Most Active Speakers 2023

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

  • 749 speakers
  • Auto-generated
Mathias Thierbach

Mathias Thierbach

In 2015, after having spent over ten years as a Software Developer and Architect with Microsoft technologies, Mathias Thierbach moved into the Microsoft BI space. He soon landed on Power BI, but also realized quickly that the development and engineering tools and practices were nothing like the ones well established in software development. This is how pbi-tools started as a project, the only complete source control solution for Power BI.

During seven years of leading a data management team at YouGov, he experienced the benefits of those efforts every day. Having open sourced the project in fall of 2021, Mathias spends a lot of his free time bringing source control and DevOps practices to the wider Power BI community now.

In addition to his open source engagements, Mathias cares deeply about his role as an enterprise technology leader. Like many, once having started as a single contributor technologist, he had to pivot significantly when he moved into a manager role, responsible for building, stabilizing and growing a team of data engineers, analysts and architects. Mathias is now passionately sharing the many experiences and learnings that came out of that journey with the community.

In 2015, after having spent over ten years as a Software Developer and Architect with Microsoft technologies, Mathias Thierbach moved into the Microsoft BI space. He soon landed on Power BI, but also realized quickly that the development and engineer... Show more

Michele Riva

Michele Riva

Co-founder of Orama, your product answer engine.
Also: TC39 Delegate, Google GDE, Microsoft MVP, Published Author, International Speaker.

Co-founder of Orama, your product answer engine. Also: TC39 Delegate, Google GDE, Microsoft MVP, Published Author, International Speaker. Show more

Veronika Kolesnikova

Veronika Kolesnikova

Software engineer by day and AI enthusiast by night. Veronika has extensive experience in full-stack development using C#, .NET, Java and Typescript, Azure and AWS clouds. Public speaker, hackathon volunteer, co-organizer of Boston Azure user group, and mentor. Curious about mobile and Augmented Reality.
Veronika holds a master's degree in Information Technology. She likes dancing, traveling and practicing aerial fitness in her free time.

Software engineer by day and AI enthusiast by night. Veronika has extensive experience in full-stack development using C#, .NET, Java and Typescript, Azure and AWS clouds. Public speaker, hackathon volunteer, co-organizer of Boston Azure user group, ... Show more

Edoardo Dusi

Edoardo Dusi

Edoardo is a Developer Relations Engineer. He has a strong software developer and team leader background, working on various projects and platforms. He is passionate about creating and sharing content that educates and inspires other developers, such as tech talks, videos, podcasts, conferences, and more. He enjoys connecting with the developer community and promoting the benefits of open source software.

Edoardo is a Developer Relations Engineer. He has a strong software developer and team leader background, working on various projects and platforms. He is passionate about creating and sharing content that educates and inspires other developers, such... Show more

Alyssa Nicoll

Alyssa Nicoll

Alyssa is an Angular Developer Advocate for Kendo UI and a Google Developer Expert for Angular. She has spoken at over 30 conferences Internationally. She streams weekly on the Angular Air podcast and Twitch CodeItLive channel. She enjoys gaming, scuba diving, and has a little one that fondly goes by "Mr. Milks".

Alyssa is an Angular Developer Advocate for Kendo UI and a Google Developer Expert for Angular. She has spoken at over 30 conferences Internationally. She streams weekly on the Angular Air podcast and Twitch CodeItLive channel. She enjoys gaming, scu... Show more

Oskar Dudycz

Oskar Dudycz

I'm a developer, technical team leader, and architect. I started a career before StackOverflow existed. For over 17 years, I've been creating systems close to the business process. I believe that Event-Driven Architecture and Event Sourcing are great ways to achieve that.

I'm an active open-source developer active especially in the Event Driven space (I was working on tools like Marten, EventStoreDB, and now Emmett). I'm sharing my journey and findings on my blog https://event-driven.io and practical samples at https://github.com/oskardudycz.

I'm a developer, technical team leader, and architect. I started a career before StackOverflow existed. For over 17 years, I've been creating systems close to the business process. I believe that Event-Driven Architecture and Event Sourcing are great... Show more

Thomas Bründl

Thomas Bründl

Thomas Bründl works as a Hybrid Cloud & Datacenter Experts at ACP IT Solutions. As part of the cloud engineering team (Hybrid Cloud & Datacenter) he helps companies to transform their business to the cloud (strong focus on Azure and AWS). In one of his previous roles, he was responsible for the migration of a software suite designed for the financial sector, as well as for its continuous improvement.This requires a good knowledge of the IT landscape on premises as well as the capabilities offered by the major hyper-scalers. He is currently focused on hybrid solutions, such as Azure Stack HCI, Azure Arc, Netapp OnTap and many others, and their optimal integration into customer landscapes.

