Most Active Speakers 2023

Sessionize proudly presents the list of the most active speakers in the year 2023!

  • 758 speakers
  • Auto-generated
Marc Duiker

Marc Duiker

Marc is a Sr Developer Advocate at Diagrid and enjoys sharing knowledge on how to build distributed applications. He's one of the Dapr Community Managers, and he loves helping developers to achieve more every day.

You might have seen Marc at a developer meetup or conference, since he's a regular speaker and event-organizer in the area of Dapr, Azure cloud, and serverless technologies. From 2019 to 2025 Marc received the Microsoft Azure MVP award for his community contributions.

In his spare time, Marc likes to give attention to the creative part of his brain. He likes to create pixel art (check out VSCode Pets), code visuals & music, and create an occasional retro game.

Marc is a Sr Developer Advocate at Diagrid and enjoys sharing knowledge on how to build distributed applications. He's one of the Dapr Community Managers, and he loves helping developers to achieve more every day. You might have seen Marc at a dev... Show more

Amarender Peddamalku

Amarender Peddamalku

Amarender Peddamalku is a Microsoft MVP in Business Applications. As a Digital Transformation Leader and Microsoft Modern Work Practice Lead at Perficient, my focus is on Employee Experience and Power Platform. Has over 15 years of experience with Microsoft Technologies and worked with every single version of SharePoint since its inception.

Amarender Peddamalku is a Microsoft MVP in Business Applications. As a Digital Transformation Leader and Microsoft Modern Work Practice Lead at Perficient, my focus is on Employee Experience and Power Platform. Has over 15 years of experience with Mi... Show more

Joseph Katsioloudes

Joseph Katsioloudes

Joseph is a leading voice in cybersecurity and AI, developing software and content that shape how developers build securely. His open source game gh.io/scg has helped 10K+ developers gain future-proof security skills. His videos, with 2.8M+ views, simplify complex security topics and deliver actionable tips to a global audience. As a speaker, Joseph has delivered 68 talks across 25 countries over the past four years, captivating audiences with his insights and energetic stage presence.

Joseph is a leading voice in cybersecurity and AI, developing software and content that shape how developers build securely. His open source game gh.io/scg has helped 10K+ developers gain future-proof security skills. His videos, with 2.8M+ views, si... Show more

Natalie Johnson

Natalie Johnson

Natalie Johnson is a renowned consultant, performance coach, author and business motivational speaker with over three decades of experience transforming cultures worldwide. As the Co-founder and Chief Visionary of Vidl Work, Natalie specializes in optimizing organizational performance by increasing energy, fostering team connections, and developing courageous leaders.

With a background in human performance, including psychology, physiology, and resilience, Natalie is a sought-after speaker and trainer, known for her engaging, high-energy presentations. Her impactful work has earned her numerous accolades, including the Enterprising Women of the Year Award, Champion of Healthcare, and Business Leader Woman Extraordinaire.

Natalie's dynamic speaking style and expertise in topics such as intentional culture, leadership development, and effective communication have made her a respected figure in the business world. Her ability to inspire and empower audiences to achieve their full potential has made her a valuable asset to organizations seeking to thrive in today's competitive landscape.

Natalie Johnson is a renowned consultant, performance coach, author and business motivational speaker with over three decades of experience transforming cultures worldwide. As the Co-founder and Chief Visionary of Vidl Work, Natalie specializes in op... Show more

Renato Fajdiga

Renato Fajdiga

Renato Fajdiga, a seasoned Microsoft Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central consultant and blogger, currently leads the Business Applications team, overseeing F&O, BC, and other applications. An MVP and MCT since 2018, he specializes in Business Applications, particularly Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power Platform. He thrives on learning new technologies and concepts that enhance customer processes. Occasionally, he delves into coding, but his primary motivation is resolving community-posted issues with Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Renato Fajdiga, a seasoned Microsoft Dynamics NAV/365 Business Central consultant and blogger, currently leads the Business Applications team, overseeing F&O, BC, and other applications. An MVP and MCT since 2018, he specializes in Business Applicati... Show more

Maina Wycliffe

Maina Wycliffe

Google Developer Expert, Author of All Things Typescript Newsletter, Open Source Contributor and Enthusiast, Developer, Speaker, and Writer.

