Most Active Speakers 2023

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

  • 754 speakers
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Nikos Delis

Nikos Delis

Microsoft Certified x6, MVP for Azure & IoT, Senior Cloud Architect and tech enthusiast. Passionate about software architecture and solution design.

During my 10+ years of hands-on experience in Software Engineering, I have primarily focused on .NET-based solutions and Azure as a cloud-services provider. I have worked with pretty much all kinds of applications, from small Windows Forms tools to large-scale enterprise web-based solutions. The more I code, the more I realize that my true passion is solution design and software architecture, regardless of tech-stack and platform.

Sharing knowledge and insights is the finest thing I know and the one thing I love the most in the IT community.

Microsoft Certified x6, MVP for Azure & IoT, Senior Cloud Architect and tech enthusiast. Passionate about software architecture and solution design. During my 10+ years of hands-on experience in Software Engineering, I have primarily focused on .N... Show more

Patty O'Callaghan

Patty O'Callaghan

Patty is a Venezuelan living in Scotland. She has +20 years of experience in the tech industry and a background education in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. She is a Technical Director and Head of AI Architecture and Engineering Group at Charles River Laboratories.

Patty is a member of the Google Developer Advisory Board, an organiser at Google Developers Group Glasgow, serves as an Ambassador for Google's Women Techmakers, and is recognised as a Google Developer Expert (GDE) in Artificial Intelligence.

Patty is a Venezuelan living in Scotland. She has +20 years of experience in the tech industry and a background education in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. She is a Technical Director and Head of AI Architecture and Engineering Group a... Show more

Gerald Versluis

Gerald Versluis

Meet Gerald Versluis, software engineer at Microsoft, who wields the power of .NET MAUI to conquer any project that comes his way. With a career spanning over a decade, he's tackled it all, from frontend to backend and everything in between, using Azure, ASP.NET, and all the other .NET goodies.

But it wasn't until he discovered the magic of Xamarin that he truly fell in love with mobile and cross-platform development, becoming an active community member and sharing his knowledge through writing, tweeting, and presentations. When he's not saving the world of software, you can find him on Twitter @jfversluis, blogging at https://blog.verslu.is, or making videos on his YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/GeraldVersluis.

Meet Gerald Versluis, software engineer at Microsoft, who wields the power of .NET MAUI to conquer any project that comes his way. With a career spanning over a decade, he's tackled it all, from frontend to backend and everything in between, using Az... Show more

Yannis Martin

Yannis Martin

Yannis Martin is the founder and CEO of Nistin et OMK, a digital transformation consulting and training company.

With 16 years of experience in project management and transition management, he is a certified consultant and trainer in COBIT® 2019, ITIL® 4, and a PECB Certified Trainer in cybersecurity (ISO27001), and PRINCE2®. His expertise covers governance, IT security, and project management.

EiCnam engineer and sociologist by training, he has been a speaker since 2019. He has participated in numerous international events, including the Agile Tour, Devopsdays, and the IIBA and SMP conferences. He also teaches at the University of Avignon (2021) and EM Lyon (2025).

In 2024, he became a doctoral student at the Université de technologie de Compiègne, Alliance Sorbonne Université, and the COSTECH laboratory. His research focuses on how AI fits into the history of complexity and helps provide principles for approaching it in different domains.

Yannis Martin is the founder and CEO of Nistin et OMK, a digital transformation consulting and training company. With 16 years of experience in project management and transition management, he is a certified consultant and trainer in COBIT® 2019,... Show more

Jason Romans

Jason Romans

Jason Romans is a Business Intelligence engineer in Nashville, TN working with the Microsoft Business Intelligence stack. Jason is a Microsoft MVP who started his career as a DBA and over the years moved to working in his passion of Business Intelligence and data modeling. His first computer was a Commodore 64 and he's been hooked ever since.

Jason Romans is a Business Intelligence engineer in Nashville, TN working with the Microsoft Business Intelligence stack. Jason is a Microsoft MVP who started his career as a DBA and over the years moved to working in his passion of Business Intellig... Show more

Gabi Münster

Gabi Münster

Gabi Münster (she / her) started working with SQL Server technologies in 2005. After some short excursions into Web Application development and a long and inspiring time as a BI consultant / Data architect at oh22data AG (including experiencing being a Data Platform MVP), she joined Microsoft as a Senior Program Manager at the Fabric CAT team in March 2022.
She speaks at regional chapter meetings, national and international conferences. Since 2016 she also supports a regional chapter as co-lead.
Apart from BI topics she also supports Diversity topics.