You can get more information about Thomas on his Blog: https://it-infrastructure.solutions or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TBrundl as well LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-bruendl

Thomas Bründl works as a Hybrid Cloud & Datacenter Experts at ACP IT Solutions. As part of the cloud engineering team (Hybrid Cloud & Datacenter) he helps companies to transform their business to the cloud (strong focus on Azure and AWS). In one of h... Show more

David Neal

David Neal

David is a family man, software developer, musician, illustrator, and Microsoft MVP living in North Georgia, USA. David runs on a high-octane mixture of caffeine and JavaScript, and is made entirely of bacon.

David is a family man, software developer, musician, illustrator, and Microsoft MVP living in North Georgia, USA. David runs on a high-octane mixture of caffeine and JavaScript, and is made entirely of bacon. Show more

Roland Guijt

Roland Guijt

Roland is a Microsoft MVP, ASP.NET Insider and Pluralsight author enjoying a constant curiosity around new techniques in software development. His focus is on all things .NET and browser technologies.
As a long-time trainer and speaker, he led many courses on these topics and spoke about these topics at manyinternational conferences.

Roland is a Microsoft MVP, ASP.NET Insider and Pluralsight author enjoying a constant curiosity around new techniques in software development. His focus is on all things .NET and browser technologies. As a long-time trainer and speaker, he led many... Show more

Micha Wets

Micha Wets

As a Microsoft MVP, Micha enjoys talking about all Azure & Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) topics and has already spoken at Microsoft conferences, International (User Group) events, Microsoft hosted webinars & Workshops and more.
He has over 15 years of experience as a Azure & DevOps engineer and has in depth knowledge of private, hybrid and public clouds.
Today Micha mainly focuses on Azure, DevOps, Windows 365 & AVD environments and is particularly knowledgeable about migrating those environments to Azure.
Micha is freelance Azure Architect @ Ahold Delhaize and works with Microsoft on Azure, Windows 365 & AVD

As a Microsoft MVP, Micha enjoys talking about all Azure & Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) topics and has already spoken at Microsoft conferences, International (User Group) events, Microsoft hosted webinars & Workshops and more. He has over 15 years of... Show more

Viktor Hedberg

Viktor Hedberg

Security consultant with a focus on Microsoft Security either on-prem or in the cloud, and a blueteamer at heart. Viktor has worked within IT for the past 10 years always within Cyber Security. Working for public sector in Sweden for years but now as a specialist at Truesec AB focusing on proactive security measures, DFIR and advises on all things cyber.

Security consultant with a focus on Microsoft Security either on-prem or in the cloud, and a blueteamer at heart. Viktor has worked within IT for the past 10 years always within Cyber Security. Working for public sector in Sweden for years but now as... Show more

Mike Benkovich

Mike Benkovich

A developer, business owner, consultant, cloud architect, Microsoft Azure MVP and an online instructor, Mike Benkovich is an alumni of Microsoft from 2004 to 2012 where he helped build developer communities across the US, thru work on Microsoft Across America, MSDN Events, MSDN Webcasts, DPE and Channel 9. He's helped to create and grow developer conferences and user groups in various cities across the US. While at Microsoft he helped create the Azure Boot Camp events that were run in cities across the US and at PDC and TechEd before it was transferred to the community. In 2009 he started a Toastmaster club for Geeks called TechMasters in Minneapolis where we still grow speakers for Conferences. He's a LinkedIn Learning Instructor for Azure, have developed many online courses. Mike actively works in Azure Cloud Governance, DevOps, Application Architecture and Software Delivery consulting.

A developer, business owner, consultant, cloud architect, Microsoft Azure MVP and an online instructor, Mike Benkovich is an alumni of Microsoft from 2004 to 2012 where he helped build developer communities across the US, thru work on Microsoft Acros... Show more

Antonio Cobo

Antonio Cobo

Antonio is a seasoned Agile Coach with a wealth of experience in delivery management across the UK. With a foundation as a Java Developer early in his career, he excels in bridging communication gaps between development teams and business stakeholders. Having worked in diverse environments spanning three countries, Antonio has honed his ability to appreciate varying perspectives and cultivate cultural awareness
He usually speaks about Agile, DevOps and Mental Health across Europe and US.