Google Developer Expert, Author of All Things Typescript Newsletter, Open Source Contributor and Enthusiast, Developer, Speaker, and Writer. Show more

Timothy Spann

Timothy Spann

Tim Spann is the Senior Solution Engineer - Financial Services working with Snowflake, Cortex AI, Apache NiFi, Apache Iceberg, Python, Apache Polaris, Streamlit, Cloud Data, Vectors, Data, Generative AI, ML, Hugging Face, Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, Pytorch, big data, the IoT, machine learning, and deep learning. Tim has over a decade of experience with the IoT, big data, distributed computing, streaming technologies, and Java programming. Previously, he was a Principal Developer Advocate at Zilliz/Milvus, Principal Developer Advocate at Cloudera, Developer Advocate at StreamNative, Principal Field Engineer at Cloudera, a Senior Solutions Architect at AirisData and a senior field engineer at Pivotal. He holds a BS and MS in computer science.

https://medium.com/@tspann
https://www.youtube.com/@FLaNK-Stack

Tim Spann is the Senior Solution Engineer - Financial Services working with Snowflake, Cortex AI, Apache NiFi, Apache Iceberg, Python, Apache Polaris, Streamlit, Cloud Data, Vectors, Data, Generative AI, ML, Hugging Face, Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, ... Show more

Jimmy Bogard

Jimmy Bogard

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR, and the originator of Vertical Slice Architecture. Jimmy is an independent software consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the "Microsoft Most Valuable Professional" (MVP) award every year since 2009.

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR, and the originator of Vertical Slice Architecture. Jimmy is an independent software consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the "Microsoft Most Valuab... Show more

Björn Sundling

Björn Sundling

With a background in ops, Björn got stuck in the DevOps movement a long time ago. Working alongside both dev and ops gave him a good view in to all sides of the company, and today he spends his days helping with everything from communication, through infra as code, to CI/CD pipelines.
By night he Maintains a number of PowerShell modules at https://GitHub.com/bjompen, Writes blog posts at https://bjompen.com, Builds pipelines in Azure DevOps and GitHub, Tries to figure out how Azure works, solders and repairs old tech, and dreams of playing in a Norwegian black metal band.

With a background in ops, Björn got stuck in the DevOps movement a long time ago. Working alongside both dev and ops gave him a good view in to all sides of the company, and today he spends his days helping with everything from communication, through... Show more

Antonio Liccardi

Antonio Liccardi

Antonio Liccardi is a seasoned speaker, book author, and trainer, currently serving as Chief Technology Officer at Blexin. His passion for knowledge sharing led him to co-found "DotNetCampania," an Italian .NET community where he helps others enhance their skills in DevOps, the .NET ecosystem, and software development in general. Antonio is a frequent speaker at both national and international conferences, including Microsoft Build, and has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for Visual Studio Developer Technologies since 2015. He also hosts a live show called "DevOps Time" for UgiDotNet, Italy’s largest .NET community, and runs the podcast "Il corriere del DevOps."

Antonio Liccardi is a seasoned speaker, book author, and trainer, currently serving as Chief Technology Officer at Blexin. His passion for knowledge sharing led him to co-found "DotNetCampania," an Italian .NET community where he helps others enhance... Show more

Fabio Franzini

Fabio Franzini

I'm CEO of Apvee Solutions, a company specializing in providing innovative software solutions for businesses based on Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Microsoft Azure. In addition to my role at Apvee, I am also a member of the Patterns and Practices (PnP) team, a Microsoft initiative to provide guidance and tools to developers building applications on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform platforms.

With more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry, I have held a variety of positions, including software engineer, solution architect, and project manager. My proven record of accomplishment includes the implementation of complex projects in a variety of industries.

I have been awarded Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for several years for both Business Applications and Microsoft 365 Development categories in recognition of my contributions to the community. As an active member of the technology community, I frequently speak at international conferences, sharing my knowledge and insights with other industry professionals. I also contribute to open-source projects, helping others solve technical challenges and stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices.

