Speaker Guidelines & Expectations

PPC Zone welcomes speakers of all experience levels. Some of our speakers have graced international conference stages, others are making their public speaking debuts at PPC Zone.

Here is more information about the PPC Zone process, tips for a successful event, and what will be expected of our speakers before, during and after PPC Zone.

Step 1: Speaker Selection

Everyone who applies to speak at ppc.zone will be offered a speaking slot, at a time that works for their time zone. It may take a few months for you to hear from Jyll, but you will receive a personalized email inviting you to speak at an upcoming event.

In this email, Jyll will ask you to reply by a certain date to confirm your attendance, usually within about 2 weeks of receiving the email. Jyll will attempt 1-2 follow-ups, but if you do not respond, you will be dropped from the consideration list and will need to re-apply if you'd like another chance to speak at ppc.zone in the future.


Step 2: Speaker Confirmation

Once you have been asked to speak at an upcoming event, and confirmed your attendance, Jyll will ask you to provide:

Once all three speakers have been confirmed for your date, you will receive a calendar invitation. The invitation will be for 75 minutes, and will start 15 minutes before the event start time. For example, if ppc.zone is going live at 2pm, you will need to be available from 1:45pm - 3pm.


Step 3: Create your presentation

Jyll will ask you to confirm the title of your presentation, for marketing purposes, as soon as possible.

If you would like to work with a speaking mentor, for free, you can apply to the new speaker support program on PPC Chat and mention that you're speaking at ppc.zone. This is optional, but you should apply as soon as you've been confirmed if you would like to make use of the program.

Remember that your presentation is just 7 minutes long. It will go by very quickly! If you are using slides, 7 minutes usually means 4-6 slides total. Less is more. The most successful ppc.zone presentations share one big idea, supported by ~3 points or examples.

To practice, it's helpful to say your presentation out loud, and record yourself using your computer or phone's camera. You can also try logging into an empty Zoom or Google Meet call and sharing your screen, to practice navigating your slides while speaking.

You do not need to say a long introduction for yourself as part of your presentation. Jyll will introduce you during the event, so during your 7 minutes "on stage," keep any intros short and sweet. For example, "I'm Jyll Saskin Gales. I'm a Google Ads Coach, ex-Googler and I've been working with Google Ads for over a decade. Let's talk about Quality Score..."

Don't forget to plan your ending! Many speakers finish their talk by saying something like, "Ok, I'm done. Thanks." Instead, leave a strong final impression by planning your final sentence. For example, "And those are my 3 top tips for success with Demand Gen campaigns. Thank you." or "I challenge you to try one of these ad copy tests in your account. I'd love to hear how it goes for you, you can let me know via LinkedIn, my DMs are open."

ppc.zone attendees come from all over the world and from all different backgrounds and experience levels. When in doubt, it's helpful to explain jargon or acronyms.

While it is fine to mention your products or services during your ppc.zone presentation, this is not a sales pitch. You should be providing valuable information to the audience during your talk. We also have sponsors to consider, and our current sponsor, Optmyzr, has paid to be the exclusive sponsor at ppc.zone. If you're in doubt about what is or isn't suitable to say about your products/services, please reach out to Jyll for guidance at least one week before your event.


Step 4: Prepare to go live

Streamyard is live streaming software, and your calendar invite will have a unique Streamyard link for your event. Do not share this link - it is only for speakers. If you have never used Streamyard before, you can click on the link at any time before the event to test it out, make sure your camera and microphone are working correctly, etc. Don't worry, nothing will be saved or broadcast.

48 hours before the event, please email your slides to Jyll (if you're using slides). Jyll will not make any edits or provide feedback (unless you ask for it), this is purely so she can ensure your presentation is complete, doesn't violate these guidelines, and "plays nicely" with Streamyard.

Videos are tricky to play during the broadcast, so if you are planning to play any videos as part of your ppc.zone presentation, please let Jyll know at least a week beforehand so you can meet and test it out to ensure everything runs smoothly.

The day of the event, ensure you're in a well-lit environment with a non-distracting background, no background noise, and good sound quality. Lighting should be in front of your face, not above your head or behind you. For example, if you're near a window, try to position yourself looking out the window so that the natural light shines on your face, rather than having a window behind you, which could cast you in shadow. If you have them, please use an external microphone and external video camera. If you don't have them, that's ok! Record yourself using your computer's built-in tools and listen back to ensure there's no echo, static, etc.

Jyll will post about the event on LinkedIn about a week before the event, and again the day of the event. You're encouraged to share ppc.zone on LinkedIn and whatever social channels you use. You can also broadcast the livestream to your own social channels by connecting them to Streamyard before the stream goes live.


Step 5: The event!

Please enter the Streamyard promptly! At 15 minutes before the go-live time, aka the start time on your calendar invite, join via the unique link provided in the calendar invite.

Please have your presentation open and ready on your computer, as you'll need it for tech check.

At tech check, Jyll will guide the speakers through a "cue to cue" run through of the program. You'll find out the speaking order, and get a chance to test your sound, lighting and presentation before going live.

During the event, you will only be seen/heard when you are "on stage." To communicate with Jyll or the other speakers during the live event, please use the "Private chat" function in Streamyard. You will be able to see comments coming in live from LinkedIn and YouTube on the "Comments" tab in Streamyard. Please wait until the live panel to answer these questions. Please do not mix up the "Comments" (public) and "Private chat" (private) sections!

After each speaker has given their presentation, Jyll will bring all the speakers back onto the livestream for a 10-15 minute live panel. Jyll will moderate questions from the audience, and may ask other questions as well. The panel is intended to be a low-stress environment, and a way for all of the speakers to shine. While it will be available for viewing after the event, it will not be included on the podcast.

After the event wraps up, Jyll will say goodbye to the viewers and end the live. Please do not leave Streamyard yet! Stay on until Jyll confirms that you're free to go - the initial "goodbye" is just the public goodbye, not the private goodbye :)


Step 6: Post-event content

One of the many benefits of speaking at ppc.zone is the content & amplification.

After the event, the replay will immediately be available on YouTube and LinkedIn.

Within a few days (sometimes even the same day!), Jyll will turn your presentation into a podcast episode on the ppc.zone podcast, a standalone YouTube video on Jyll's YouTube channel, and a blog post on the ppc.zone website. In fact, you'll get your own dedicated page on the website, here's an example of what that looks like.

Jyll will also share the raw video, audio and transcript files with you, which you are free to edit / repurpose / reuse on your own platforms.

Congrats on being a ppc.zone alum! We look forward to your continued support of ppc.zone speakers and events :)