by Andrew Hindle
IDPro and Identiverse have always had a close relationship. IDPro was formally launched at Cloud Identity Summit 2017 in Chicago (the same year we announced the rebrand to Identiverse) with a main stage talk by Ian Glazer and Sarah Cecchetti; for several years after, the two organisations maintained a semi-formal agreement, identifying Identiverse as the ‘home event’ of IDPro. Eventually, that agreement was allowed to lapse—it really wasn’t needed anymore, given the depth of engagement IDPro members have with the event.
The relationship shows up in a number of ways—informal gatherings, formal IDPro events, discount codes, constructive feedback from the community to the organisers, and much more besides…. But nowhere is it as apparent as in the responses we get from IDPro members to the annual Call for Presentations (“CFP”).
The core of the Identiverse agenda revolves around sharing leading practices: “here’s a problem I ran into, here’s how I solved it” (or sometimes “here are solutions I’m considering”). Who better than IDPro members to provide those kinds of perspectives? Every year, the CFP is advertised via IDPro Connect Slack. Every year, I see ever more draft proposals being shared, ideas being floated, and advice being sought.
In case you didn’t know, nigh on 80% of the main Identiverse agenda comes through the CFP. We’ve had nearly two decades to refine the review and selection process; and whilst it will never be perfect—and is consequently the subject of routine, incremental review and improvement, even today—we have over that time established, tested, refined, and in some cases entirely replaced, a range of mechanisms that help us to ensure a fair process which ultimately results in a comprehensive and balanced agenda. (If you’d like to know more, I’ve previously written in more detail about the agenda-building process in “The Art and Science of Agenda Building”, at https://www.hindleconsulting.com/posts/agenda_building/)
Identiverse—like IDPro—is also growing rapidly, in lockstep with a profession and an industry that are increasingly understood together as a (the!) vital enabler of the digital landscape. Partly as a result, we receive many more proposals every year than we can possibly accommodate on the agenda—for the 2026 CFP, by a factor of 5 —and we expect this will only increase in the coming years.
It’s at this point that people often ask me, “Well, if my chances are so slim, why should I propose?” And to that question, I have several answers! First: the act of preparing and submitting a proposal is, in and of itself, useful work. It can help refine and focus ideas; it can lead to new revelations or approaches to consider and discuss with others; and it’s a good way to sharpen the skills of distilling and clearly communicating complex concepts. On that latter point: yes, AI tools can help (although don’t feel that you have to, or even that you should use LLMs for this kind of work: they are just tools!): but only if given clear prompts to start with, and with careful editing and iteration during the process… and those are great skills to hone, too.
Even if your proposal isn’t accepted, it will be read and reviewed, which in turn helps inform the committee as to what matters topically to the community. That contribution, invisible to you though it may be, is nonetheless hugely influential in the development of the conference agenda, year after year.
You may, of course, choose to submit your proposal to several events, getting more than one-time use from your work. (Authenticate is another identity-focused conference that operates a very similar process to Identiverse, and is worth your consideration. There are others, too!) Exercise some caution when you do this: several conferences ask whether your talk has been submitted to, or delivered at, other events. Don’t make assumptions about why that question is being asked: sometimes (as for Identiverse) it’s simply another data point for the committee. Do answer honestly—any conference that operates a rigorous process like Identiverse will easily find out if you mislead, and that can absolutely affect selection chances in future years!
But perhaps the most compelling reason is this: submitting a proposal to speak provides no guarantee whatsoever that your talk will be selected. But it’s a cast-iron certainty that your proposal cannot be selected if you don’t submit it!
The Identiverse 2027 Call for Presentations will open in October. Keep your eyes open for when it does. Talk to your colleagues, your friends, your peers. Get advice from the IDPro community about how to refine your proposal. And then get your work in front of the committee. It’s one of the best ways to contribute to the profession that I can think of.
About the Author
Andrew Hindle is an independent consultant and board advisor with deep expertise in digital identity, privacy, cybersecurity, and corporate governance, built across 25+ years in the global software industry. He works with boards, executives, and founders to navigate growth, risk, and strategic change in complex, fast-paced environments.
Andrew currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at Curity; as a board member at Women in Identity; and as Chair of the UK Advisory Board at the Kantara Initiative. He is a co-founder of The Identity Salon, and Conference Chair for Identiverse and Authenticate, where he works closely with industry leaders to curate high-quality, practitioner-focused content for the digital identity community. Andrew is also a Board Emeritus at IDPro, of which he was a founding member.