My passion is exploring innovative technologies and finding innovative ways to solve business problems. Let's get in touch and find out how I can help your company achieve its goals with cutting-edge software solutions.

I'm CEO of Apvee Solutions, a company specializing in providing innovative software solutions for businesses based on Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Microsoft Azure. In addition to my role at Apvee, I am also a member of the Patterns and Practices... Show more

Eldert Grootenboer

Eldert Grootenboer

Eldert is always enthusiastic about embarking on new journeys with the Cloud, and Azure in particular. He is very passionate about growing his dreams and teams, and goes above and beyond to help those with the same spark. Eldert comes from a background as a cloud solution architect and Technology Lead, was an Azure MVP for 5 consecutive years, and is now working as a Principal Product Manager at Microsoft for Azure Service Bus.

Always having a smile on his face, Eldert can be found delivering noteworthy sessions at in-person conferences, meetups, and online platforms. He values sharing and spreading knowledge while building genuine connections regardless of background and expertise. His goal is to bring people closer and work together to influence the outcome and optimize the future of Cloud technologies.

Eldert is always enthusiastic about embarking on new journeys with the Cloud, and Azure in particular. He is very passionate about growing his dreams and teams, and goes above and beyond to help those with the same spark. Eldert comes from a backgrou... Show more

JJ Asghar

JJ Asghar

JJ works as the lead architect for the IBM OSPO. He mainly focuses on open-source AI and OpenShift, trying to help companies and users successfully onboard to the Cloud-Native ecosystem. He’s also known in the DevOps tooling ecosystem and generalized Linux communities. If he isn’t building automation to streamline his work, he’s building the groundwork to do just that.

He lives and grew up in Austin, Texas. A father and husband, trying to learn to balance his natural nerdiness with family life. He enjoys a good strong dark ale, hoppy IPA, some team-building Artemis, and epic Gloomhaven campaigning.

He has recently dove headfirst into Fedora since IBM bought Redhat, but still secretly wants FreeBSD everywhere. He’s always trying to become a better web technology developer, though he normally just uses bash to get the job done.

JJ works as the lead architect for the IBM OSPO. He mainly focuses on open-source AI and OpenShift, trying to help companies and users successfully onboard to the Cloud-Native ecosystem. He’s also known in the DevOps tooling ecosystem and generalize... Show more

Mathias Thierbach

Mathias Thierbach

Mathias Thierbach is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and enterprise technology leader focused on bringing modern DevOps practices to the Microsoft analytics and cloud ecosystem. He is the creator and maintainer of pbi-tools, an open-source project that pioneered source control and DevOps for Power BI solutions, and the inventor and community contributor of TMDL, the emerging open standard definition language for Power BI semantic models.

Through his open-source work and community engagement, Mathias helps organizations adopt Git-based workflows, CI/CD automation, and scalable deployment strategies across Fabric, Power BI, and Azure. Beyond tooling, he shares practical insights from his journey as both an engineer and a leader—building high-performing teams and bridging the gap between business value and engineering excellence.

Mathias Thierbach is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and enterprise technology leader focused on bringing modern DevOps practices to the Microsoft analytics and cloud ecosystem. He is the creator and maintainer of pbi-tools, an open-source project that... Show more

Kevin Griffin

Kevin Griffin

Kevin Griffin has been running production .NET applications and teaching developers for over two decades. A Microsoft MVP specializing in .NET and Microsoft Azure, Kevin brings real-world experience from consulting and his own SaaS products. He's hosted the Hampton Roads .NET User Group since 2009 and founded RevolutionVA, a nonprofit supporting software development education in southeast Virginia. Kevin's talks blend hard-won lessons from production systems with practical advice you can use Monday morning.

Kevin Griffin has been running production .NET applications and teaching developers for over two decades. A Microsoft MVP specializing in .NET and Microsoft Azure, Kevin brings real-world experience from consulting and his own SaaS products. He's hos... Show more

Alexander Eggers

Alexander Eggers

My mission is to enhance workplace productivity through technology. As the founder of a successful company since 1996, with 80 employees, my expertise in business processes significantly aids in the adoption of Microsoft365, especially Microsoft Teams and Copilot, among our clients. I have spearheaded adoption workshops for SMBs since Microsoft Teams' launch in 2017, leading to numerous successful projects. Additionally, I support other partners in Microsoft365 implementations and frequently speak at industry events, including Microsoft conferences and virtual summits, to share insights and promote digital transformation. Since 2020 I am a Microsoft MVP and MCT for Microsoft365.

