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.

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My name is Reece Price. I am a cybersecurity professional who has spent the first decade of my career in the identity space, working in higher education, consulting, and now for a private business services company. 

Identiverse, Year Two

2025 was my 2^nd time attending Identiverse, and I had a great repeat experience. In my current role, I am not here to sell a new product or gain a new client; I am looking to learn where the industry is headed and how AI will impact it. Several of my I&A (Identity and Access) colleagues joined me at Identiverse, so I hope it allows us to supercharge any takeaways.  A few of my highlights are as follows.

B2B CIAM

B2B CIAM is still flying under the radar, in my opinion. But Thales hosted two great sessions. Italian Precision and German Creativity: A conversation on Optimizing B2B Services; and B2B IAM Smackdown: Defending the Future of Partner Identity. Both sessions were very thought-provoking as I continue to mature my own B2B CIAM program. 

Decentralized Identity

Decentralized Identity is the future of how the world can get to a place where physical wallets with a Driver’s License are a thing of the past. However, to get to that world, the world’s governments will play a crucial role in making this happen, both from a policy standpoint and by adopting the right technology without critical flaws. As Identity professionals, we must ensure this technology is developed and securely deployed worldwide. 

And of course, AI

AI, any list about a technology conference without AI would be lacking. AI will change the world, but Andre Durand (Ping Identity) mentioned in his keynote that verified trust will ensure our new AI-powered world is secure and allows transactions to flow across the internet. It’s now not good enough to know that Reece can complete a transaction; we must understand if Reece has authorized some agent (AI or not) to complete this transaction. 

Identiverse, Year 3?

Overall, if you are an Identity professional and are unsure about attending next year, I can’t recommend it enough. Everyone in the Identity industry can find something at Identiverse that they can learn from.  Hope to see everyone again in Las Vegas for Identiverse 2026.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the content are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDPro organization.

Author

Reece Price, CIAM Manager at CSCGlobal, is a seasoned CISSP-certified IAM leader with extensive experience in the commercial, government, and academic IAM sectors. He has worked with most major vendors, including Ping Identity (ForgeRock), SailPoint, and Okta. Using his background and experience, He can understand your technology, business, and people to create solutions that work for everyone.

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On May 28, 2024, the first Innovation Workshop was held at Identiverse. In a packed room, participants held a lively discussion focused on overcoming obstacles to empower innovators to advance identity and security.

Dr. Tina P. Srivastava, Co-Founder of Badge Inc., and Bob Blakley, Co-Founder of Mimic and former Global Director of Information Security Innovation at Citi, two identity leaders, led the workshop. Pam Dingle, Director of Identity Standards at Microsoft, acted as the facilitator.

Why a Workshop?

Identity is becoming a cornerstone of modern IT infrastructure, serving as a new perimeter. Therefore, the need for cutting-edge innovation is not just a nice-to-have but a need-to-have as identity solutions are safeguarding access to the most important networks, information, systems, and our personal data. Teams tackling identity and security, whether in organizations or companies, need to innovate and draw from a diversity of ideas and include new people in identity projects, and yet there are challenges in bringing in and empowering these innovators. Innovating in the context of intellectual property constraints, national security restrictions, and tight budgets is challenging. Yet it is imperative.

Dr. Srivastava shared research from her book Innovating in a Secret World: The Future of National Security and Global Leadership, including examples from the pharmaceutical industry, an industry cloaked in secrecy given the high costs of R&D and need for intellectual property protection.

Identity Innovation is Essential

Identity is essential to access healthcare services, financial systems, and the economy, so innovation must account for the whole spectrum of user experiences. Pam Dingle brought the audience into the conversation. Drawing on their respective experiences from national security defense and financial institutions, two of the most high-security fields, Dr. Srivastava and Dr. Blakley shared practical guidance on navigating these hurdles. During this interactive workshop, Tina and Bob led a discussion about the importance of bringing in new voices, the challenges we’re facing in today’s hybrid work environment, and how to overcome them. Tina shared specific use cases from her research at MIT about how certain classes of innovators are unintentionally excluded, and Bob discussed challenges and strategies to overcome them.

Dr. Blakley shared some key lessons learned as an Innovation leader at Citi. For example, he noted that the system has to want to change and highlighted the importance of working in a diverse team. Bob discussed that innovative solutions arise from conversations with others, not solo meditation.

Bob noted the importance of the conversation about innovation given that the environment is changing as fast as any in his decades of working in identity and security. Discussions from the Innovation Workshop carried into the break and even continued at the IDPro booth later on during Identiverse. Pictured below, Sarah Cecchetti, Mat Hamlin, and Dr. Tina Srivastava share information about IDPro, including about CIDPRO certification, with Identiverse attendees.

Author

Dr. Tina P. Srivastava is an entrepreneur, author, inventor of more than 15 patents, and an MIT-trained rocket scientist. She served as Chief Engineer of electronic warfare programs at Raytheon before founding a cybersecurity startup that was acquired by a public company and global leader in network security. She is an FAA-certified pilot and is a Lecturer at MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics.

When her identity was stolen in a data breach in 2015, Dr. Srivastava teamed up with a group of MIT cryptography PhDs to crack the code on one of the most common reasons for modern data breaches: stored credentials. Together, they solved a decades-old cryptography problem to remove PII, biometrics and other stored credentials from the authentication equation, eliminating highly vulnerable storage systems as points of attack for hackers. Badge Inc. is the award-winning privacy company enabling Identity without Secrets.

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