Gabi Münster (she / her) started working with SQL Server technologies in 2005. After some short excursions into Web Application development and a long and inspiring time as a BI consultant / Data architect at oh22data AG (including experiencing being... Show more

Baruch Sadogursky

Baruch Sadogursky

Baruch Sadogursky (@jbaruch) did Java before it had generics, DevOps before there was Docker, and DevRel before it had a name. He started DevRel at JFrog when it was ten people and took it all the way to a successful $6B IPO by helping engineers solve problems. Now, Baruch keeps helping engineers solve problems, but also helps companies help engineers solve problems. He is a co-author of the "Liquid Software" and "DevOps Tools for Java Developers" books, Java Champion and CNCF Ambassador alumni, serves on multiple conference program committees, and regularly speaks at numerous most prestigious industry conferences, such as DevNexus, DevOpsDays, Voxxed Days, Devoxx, DevRelCon, Kubecon and QCon. Today, he's taking care of developers at TuxCare.

Baruch Sadogursky (@jbaruch) did Java before it had generics, DevOps before there was Docker, and DevRel before it had a name. He started DevRel at JFrog when it was ten people and took it all the way to a successful $6B IPO by helping engineers solv... Show more

Angelo Gulisano

Angelo Gulisano

I am a Microsoft MVP for Business Apps, MCT, and independent consultant specializing in Power Platform, SharePoint, and Microsoft 365. With over 18 years of experience in the IT industry, I have led teams in developing enterprise solutions and have extensive experience in training and digital transformation. Passionate about Microsoft technologies, music, and travel, I enjoy speaking at technical conferences and connecting with new people.

I am a Microsoft MVP for Business Apps, MCT, and independent consultant specializing in Power Platform, SharePoint, and Microsoft 365. With over 18 years of experience in the IT industry, I have led teams in developing enterprise solutions and have e... Show more

Dotan Horovits

Dotan Horovits

Horovits lives at the intersection of technology, product and innovation. With over 20 years in the hi-tech industry as a software developer, a solutions architect and a product manager, he brings a wealth of knowledge in cloud and cloud-native solutions, DevOps practices and more.
Horovits is an international speaker and thought leader, as well as an Ambassador of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). He runs the successful OpenObservability Talks podcast, where he evangelizes on Observability in IT systems using popular open source projects such as Prometheus, OpenSearch, Jaeger and OpenTelemetry.

Horovits lives at the intersection of technology, product and innovation. With over 20 years in the hi-tech industry as a software developer, a solutions architect and a product manager, he brings a wealth of knowledge in cloud and cloud-native solut... Show more

Vesa Nopanen

Vesa Nopanen

Vesa “Vesku” Nopanen is Principal Consultant for AI-Native Future Work at Sulava Gulf and a Microsoft MVP (AI & Microsoft 365). With 30 years in enterprise IT, he helps organizations create workplaces where people and intelligent agents collaborate seamlessly. Vesku specializes in leveraging Microsoft AI & cloud technologies —Copilot, Azure AI, Teams, Loop, Copilot Studio, and more— into practical platforms for co-creation, pairing deep technical expertise with a passion for technology and better worklife.

He writes the FutureWork.blog, speaks at global conferences, and is an active technology community member and event organizer accelerating the shift towards an AI-Native future.
Recognized as an MVP since 2019, Vesku continues to share insights that trailblaze the Age of AI.

🔗 linktr.ee/vesanopanen

Vesa “Vesku” Nopanen is Principal Consultant for AI-Native Future Work at Sulava Gulf and a Microsoft MVP (AI & Microsoft 365). With 30 years in enterprise IT, he helps organizations create workplaces where people and intelligent agents collaborate s... Show more

Scott McAllister

Scott McAllister

Scott McAllister is a Developer Advocate for LoftLabs. He has been building web applications in several industries for over a decade. Now he's helping others learn about a wide range of web and infrastructure technologies. When he's not coding, writing or speaking he enjoys long walks with his wife, skipping rocks with his kids, and is happy whenever Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders FC, Manchester City, St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Bulls, Seattle Storm, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Reign FC, St. Louis Blues, Seattle Kraken, Barcelona, Fiorentina, Borussia Dortmund or Mainz 05 can manage a win.

Scott McAllister is a Developer Advocate for LoftLabs. He has been building web applications in several industries for over a decade. Now he's helping others learn about a wide range of web and infrastructure technologies. When he's not coding, writi... Show more

Marit van Dijk

Marit van Dijk

With over 20 years of diverse experience across various roles and companies, Marit is passionate about building awesome software in collaboration with amazing people, and making developers’ lives better.
She is committed to continuous learning and actively shares her expertise in programming, software development, testing, and test automation. Marit regularly presents at international conferences, participates in webinars, and appears on podcasts. Additionally, she writes blog posts and tutorials, creates videos, and is a contributor to the book "97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know" (O’Reilly Media).