My mission is to enhance workplace productivity through technology. As the founder of a successful company since 1996, with 80 employees, my expertise in business processes significantly aids in the adoption of Microsoft365, especially Microsoft Team... Show more

Joel Tosi

Joel Tosi

Co-Author of 'Signals & Levers (ITRevolution, September 2026)', 'Coaching for Learning; the Art and Practice' and 'Create Your Dojo; Upskilling Your Organization for Digital Evolution,' Joel helps organizations evolve through learning. This combines a blend of systems thinking, XP, agile, lean, devops and product thinking practices all to embrace learning in the context of work.
With deep experience in architecture modernization, blending product discovery with delivery and architecture, and systems thinking, Joel helps organizations make it easier for their teams to do great work.

Co-Author of 'Signals & Levers (ITRevolution, September 2026)', 'Coaching for Learning; the Art and Practice' and 'Create Your Dojo; Upskilling Your Organization for Digital Evolution,' Joel helps organizations evolve through learning. This combines... Show more

Mario-Leander Reimer

Mario-Leander Reimer

Passionate software developer and architect. Proud father. #CloudNativeNerd. Leander is the CTO at QAware. He’s continuously looking for innovations in software engineering and ways to combine and apply state-of-the-art technology in real-world projects. As a speaker at national and international conferences he shares his tech experiences and he teaches cloud computing and software quality assurance as a part-time lecturer.

Passionate software developer and architect. Proud father. #CloudNativeNerd. Leander is the CTO at QAware. He’s continuously looking for innovations in software engineering and ways to combine and apply state-of-the-art technology in real-world proje... Show more

Justin Yoo

Justin Yoo

Justin is a Principal Cloud Advocate at Microsoft and was double-awarded Microsoft MVP in both Azure and Developer Technologies since 2015. He is passionate at serverless technologies, enterprise integration, AI and SRE/DevOps, and tries to find a better way of doing things right and getting things done.

Justin is a Principal Cloud Advocate at Microsoft and was double-awarded Microsoft MVP in both Azure and Developer Technologies since 2015. He is passionate at serverless technologies, enterprise integration, AI and SRE/DevOps, and tries to find a be... Show more

Paolo Insogna

Paolo Insogna

Node.js TSC Member, Principal Engineer at Platformatic, Polyglot Developer. RPG and LARP addicted and nerd on lot more. Surrounded by lovely chubby cats.

Node.js TSC Member, Principal Engineer at Platformatic, Polyglot Developer. RPG and LARP addicted and nerd on lot more. Surrounded by lovely chubby cats. Show more

Andy Cutler

Andy Cutler

I am an Azure Data Platform professional working predominantly with Azure Synapse Analytics (SQL Pools), Data Factory, SQL Server and Power BI. I hold an MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Mining. I am a current Microsoft Data Platform MVP.

I am an Azure Data Platform professional working predominantly with Azure Synapse Analytics (SQL Pools), Data Factory, SQL Server and Power BI. I hold an MSc in Business Intelligence and Data Mining. I am a current Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Show more

Godson Njoku

Godson Njoku

Godson Njoku is a product development specialist with a background in economics and experience across health tech, fintech, logistics and other digital domains.
He works as a QA Specialist at Komplete Care, combining hands-on testing with automation to deliver reliable software for pharmacies, labs, and hospitals. With a cross-functional background in product management and UX, Godson also mentors upcoming tech talent in the Learnable Program and co-organises the Google Developer Group Enugu.

