SPECIAL GUEST!! HUBSPOT's Courtney Dagher 🎤 Why Your Speaker Pitch Keeps Getting Rejected | Ep. 577

Courtney Dagher, HubSpot’s director of global events revenue marketing and content programming, says the most common reason speaker pitches get rejected is not lack of charisma—it is stale content. She reviews hundreds of session submissions each year for Unbound (HubSpot’s flagship event, which drew over 13,000 in-person attendees in 2024) and sees the same mistake repeatedly: people submit a talk track they have been using for years with minor tweaks. “It just doesn’t land,” she says. “It’s not fresh. It’s not what we’re interested in.”

What event programmers actually look for

Dagher’s team prioritizes speakers who are still active practitioners—people who are “in the weeds, running tests, and able to share real results.” The magic combination, she says, is someone who can both execute the work and communicate it compellingly on stage. If you are a strong speaker but your submissions keep getting rejected, her advice is to go back to basics: “Are you still doing the thing? Are you actually working in a role where you’re seeing these results?” Audiences want practical, how-to guidance grounded in current experiments, not a polished talk that has been recycled across conferences for years. She suggests asking yourself one honest question before submitting: “Would I want to attend my own session?” If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board.