With over 20 years of diverse experience across various roles and companies, Marit is passionate about building awesome software in collaboration with amazing people, and making developers’ lives better. She is committed to continuous learning and a... Show more

Andres Almiray

Andres Almiray

Andres is a Java/Groovy developer and a Java Champion Alumni, Developer Advocate for the Database Group At Oracle, with more than 2 decades of experience in software design and development. He has been involved in web and desktop application development since the early days of Java. Andres is a true believer in open source and has participated on popular projects like Groovy, Griffon, and DbUnit, as well as starting his own projects. Founding member of the Griffon framework and Hackergarten community event. Author of JReleaser.

Andres is a Java/Groovy developer and a Java Champion Alumni, Developer Advocate for the Database Group At Oracle, with more than 2 decades of experience in software design and development. He has been involved in web and desktop application developm... Show more

Suzanne Daniels

Suzanne Daniels

Suzanne is a seasoned technology leader with a deep focus on developer productivity and innovation strategy. At Microsoft, she partners with CTOs and senior executives across EMEA to elevate the developer experience through AI, Azure, and GitHub. With a background spanning software engineering, platform architecture, and executive advisory roles.

Suzanne brings a pragmatic yet visionary approach to driving transformation at scale. Her mission is clear: empower developers, enable innovation, and align technology with strategic outcomes.

Suzanne is a seasoned technology leader with a deep focus on developer productivity and innovation strategy. At Microsoft, she partners with CTOs and senior executives across EMEA to elevate the developer experience through AI, Azure, and GitHub. Wit... Show more

Joseph Guadagno

Joseph Guadagno

Joe Guadagno is a currently Senior Vice President of IT for realtime Technologies. He has been writing software for over 20 years, has been an active member of the .NET community, formerly serving on the .NET Foundation Board of Directors, as President, and has been a Microsoft MVP in .NET for more than 15 years. He has spoken through the United States and international events on topics ranging from Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Azure, Ionic, Bootstrap, and many others. You can see the complete list at https://www.josephguadagno.net/presentations. When not sitting at a computer, Joe loves to hang out with his family and play games. When not playing games with the family, Joe is checking out the latest in Home Automation. You can connect with Joe on Bluesky at @jguadagno.com, Facebook at JosephGuadagnoNet, and on his blog at https://www.josephguadagno.net

Joe Guadagno is a currently Senior Vice President of IT for realtime Technologies. He has been writing software for over 20 years, has been an active member of the .NET community, formerly serving on the .NET Foundation Board of Directors, as Preside... Show more

Chris DeMars

Chris DeMars

Chris DeMars is a Senior Developer Advocate with over 20 years of technical experience. He speaks all over the world on web accessibility, feature flags, A/B testing, and CSS. For his community contributions, he holds awards as a Progress Champion and former Microsoft MVP, Google Developer Expert, Cloudinary Media Developer Expert, and Auth0 Ambassador. When he is not working on making the web great and accessible you can find him fishing, on the paintball field, rating Detroit Style pizza, and looking for UFO's.

Chris DeMars is a Senior Developer Advocate with over 20 years of technical experience. He speaks all over the world on web accessibility, feature flags, A/B testing, and CSS. For his community contributions, he holds awards as a Progress Champion an... Show more

Jan Ketil Skanke

Jan Ketil Skanke

Jan Ketil is an Microsoft MVP since 2016 and are working as a COO and Principal Cloud Architect at CloudWay in Norway. He has been working in the industry for Microsoft Partners and Microsoft for more than 20 years. He loves to speak about anything around Endpoint Management, Identity, Security and Automation. He is also the lead for both community conferences Workplace Ninjas Norway and Nordic Virtual Summit. Jan Ketil has presented at large industry conferences like Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Inspire, MMS, TechMentor HQ, Experts Live Europe, WPNinja and NIC Conference in Oslo. He is also a regular speaker at various User Group events across Europe.