Antonio is a seasoned Agile Coach with a wealth of experience in delivery management across the UK. With a foundation as a Java Developer early in his career, he excels in bridging communication gaps between development teams and business stakeholder... Show more

Janek Fellien

Janek Fellien

As Principal Software Engineer at Medialesson GmbH, I am significantly involved in the planning and implementation of customer projects. Thanks to my experience in Domain-Driven Design, I am able to take a holistic view of projects in order to develop solutions that meet the customer's needs. These are mainly enterprise solutions in and for the Microsoft Azure Cloud, but also unusual projects such as a real hybrid event space or IIoT with "terminal blocks".
I have been the proud holder of the Microsoft MVP Award since 2017 and I organize the KanDDDinsky conference for the Domain-Driven Design community once a year.

As Principal Software Engineer at Medialesson GmbH, I am significantly involved in the planning and implementation of customer projects. Thanks to my experience in Domain-Driven Design, I am able to take a holistic view of projects in order to develo... Show more

Josh Goldberg

Josh Goldberg

Hi, I'm Josh! I'm a frontend developer with a passion for open source, static analysis, and the web. I'm a full time open source maintainer and work on projects in the TypeScript ecosystem such as typescript-eslint and TypeStat. I'm also the author of the Learning TypeScript book, published by O'Reilly. My work focuses on bringing accessible education to the masses in a sustainable way.

I've been speaking at conferences since 2019, including in-person talks at All Things Open, HalfStack, LeadDev Berlin, StaffPlus NYC, and TSConf, as well as several dozen online conferences. You can most of my available talk slides and recordings at https://www.joshuakgoldberg.com/#talks.

Hi, I'm Josh! I'm a frontend developer with a passion for open source, static analysis, and the web. I'm a full time open source maintainer and work on projects in the TypeScript ecosystem such as typescript-eslint and TypeStat. I'm also the author o... Show more

Surbhi Pokharna

Surbhi Pokharna

Surbhi is a data professional with over two decades of architectural/administration experience in the financial domain. Architecting the operationalization aspect in a client-facing role, delivering relational and advanced analytics solutions for large scale Operational and Data Warehouse implementations with focus on learning and innovation remained a constant part of her data journey. Currently she is leading enterprise scale cloud data migrations in SQL Server/Snowflake/Azure SQL/Managed Instance and involved with designing next generation Data Analytics solutions using Snowflake. Surbhi is board member of the New England SQL Server User Group, member of PASS, speaker in PAAS Summit/Snowflake User Group/Azure Data User Groups/Data Saturdays/SQLBits.

Surbhi is a data professional with over two decades of architectural/administration experience in the financial domain. Architecting the operationalization aspect in a client-facing role, delivering relational and advanced analytics solutions for lar... Show more

Angela Henry

Angela Henry

Angela is a Senior Architect, living in High Point, NC and loves what she does. She's worked with all versions of SQL Server & worn all the hats that come with dealing with SQL Server throughout the years: developer, administrator, data architect and BI developer. She has her MSCE in Data and Analytics (f.k.a., Business Intelligence), is a Data Platform MVP, and a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). She is the former chapter leader for the PASS Triad SQL User Group in Greensboro, NC. In her spare time you can probably find her in or at the pool, she's an avid US Masters Swimmer, Coach and Instructor.

Angela is a Senior Architect, living in High Point, NC and loves what she does. She's worked with all versions of SQL Server & worn all the hats that come with dealing with SQL Server throughout the years: developer, administrator, data architect and... Show more

Emiliano Montesdeoca

Emiliano Montesdeoca

I'm Emiliano Montesdeoca, an Uruguayan and Spanish software developer and Microsoft MVP in developer tecnhologies that currently lives in Tenerife, Canary Island. I began my journey as developer few years ago and I enjoy it every single day.

Currently I work in Intelequia Technologies as Cloud Solutions Architect, focusing on architecting, building and delivering cloud applications that can scale properly mainly using Microsoft technologies.

I really enjoy sharing about what I learn on daily challenges, that's why I give sessions all around the globe and write posts on my blog. I've learnt a lot from the community so I'm focused on giving back all the knowledge that I can.

As for personal stuff, I have a Golden Retriever called Nala which I show on every session I give, I love meat (Uruguayan huh), tattoos (I have a few) and flying around whenver I can.

I'm Emiliano Montesdeoca, an Uruguayan and Spanish software developer and Microsoft MVP in developer tecnhologies that currently lives in Tenerife, Canary Island. I began my journey as developer few years ago and I enjoy it every single day. Curr... Show more

Sébastien Paulet

Sébastien Paulet

18 years as consultant, dev, tech lead, project manager, trainer, team leader, speaker around SharePoint and M365 technologies and fond of topics around #compliance, #GDPR, #ITSec, #AI, #documentManagement, #recordsManagement, #lean, #scrum, #roi.
Various aMS events around the world + MWCP Paris organizer.