Godson Njoku is a product development specialist with a background in economics and experience across health tech, fintech, logistics and other digital domains. He works as a QA Specialist at Komplete Care, combining hands-on testing with automatio... Show more

Damian Synadinos

Damian Synadinos

Damian Synadinos has many labels. He spent 25 years as a software executive across diverse industries, gaining deep experience in technology, quality, and leadership. Along the way, he’s also been a schoolteacher, a children’s book author, a comedic improviser, and a portrait artist - experiences that sharpened his ability to communicate, connect, and think creatively. In 2016, he founded Ineffable Solutions to become a full-time speaker focused on people and fundamental topics such as communication, empathy, risk, identity, and trust – areas that are timeless and universal. His keynotes, talks, and workshops feature original content that blends conceptual depth, practical insight, and interactive humor, engaging the audiences’ hearts, minds, and funny bones. The result is a thought-provoking, relatable message that creates a lasting impact in any context.

Damian Synadinos has many labels. He spent 25 years as a software executive across diverse industries, gaining deep experience in technology, quality, and leadership. Along the way, he’s also been a schoolteacher, a children’s book author, a comedic ... Show more

Kamil Nowinski

Kamil Nowinski

Blogger, speaker, #sqlfamily member. Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Data passionate, Data Engineer and Architect.
Over 20 years of programming and experience with SQL Server databases (since 2000 version) he confirmed by certificates MCITP, MCP, MCTS, MCSA, MCSE Data Platform & Data management & analytics. He worked both as developer and administrator big databases designing systems from the scratch. Recently focused on Data Platform in Azure as a certified (Azure Dev-Ops Engineer Expert, Azure Developer Associate) Data Engineer and Azure Architect.
Passionate about optimization of database systems, an advocate of code transparency, open-source projects and automation, DevOps and PowerShell fan.

Since 2015 he has been living and working in the UK. Currently professionally associated with Avanade, an international consulting company.

Socially, tied with Data Community Poland (former PLSSUG) for many years, He worked a couple of years as a volunteer and now as a co-organizer and speaker of the biggest SQL Server conference in Poland (SQLDay).
Socially, tied with the Data Community Poland Association (former PLSSUG) and the SQLDay conference for many years; currently as a co-organizer of a five-day Data Relay conference in the UK, a volunteer at SQLBits and a presenter at these and many other conferences.

An originator of the "Ask SQL Family" podcast and founder of SQLPlayer blog.
Privately happy husband and father of two wonderful girls.

Blogger, speaker, #sqlfamily member. Microsoft Data Platform MVP. Data passionate, Data Engineer and Architect. Over 20 years of programming and experience with SQL Server databases (since 2000 version) he confirmed by certificates MCITP, MCP, MCT... Show more

Miguel LLorca Gomez

Miguel LLorca Gomez

Miguel Llorca is a seasoned technologist and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the IT industry.

Since 2014, he has been honored with the Microsoft MVP award, for his contributions to technical communities. He is also a member of the Microsoft Regional Director program, recognized for his extensive technical and business acumen and leadership within the community.

Additionally, Miguel is a Microsoft Certified Trainer, an instructor and author for LinkedIn Learning, and a regular speaker at industry events and conferences, earning the distinction of LinkedIn Top Voice in 2024 and 2025.

Miguel Llorca is a seasoned technologist and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the IT industry. Since 2014, he has been honored with the Microsoft MVP award, for his contributions to technical communities. He is also a member of th... Show more

Stas Lebedenko

Stas Lebedenko

Stas Lebedenko is a full-stack cloud architect and platform engineer at Solidify AB. He is also a co-organizer of the Odesa Microsoft. NET User Group, a speaker and author, and an active member of the international and Ukraine .NET/Azure/Operations communities. He has been building and designing software for the last twenty years and has been the Microsoft Azure Most Valuable Professional since 2020.

Stas Lebedenko is a full-stack cloud architect and platform engineer at Solidify AB. He is also a co-organizer of the Odesa Microsoft. NET User Group, a speaker and author, and an active member of the international and Ukraine .NET/Azure/Operations c... Show more

Aseem Wangoo

Aseem Wangoo

Software Technical Lead with 11+ years of experience building scalable, AI-powered products across fintech, safety, smart space, and industrial IoT. I currently lead high-transaction applications handling 100k+ daily users across Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia.

I’m a Google community contributor, open-source maintainer, and Top 3% Speaker (2023). Through my talks and writing, I focus on demystifying AI and sharing practical, hands-on insights that developers can apply immediately in their own projects.