Jan Ketil is an Microsoft MVP since 2016 and are working as a COO and Principal Cloud Architect at CloudWay in Norway. He has been working in the industry for Microsoft Partners and Microsoft for more than 20 years. He loves to speak about anything a... Show more

Sasha Denisov

Sasha Denisov

Sasha is a software developer with over 20 years in multiple technologies and domains. A tech lead, architect, and mobile solutions expert, he specializes in AI integrations for mobile apps, focusing on on-device AI. He excels in Flutter, Firebase, and generative AI for robust, scalable apps. Sasha is Chief Software Engineer and Head of Flutter Discipline at EPAM, GDE for AI, Firebase, Flutter, Dart, and co-organizes Flutter Berlin Community

Sasha is a software developer with over 20 years in multiple technologies and domains. A tech lead, architect, and mobile solutions expert, he specializes in AI integrations for mobile apps, focusing on on-device AI. He excels in Flutter, Firebase, a... Show more

Shivay Lamba

Shivay Lamba

Shivay Lamba is a software developer specializing in DevOps, Machine Learning and Full Stack Development.

He is an Open Source Enthusiast and has been part of various programs like Google Code In and Google Summer of Code as a Mentor and is currently a MLH Fellow. He has also worked at organizations like Amazon, EY, Genpact. He is a Tensorflow.JS SIG member and community lead from India.

Shivay Lamba is a software developer specializing in DevOps, Machine Learning and Full Stack Development. He is an Open Source Enthusiast and has been part of various programs like Google Code In and Google Summer of Code as a Mentor and is curre... Show more

Rie Merritt

Rie Merritt

Rie Merritt has been working with SQL Server since 1999, when she started as a data analyst for a non-profit. She has worked in many industries over the years including pharmaceutical, e-commerce, legal, financial, education and both federal & state government. She is currently Principal PM Manager with Microsoft Azure Data, serving as the Influencers, Community & Events lead. She is liaison between the product group and Influencers, User Groups, MVPs & Super Users, and her team owns the FabCon workstream for Engineering. She is based out of Redmond, but works remotely from her home near Atlanta.

Since 2010, Rie has done extensive work with the SQL Community. She was an MVP in the Data Platform for three years, speaking frequently at conferences across the US and moderating webinars, WIT panels and career panels. She has also served co-leader of the Women in Technology Virtual Group and Executive Director of SQL Saturday Atlanta. Currently, Rie helps run the Atlanta Azure Data User Group heading up Microsoft’s efforts for the Azure Data Community.

Rie Merritt has been working with SQL Server since 1999, when she started as a data analyst for a non-profit. She has worked in many industries over the years including pharmaceutical, e-commerce, legal, financial, education and both federal & state ... 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 AI user group, and mentor. Curious about 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 AI user grou... Show more

Michel Murabito

Michel Murabito

I'm Michel Murabito, Mich to my friends! Born in 1986 in Turin with Sicilian roots, I now live in Milan. My journey in software began at 12, coding for fun. At 18, I started my first job as a software developer and have continuously sought new challenges to grow and learn. Today,

I'm a Developer Advocate at Mia-Platform and a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) Ambassador, sharing my passion for cloud native technologies with a community of curious minds. I'm also an organizer of the Cloud Native Days Italy (formerly KCD Italy) and KCD San Francisco Bay Area, fostering collaboration and innovation within the cloud native ecosystem.

I'm Michel Murabito, Mich to my friends! Born in 1986 in Turin with Sicilian roots, I now live in Milan. My journey in software began at 12, coding for fun. At 18, I started my first job as a software developer and have continuously sought new challe... Show more

Ben Kadel

Ben Kadel

Developer, Presenter/Teacher, Open source advocate, Ultimate frisbee player & Board game hoarder.
I love the fact that I get to code for a living, but I am also incredibly passionate about sharing, collaborating and helping others on their dev journey!
I also have a growing YouTube channel (youtube.com/benkadel), where I try to make entertaining & educational content about programming, the tech industry and specific tutorials to breakdown complex topics.
I adore presenting, story-telling and just generally engaging with an audience. If I am able to make life, even just a little brighter for someone then I have succeeded!

Developer, Presenter/Teacher, Open source advocate, Ultimate frisbee player & Board game hoarder. I love the fact that I get to code for a living, but I am also incredibly passionate about sharing, collaborating and helping others on their dev journ... Show more

Ed Charbeneau

Ed Charbeneau

Ed is a Microsoft MVP and an international speaker, writer, online influencer, a Developer Advocate for Progress, and expert on all things web development. Ed enjoys geeking out to cool new tech, brainstorming about future technology, and admiring great design.

Ed has shared his insights, experiences, and advice around collaboration, knowledge management, social computing, and training at many industry events around the United States. Highly ethical and engaging with an uncanny business acumen, he is a creative community builder and outside the box thinker. Long term business relationships throughout the world within internal communications, employee engagement and marketing as well as IT. Focusing on Financial, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Agency and Professional Services. He has defined, architected, implemented line of business solutions with a touch of style and UX best practices.