18 years as consultant, dev, tech lead, project manager, trainer, team leader, speaker around SharePoint and M365 technologies and fond of topics around #compliance, #GDPR, #ITSec, #AI, #documentManagement, #recordsManagement, #lean, #scrum, #roi. V... 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

Henning Schwentner

Henning Schwentner

Henning loves programming in high quality. He lives this passion as coder, coach, and consultant at WPS – Workplace Solutions. There he helps teams to structure their monoliths or to build new systems from the beginning with a sustainable architecture. Microservices or self-contained systems are often the result. Henning is author of “Domain Storytelling” (Addison-Wesley 2022), “Domain-Driven Transformation” (Addison-Wesley 2024) and the www.LeasingNinja.io.

Henning loves programming in high quality. He lives this passion as coder, coach, and consultant at WPS – Workplace Solutions. There he helps teams to structure their monoliths or to build new systems from the beginning with a sustainable architectur... Show more

Francesco Sciuti

Francesco Sciuti

Francesco (Google Developer Expert, Microsoft MVP, Google Certified Developer & AWS UG Lead), is a programmer with several years of experience in enterprise programming , high skilled in web development (frontend and backend) and in team project management.

I have a keen interest in new technologies and in IT development and I’m always upgrading and evaluating my knowledge and skills to stay at the cutting-edge of web development.

My outstanding verbal and written communication skills let me involved in lots of meetings, workshop and courses both in Sicily and in Italy as a speaker and tech event organizer.

Focused on continual professional and technological improvement: books, courses, articles, forums and regular attender of tech events where I can meet new and interesting people with which exchange as much as possible ideas and technical knowledge.

I want to put myself in challenges both in the personal and professional side and this is way I’m involved ,as an active contributor, in many Italian communities (Angular ,React, Javascript ,GDG, PUG, etc…) and I contribute as a counselor to CoderDojo Foundation (Computational youth learning).

I’ve worked for a long time as a employee and then as a freelancer, but nowadays I has my own company: Acadevmy – Software Factory, founded with my friends Andrea and Salvo.

Francesco (Google Developer Expert, Microsoft MVP, Google Certified Developer & AWS UG Lead), is a programmer with several years of experience in enterprise programming , high skilled in web development (frontend and backend) and in team project mana... Show more

Christian Alexander Schreiber

Christian Alexander Schreiber

Christian has more than 25 years of experience in IT consulting and is Lead Architect for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Certified Trainer at WBS IT-Service GmbH in Leipzig - Germany. He is highly skilled in all new features of Microsoft Azure & Microsoft technologies (M365, Teams, SharePoint, Power Platform, Azure AI, CoPilot, Modern Workplace). As a speaker, he delivers over 15 technical sessions annually in face-to-face formats in both German and English. Christian is the organiser of the aMS Leipzig conference. He is passionate about requirements gathering and analysis, information and data modelling and analysis, and information architecture development. He also believes that effective communication and collaboration are essential to delivering successful IT solutions that meet customer needs. Christian is always looking for new challenges and opportunities to learn and grow in his field, and is committed to helping others succeed in their digital transformation journey.

Christian has more than 25 years of experience in IT consulting and is Lead Architect for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Certified Trainer at WBS IT-Service GmbH in Leipzig - Germany. He is highly skilled in all new features of Microsoft Azure & Microso... Show more

Bhargav Reddy

Bhargav Reddy

As a Solutions Architect at Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore; I am part of a niche technology & consulting team called Rapid Apps & Automation. I leverage my 15+ years of experience and multiple Microsoft technologies to play the role of a Strategic and Advisory consultant in architecting innovative and efficient solutions using Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and Azure.

I am an event organizer and a founding member of India Microsoft Tech Community: https://www.meetup.com/india-ms-tech-community/. I also participate as a speaker actively at user groups, tech events, and conferences.

As a Solutions Architect at Tata Consultancy Services, Bangalore; I am part of a niche technology & consulting team called Rapid Apps & Automation. I leverage my 15+ years of experience and multiple Microsoft technologies to play the role of a Strate... Show more

Laurent Bugnion

Laurent Bugnion

I work as Principal Cloud Advocate for Microsoft Azure after almost 10 years spent working for IdentityMine and Valorem, two leading firms in Microsoft technologies. I code in Azure, .NET, Blazor, Windows, WPF, ASP.NET, JavaScript. On my free time, I write for technical publications, publish technical videos on YouTube, and my blog is on blog.galasoft.ch. I am a frequent speaker at conferences such as Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Build, VS Live, Techorama, DevSum and many other international events. Prior to joining Microsoft, I was a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Windows development from 2007 to 2017, a Microsoft Regional Director from 2013 and a Xamarin Most Valuable Professional from 2015. I am also the author of the (former) well-known open source framework MVVM Light for Windows, WPF and Xamarin.