Speaker at Cursor Delhi, Google Singapore.
Invited as a speaker to

- International Conferences FlutterCon Berlin
- Business conferences, Exito 2024, TechExpo Asia etc
- Tech Conferences, GDG Zagreb 2024, GDG Singapore 2024, Geekle 2024, DevFest SG 2023, Geekle 2021, DartUp and other tech communities

Software Technical Lead with 11+ years of experience building scalable, AI-powered products across fintech, safety, smart space, and industrial IoT. I currently lead high-transaction applications handling 100k+ daily users across Singapore, Australia... Show more

Surbhi Pokharna

Surbhi Pokharna

Surbhi Pokharna is a seasoned data professional with over two decades of experience in data architecture, database administration, and large-scale enterprise data solutions in the financial domain. She specializes in operationalizing data platforms in client-facing roles, delivering robust relational and advanced analytics solutions for both transactional systems and data warehouses.
Currently, Surbhi leads enterprise-scale cloud data migrations across SQL Server, Snowflake, Azure SQL, and Managed Instance, while actively designing next-generation data analytics platforms leveraging Snowflake.
She is a board member of the New England SQL Server User Group, part of the Snowflake Data Superhero 2026 program, and an active member of PASS. Surbhi is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences and community events, including PASS Summit, Snowflake User Groups, Azure Data User Groups, Data Saturdays, and SQLBits.

Surbhi Pokharna is a seasoned data professional with over two decades of experience in data architecture, database administration, and large-scale enterprise data solutions in the financial domain. She specializes in operationalizing data platforms i... Show more

Bob Crowley

Bob Crowley

Bob Crowley is a Software Engineer near Portland Maine where he builds solutions in the .NET ecosystem. He has been writing bugs for over 20 years. He likes to author capture the flag challenges that have annoyed and entertained attendees of CodeMash, Granite State Code Camp and the Cyber Security Symposium at Manchester Community College. He is creator of Recover-Disc, a platform for helping those who throw discs at trees get their lost discs back and also MedalPile, a side hustle involving burning things with lasers.

In his free time, he likes to make the most of both weeks of Maine's summer either fishing out on the ocean or throwing discs at trees.

Find Bob on LinkedIn as contrivedexample

Bob Crowley is a Software Engineer near Portland Maine where he builds solutions in the .NET ecosystem. He has been writing bugs for over 20 years. He likes to author capture the flag challenges that have annoyed and entertained attendees of CodeMash... Show more

Jan Vidar Elven

Jan Vidar Elven

Jan Vidar Elven is a Senior Cloud Platform & Security Architect working at Microsoft Partner Evidi AS in Norway. He is a Microsoft MVP in Security, an active speaker and blogger, and has more than 25 years’ experience inside IT infrastructure management and architecting solutions, working with Cloud & Datacenter, specializing in Azure, Microsoft Entra, Active Directory, Enterprise Mobility, Identity & Access Management, Identity Governance, Service Management, Operations Management and Automation cross On-Premise and Azure environments.

Jan Vidar Elven is a Senior Cloud Platform & Security Architect working at Microsoft Partner Evidi AS in Norway. He is a Microsoft MVP in Security, an active speaker and blogger, and has more than 25 years’ experience inside IT infrastructure managem... Show more

Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers.

Most Active Speakers 2023

Every year, we put together a list of the most active speakers. This list features the top 3% of speakers who have participated in events using Sessionize during the 2023.

The 3% is calculated from the pool of all speakers that have at least one accepted session in year 2023. We don't include inactive speakers or speakers that had no accepted sessions during the year. There are around 25 thousand unique accepted speakers this year, the 3% is 771. Not all of them have their speaker profiles set as public, and we respect that, so the list doesn't show all of them.

The calculation is based on the number of accepted events, that's the main criteria, but to get more refined results we also look at things like multiple sessions per event, sharing a session with a co-speaker and how big the event is. Number of submissions and declined sessions don't affect the list.

Please note that the count of events and sessions in this list does not represent the number of events and sessions from the year 2023. Instead, it shows the number of events and sessions featured on the speaker's public speaker profile; these numbers have nothing to do with the award itself.