Ed is a Microsoft MVP and an international speaker, writer, online influencer, a Developer Advocate for Progress, and expert on all things web development. Ed enjoys geeking out to cool new tech, brainstorming about future technology, and admiring gr... Show more

Riccardo Perico

Riccardo Perico

Back in 2010 I began my career in IT.
After a brief stint as ERP Consultant, I transitioned into Data Realm.

Over the years, I explored the world of data from various perspectives, working both as a DBA and a BI Architect.

I'm a Microsoft Certified Professional at different levels in databases, BI and Azure areas.

Microsoft MVP for Data Platform category x4 and Microsoft Fabric Super User.

I'm one of the leaders of Power BI User Group in Italy and I'd been speaker during the Power Platform World Tour and Global Power Platform Bootcamp stops in Italy.

You can find me speaking at Azure Saturday, SQL Saturday, Data Saturday, and other community events across Europe.

I served as a technical reviewer for the books “Extending Power BI with Python and R”, "Microsoft Power BI Quick Start Guide" and “Power BI Cookbook, 3rd Edition”.

Last but not least, Hard Rock and Heavy Metal addicted!

Back in 2010 I began my career in IT. After a brief stint as ERP Consultant, I transitioned into Data Realm. Over the years, I explored the world of data from various perspectives, working both as a DBA and a BI Architect. I'm a Microsoft Cert... 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

Ashley Davies

Ashley Davies

Google Developer Expert for Android and Kotlin, enthusiastic public speaker, senior engineer, Kotlin aficionado, Multiplatform manipulator, prolific facilitator of cute cat photographs, spends more time travelling than working (he/him)

Google Developer Expert for Android and Kotlin, enthusiastic public speaker, senior engineer, Kotlin aficionado, Multiplatform manipulator, prolific facilitator of cute cat photographs, spends more time travelling than working (he/him) Show more

Engin Diri

Engin Diri

As a Senior Solutions Architect at Pulumi with over 15 years of experience in the IT industry, including roles at the Schwarz Group and W&W Versicherungen, I bring extensive expertise with an end-user and enterprise focus. Currently working for a startup while collaborating with enterprise clients has further enriched my experience!

I began my career as a Java backend developer, transitioned to frontend development, and ultimately specialized in CI/CD and DevOps. Working with ANT and Cruise Control to switch to Jenkins and Microsoft Team Foundation Server added some traumas on top! But as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

I have now embraced the dynamic world of DevOps and Platform Engineering, leveraging cloud technologies and Kubernetes.

Recently, I have been exploring AI to find ways to make myself redundant in the future.

As a Senior Solutions Architect at Pulumi with over 15 years of experience in the IT industry, including roles at the Schwarz Group and W&W Versicherungen, I bring extensive expertise with an end-user and enterprise focus. Currently working for a sta... Show more

Jennifer Wadella

Jennifer Wadella

Often described as a force of nature, Jennifer is a visionary leader with a proven track record in management excellence and leading software teams to successful execution of business goals.

With deep roots in frontend engineering Jennifer is still widely regarded as an expert in the Angular space despite her growing tenure in non-coding management roles. Jennifer combines years of experience in developing JavaScript applications through interfacing with users, stakeholders and business executives with a keen eye on the current development landscape & trends to craft strategic vision and lead teams to sustainable growth that contributes to company success.

Jennifer is passionate about developer communities, and shares her expertise in frontend development, engineering management, maximizing productivity, and community building across the world as a widely sought-after public speaker. She is also the founder of Kansas City Women in Technology, a non-profit that has taught thousands of women and girls in the Kansas City area to code, and helped women enter tech careers.

Often described as a force of nature, Jennifer is a visionary leader with a proven track record in management excellence and leading software teams to successful execution of business goals. With deep roots in frontend engineering Jennifer is sti... Show more

Nicolas Fränkel

Nicolas Fränkel

Nicolas Fränkel is a technologist focusing on cloud-native technologies, DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and system observability. His focus revolves around creating technical content, delivering talks, and engaging with developer communities to promote the adoption of modern software practices. With a strong background in software, he has worked extensively with the JVM, applying his expertise across various industries. In addition to his technical work, he is the author of several books and regularly shares insights through his blog and open-source contributions.

Nicolas Fränkel is a technologist focusing on cloud-native technologies, DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and system observability. His focus revolves around creating technical content, delivering talks, and engaging with developer communities to promote the... 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.