I work as Principal Cloud Advocate for Microsoft Azure after almost 10 years spent working for IdentityMine and Valorem, two leading firms in Microsoft technologies. I code in Azure, .NET, Blazor, Windows, WPF, ASP.NET, JavaScript. On my free time, 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 is on the organization committee for New Hampshire's Granite State Code Camp where he builds and operates a Capture the Flag competition for attendees.

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 is on the organization committee for New Hampshire's Granite State Code Camp where he builds and op... Show more

Jean Joseph

Jean Joseph

Jean Joseph is a Data Engineer & DBA and work for Microsoft as a Technical Trainer. He is a speaker, former Microsoft MVP, IT Event Planner, Blogger, Data Driven Community Builder, Founder & main organizer of Cloud Data Driven User Group & Future Data Driven Summit, highly experienced in Traditional Database, and Big Data technologies with a history of successes in designing, implementing complex technical projects for diverse businesses in various stages of their development. Acknowledged as a leader capable of mentoring teams of different backgrounds and talents and inspiring individual efforts to deliver.

Jean Joseph is a Data Engineer & DBA and work for Microsoft as a Technical Trainer. He is a speaker, former Microsoft MVP, IT Event Planner, Blogger, Data Driven Community Builder, Founder & main organizer of Cloud Data Driven User Group & Future Dat... Show more

David Patrick

David Patrick

Dave has been developing database applications for over 30 years. A Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 2001, he has taught many classes from Intro to Programming to Advanced SharePoint Development. Dave is a seven time Microsoft MVP and runs three user groups, MAD SharePoint, www.madsharepoint.com, the Mid Atlantic Cybersecurity Experts MeetUp, www.meetup.com/MACEME, and the Baltimore Cloud Meetup, www.meetup.com/Baltimore-Cloud.

Dave does SharePoint training and application development for DSA, Inc., a DoD contractor that does great work for the U.S. Army over at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Dave has a bunch of certifications, including MCSD App Builder, MSCE for SharePoint, and MCSA SQL Server certification.

In his spare time, Dave teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland College Park's iSchool, Towson University and Stevenson University.

Check out www.PatrickPerspective.com to hear about Dave and his daughter Sarah's different views on tech!

Dave has been developing database applications for over 30 years. A Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) since 2001, he has taught many classes from Intro to Programming to Advanced SharePoint Development. Dave is a seven time Microsoft MVP and runs thr... Show more

Marco Dal Pino

Marco Dal Pino

Marco Dal Pino is working in IT for more than 30 years as Developer, Team Leader, PM and Cloud Architect.
He mostly experienced Microsoft dev Platforms around .NET, for LOB, Desktop, Mobile and embedded apps.
He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and a Speaker at the main technical conferences all around the world.
He is part of the staff of DotNetToscana a community focused on Microsoft technologies.
He received many awards from IT companies as independent Advisor like:
Microsoft MVP, Intel BlackBelt & Innovator, Nokia DevChamp, Hackster Live Ambassador
He works in Microsoft as a Technical Consultant.

Marco Dal Pino is working in IT for more than 30 years as Developer, Team Leader, PM and Cloud Architect. He mostly experienced Microsoft dev Platforms around .NET, for LOB, Desktop, Mobile and embedded apps. He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and... Show more

Mark Rackley

Mark Rackley

Mark is Director of the Microsoft Practice at Protiviti and a Microsoft MVP with more than 25 years of experience designing and developing software solutions. Mark’s daily responsibilities include forging the direction of solution architecture and development projects for clients while providing the best solutions for clients' unique problems. As a globally recognized SharePoint geek, Mark is an active blogger, presenter, author (and bacon aficionado) who is eager to lend his real-world knowledge of SharePoint to all who need it.

In addition to speaking at various SharePoint & Office 365 conferences around the world, Mark is the organizer of The North American Collaboration Summit (www.collabsummit.org) in Branson, Missouri, the creator of the free InfoPath replacement tool StratusForms (www.stratusforms.com), and a podcaster at www.techsplaining.net

Mark is Director of the Microsoft Practice at Protiviti and a Microsoft MVP with more than 25 years of experience designing and developing software solutions. Mark’s daily responsibilities include forging the direction of solution architecture and de... 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.