Content

All prepared content will be reviewed by staff upon submission to be approved for inclusion in the conference. We reserve the right to decline or ask revisions of any prepared content that is submitted to us and deemed unsuitable due to content, language, length, or self-promotion. Any content that fails to meet the requirements outlined in our Participation Options will, with few exceptions, be asked for revision.

All prepared content, once approved for inclusion, will be proofed for grammar and clarity by our staff. Speakers will have the opportunity to approve all changes; if approval is not received by the specified deadline, the content will be used as corrected.

Keynotes will be selected by WriteOnCon once prepared content from all speakers is submitted and reviewed. Selections are made at our discretion. If a speaker feels strongly that they do not wish for their event to be a keynote, they may opt out of consideration for this placement on our RSVP form or at any point subsequent by directly contacting us.

Feedback Session speakers will be provided their pitches two days in advance of the scheduled date for recording their event. If more lead time is necessary, we need a minimum of a week’s notice before the event. We will moderate submissions for appropriateness. It is the speaker’s responsibility to review these pitches prior to their event. During the event, a minimal amount of time should be spent reading the pitches to attendees in order to maximize the amount of time spent on feedback; we will provide the document containing the pitches to attendees so they may follow along.

Live Events & Podcasts

Only the registered speaker may participate. If they wish to invite an additional individual to take part in their event, they must obtain permission from the Director. WriteOnCon reserves the right to decline the request at our discretion.

Live event speakers are expected to participate in a fifteen-minute test run prior to the conference, to ensure their familiarity with the procedure and the quality of their sound and equipment. Speakers who refuse to complete a test run may be removed from the conference at our discretion.

It is the speaker’s responsibility to ensure they have the appropriate equipment and internet connection to participate in a podcast or live event. If we deem the sound quality unsuitable, we will request that the speaker upgrade their equipment at their expense. We can provide a list of inexpensive options upon request. Likewise, if the speaker’s internet connection is found to be too weak to support a smooth, interruption-free event, we will request that the speaker search for a new location/connection and schedule another test run. If the speaker is unable to improve either their sound quality and/or their internet connection, we reserve the right to remove the speaker from the conference or request that they change their participation option to a non-streaming format.

We reserve the right to edit recorded podcasts for length, content, or sound quality.

Live event speakers are required to arrive at their event at least ten minutes before the scheduled start time. Any speakers who do not arrive to their live event by their start time may be replaced unless they give us ample notice (at least half an hour) of their delay. Live event speakers may, at the discretion and availability of their moderator, choose to speak past their allotted time. If no moderator is available to continue the event, the event will be ended even if the speaker has not covered everything they wished to.

For our standard panels, panelists will be assigned by WriteOnCon; speakers may not choose with whom they participate on a panel. If a speaker feels strongly about their co-panelists, they may request to be reassigned or simply decline to participate. We may choose to place them in an alternative panel at our discretion if there is space available. Similarly, if a panelist finds they are unable to make their assigned panel time, they may request an alternative placement or choose not to participate.

Critique Boutique

Providers of professional services will be required to use Google Groups for the exchange and completion of critiques. The Google Group used is secure and private, and the professional’s personal details or email address will never be shared with the buyer. If a professional is unable to use the Google Group for any reason, we may make accommodations at our discretion.

Professionals will only be paid for services completed. Submissions are available to professionals to critique on a first-come,-first-served basis. Professionals are requested to only claim submissions when they can complete them right away; any professionals found to be “hoarding” submissions will be removed from their Google Group team. Payment will be made only for critiques fully completed and returned to buyer. In the unlikely case that two professionals happen to complete the same critique, the payment for the critique will be split equally between both professionals.

Professionals are not required to complete any minimum number of critiques; there is also no maximum number that any professional may complete. If a professional wishes to be removed from the Google Group team at any time, they may inform WriteOnCon staff and their name will be removed promptly.

Professionals are expected to engage in thoughtful, kind, helpful and encouraging feedback. Professionals who are found to be excessively negative, or engaging in any behavior that does not align with our Harassment Policy, will be removed from the Critique Boutique and may, at our discretion, also be removed from the conference. Any complaints about the behavior of other Boutique participants should be brought to the Director for review.

Forums Superheroes

Superhero agents, editors, and authors participate in our critique forums using an account provided by WriteOnCon. By default, agents and editors receive anonymous accounts, while authors’ accounts display their name, but all superheroes are allowed to choose their own anonymity. Superheroes who choose to be anonymous may reveal their own identity at any point during or after the conference. Superheroes may not share their anonymous account with any other user.

Superheroes are expected to take active part in the WriteOnCon forums during the week prior to and including the conference. If a Superhero does not visit the forums or leave any feedback, we will remove them from our list of participating Superheroes.

Superheroes are expected to be respectful and helpful with their comments and feedback on attendees’ work. We reserve the right to remove at our discretion any Superhero who does not adhere to this standard.

Payment

Providers of professional services are paid by PayPal ONLY, at a fixed rate per service, as listed on our website.

To thank our speakers, we send each a small honorarium at the end of our conference. WriteOnCon Inc. reserves the right to choose the method (generally a gift card) and set the rate based on factors including total conference admissions and operating expenses. The honorarium is a fixed amount for each speaker regardless of the number of events the speaker participated in. In 2019 and 2020, the amount was $25, paid to each of about 90-100 speakers.

Harassment and Accessibility Policies

We work hard to promote a diverse and welcoming environment. Any discrimination or harassment by a speaker towards staff, other speakers, attendees, or the general population will not be tolerated and will result in a speaker’s removal from the conference (this includes both during pre-conference planning as well as during the conference weekend). By registering for WriteOnCon, you are agreeing to abide by our Harassment and Accessibility Policies. We reserve the right to send (a) warning(s) and/or delete content and/or cancel the appearance of any of our speakers who violate our policies.

Limitation of Liability

WriteOnCon Inc. will make every effort to maintain a functional website but we are not responsible for site crashes or other technical bugs that might interfere with your participation.

General Rights Reserved

WriteOnCon Inc. has made a reasonable effort to account for any and all situations that could arise through your participation in WriteOnCon. Should a situation arise that is not yet covered in these terms and conditions, we reserve the right to take action at our discretion.

Contact Us

If you have questions/concerns regarding these terms and conditions, or have a user support request for the RSVP form, please email us. We will do our best to respond in a timely manner but do not guarantee a turnaround time and are not responsible for any issues that may arise as a result of not having gotten to the email quickly enough.