One of the benefits most members feel strongly about is the opportunity to speak at TM Forum events. To help guide you in your submission and to explain how and why certain decisions are made, please take note of the information contained on these web pages which outline the process TM Forum use to select speakers as well as offering some rules and hints designed to enhance your chances of being selected.

• Is it a Relevant & Compelling Topic? - TM Forum events attract a range of audiences including service providers and suppliers, fixed and mobile operators, incumbents and challengers, business executives and technologists, finance and operations personnel. It is critical, therefore, that the agenda must feature presentations that cover the breadth of the OSS/BSS industry from business issues to technologies as well as everything in between. With the telecom's world evolving as it is, we aim for the agenda to examine the management issues surrounding it's convergence with the information and media industries.
   
  Each event focuses on a specific theme and a set of cutting-edge issues. Submissions that do not address these issues or are outside of the scope of the event's theme will not be chosen. Occasionally we will select a topic out of "left field", but only if it presents a unique perspective related to one of our core issues that the Selection Committee have not seen before and think would be of interest to attendees.
   
• Type of Presentation - TM Forum conducts extensive research during and after each event to determine what aspects of each event people liked and did not like. This has given us keen insight into the types of presentations that people want to hear. Among the things the Selection Committee looks for are:
  
• Case Studies: Presentations that demonstrate real-world examples and solutions are always the highest-rated sessions. If you are a supplier, we generally insist that you have the customer present with you. NOTE:
• The customer should be named in your submission and you should already have their agreement to participate. Unless you have a track record of delivering what you promise, we will be sceptical if you don't name the customer explicitly.
• Detailed & Specific: We receive numerous submissions that are simply an overview of an issue. High-level presentations such as these are usually not selected unless they are in an area we have not featured before. The more detailed and specific the presentation, the more likely the Selection Committee will select the submission for the agenda.
• Solutions-Focused: We receive a lot of presentations that simply describe the problem but most attendees are already aware of the key issues. What people want are presentations that provide insight into a solution or at the very least, probe the issue or problem in great detail.
• Panels: Attendees appreciate and like to attend panel sessions and debates. During the assessment and selection process, TM Forum keeps a lookout for presentation submissions to put together for interesting and lively panel discussions. We also encourage the submitter to take the initiative and to propose a joint panel with other industry players
   
• Speaker Quality & Company Credentials - Everyone likes to hear from pacesetter companies who are early adopters, innovators or market leaders. And from within those companies, they want to hear from those who are 'in the know', experiencing the challenge every day. Where a speaker is known to us, how well a speaker has performed at previous TM Forum events will be a factor. Speakers that rate a low score on the post-event evaluation forms filled out by the audience are rarely invited back to present at subsequent events.
   
• Variety & Fairness - As a member organization, it is important that as many members as possible have an opportunity to speak throughout the year. Therefore, we try to limit the number of presenters from any one company at each event. This means that even if you or your organisation submit 5 fabulous presentations, it is unlikely that we will select more than one. It is rare for any one speaker to appear more than once on the agenda and even the biggest names in the industry (who naturally have a lot of things to talk about) may only appear in 2-3 places even for our largest event (Nice TMW). We also welcome and actively encourage submissions from new members or companies that have not presented before in order to give the audience new and fresh perspectives.
   
• Team Participation - Being part of a TM Forum team is not a requirement for being selected. At the same time, however, it doesn't hurt, particularly if it's a topic that one of our teams is working on.
  Part of the reason the TM Forum hold events is to highlight the work of TM Forum teams and if you are involved in any of the work, it enhances your chances of being picked.

Other factors to influence selection:
The sheer volume of submissions makes for intense competition. In addition to the criteria outlined above, a number of other factors can influence whether a submission is considered or rejected including:

• Write-up: The write-up is probably the most important part of the whole submission process. Many write-ups we receive are uninteresting and lack a compelling reason to pick them because the description is bland. Some look as if they were written in 2 minutes before the submitter had to go home on the day the Call for Speakers closed! At the other end of the spectrum, this is not a creative writing contest and overly clever or "cute" submissions are likely to be eliminated.
  Probably the biggest mistakes in a submission write-up are:
   
• It appears to be high-level or general. A discussion of problems with no apparent solutions being offered.
• It's a topic the TM Forum has featured before and the Selection Committee does not think the audience will still find it interesting. A lot of these also tend to be high-level and contain nothing that is "news" any more.
• It refers to customers, examples, or case studies but makes no mention of the customer by name. Unless it's a new area or a particular situation, we will usually ask that any vendor submitting a case study brings their customer along to present.
• The description is far too long. If you can't get your point across in one paragraph, don't submit it until you can!
   
• Multiple Presentations: Many people think that by submitting a large number of presentations, they increase their chances of being selected. Actually, the opposite is true. As stated above, we limit the number of presentations from any one company. If we have already selected something from you and we come to more, we may not look at them as closely because we have already given you something. We may then actually overlook what is actually a good topic. Even for a larger and well established industry name a maximum of 5-6 good quality proposals are all you really need to submit... and be sure each submission is unique!
   
• Lack of Commitment: If you are proposing to bring a customer, name them and be sure you have their agreement before submitting. The same stands for if you are proposing a panel - name everyone on the submission paper and guarantee their agreement to be involved beforehand.
   
  PLEASE NOTE: If you are a PR agency submitting on behalf of a client, do be sure you have the commitment of the speaker and the speaker's direct contact information before sending in their proposal.
   
• Sales Pitches: We do not accept presentations that include blatant (or hidden) sales pitches and after doing this for many years we are very good at spotting them! Don't ruin your reputation by trying to slide one by us because if you do, the audience will undoubtedly take note and we will be reluctant to select presentations from you in the future.
   
• Old News/Repeated Presentations: Our attendees expect to receive the latest information on cutting-edge topics. This is a savvy audience that will give poor feedback on speakers presenting recycled material from an earlier event or another conference. Generally speaking we do not accept submissions that are identical to that submitted for a previous event unless we happen to know that it was very well received and that there is unlikely to be much audience overlap.
   
• Sales and Marketing People: In general, sales and marketing people are seen by our audience as best-placed to be presenting on serious business and technology issues on behalf of their organisation. Issues concerning product portfolios are fine from a Marketing Director, but in general a Solutions Architect/ Developer/ Director; Head of Business Development, Technical Manager, etc. are viewed as more favourable presenters than those coming from a marketing or sales area.
   
• Broken Promises: If you break a promise such as telling us you'll bring a customer and then you don't, or promising your CTO and then substituting a Product Manager at the last minute you will earn black marks in our book. We understand that last-minute situations can arise that cause plans to change but how you deal with these and how you communicate things to us is important. Don't simply show up on site and surprise us. We have long memories!
   
• Failure to Follow Instructions: Submitting a presentation to the TM Forum does not require an advanced degree in particle physics but it's amazing how many come in with sections missing or incorrectly completed. Please follow the instructions; keep descriptions interesting, provide BRIEF biographies and information such as contact details for all the speakers and anything else we ask for. Remember, the Selection Committee wants to pick presentations that look like they will be attractive and well-received by the audience. Make our job easy and it will go a long way towards making your submission stand out from the crowd and be chosen.

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