Brilliant Sessions Start with Your Bright Ideas
TCAA welcomes proposals to speak at our events. Attendees at our events have provided overwhelmingly positive feedback on our past speakers and topics, and we look forward to this trend continuing for our future events. Over the years, many of these speakers have become valuable resources for the professionals attending the events, just as attendees may become resources for the speakers.
Although TCAA may receive several proposals throughout the year, the TCAA Board must determine which presenters and topics will fit the event themes and goals. If you have an interesting or exciting topic relevant to the Texas city attorneys and are passionate about speaking to professionals who can glean meaningful information from your field of knowledge, please submit your proposal using the form below.
Criteria for Speaker Selection
- Expertise: knowledge and experience in municipal legal issues.
- Relevance: Presentation topics must be directly relevant to municipal legal work, including land use law, governance, ethics, contracts, code enforcement, employment, utility issues, and any emerging legal trends impacting the practice of municipal law. The Board will survey participants after each conference and take into consideration those comments and results. In addition, the Board may solicit input from TML’s Legal Services as to whether based upon their recent experience, requests, and work with individual cities, it might be beneficial to cover a specific topic.
- Engagement: Ability to present information clearly and effectively to an audience of legal professionals.
- Diversity & Inclusion: The Committee should strive to include a diverse range of topics, including a fairly equal balance between attorneys employed by cities and those working in firms. Judges and attorneys working for state agencies may be proposed. Care should be taken not to select more than one presenter from a single city, firm, or agency.
- Past Performance: If applicable, prior speaking engagements and audience feedback will be considered.
Selection Process
- The Board will solicit speaker proposals through an open call for presentations and provide those to the Committee. The Committee also may solicit speaker proposals through direct invitations to qualified individuals.
- The Committee will review all proposals and nominations based on the established criteria.
- The Committee will present a recommended slate of speakers to the Board for final approval.
- The Board will review the recommendations and make final selections based on organizational goals and conference needs.
Ethical Considerations
- Speakers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest.
- The selection process shall be free from bias and undue influence. Attorneys proposing to speak about sensitive issues that may be divisive (e.g., separation of church and state), should be cautioned about perceived biases and comments which may seem to give unfavorable weight or an opinion to a particular viewpoint.
- The Board reserves the right to decline speakers who do not align with the professional standards and objectives of the Conference.
Speaker Fees
Due to TCAA’s limited resources, we cannot pay for your travel or hotel expenses. However, TCAA reimburses your conference registration fee.