Speaker photos: what conference organisers actually need
The photo goes on a website, a printed programme, a holding slide and a social card, each a different shape. Sending one small square causes most of the problems.
Getting asked for a speaker photo is one of the few times your headshot has to work at more than avatar size, and it is where a photo that has been fine everywhere else suddenly is not.
Here is what happens to it, so you can send the right thing first time.
Where it actually ends up
The event website. Usually a square or a portrait tile in a grid of speakers. Displayed at a few hundred pixels, sometimes larger on the individual speaker page.
A printed programme. This is the one that catches people out. Print needs far more resolution than screens, and it is unforgiving: a photo that looks fine on a website can look visibly soft on paper.
A holding slide or a screen in the room. Sometimes very large.
Social cards. Often a wide landscape image with you off to one side and text beside you, which means the organiser needs room to crop.
Occasionally a badge or a banner. Large, printed, close up.
Four different shapes and a big range of sizes, from one file.
What to send
The largest version you have. This is the main thing. Do not helpfully resize it down to “a reasonable size for email”. Organisers can shrink; they cannot enlarge. A photo that is 3000 pixels on the long side covers everything including print.
A moderately loose crop. Head and shoulders with a bit of room around you, not a tight avatar. They will crop it; give them something to crop. A tight square forces them to either use it as-is or letterbox it.
An uncompressed-as-possible file. A high-quality JPG straight from the original, not something forwarded through three chat apps. Print magnifies compression artefacts that are invisible on screen.
A plain background. Speaker grids put twenty photos next to each other. Busy backgrounds make the grid look chaotic, and organisers sometimes cut out speakers to place them on branded backgrounds, which is much easier from a plain original.
Via a file link, not a messaging app. Most messaging apps re-compress images by default. A cloud link, or email with the attachment at original size.
What to send alongside it
Organisers ask for this separately and then chase you for it, so include it unprompted:
- Your name exactly as you want it printed, including any accents.
- Your job title and organisation as you want them to appear.
- A short bio, and a shorter one. They usually need both and will ask for the second later.
- Your pronouns if you want them listed.
- Photo credit, if the photographer requires one.
That last one matters more than people expect. If a photographer took your headshot, check whether your licence requires attribution when it is published, and pass that on.
Resolution, concretely
Screen use is easy. Print is where the number matters, because print is measured in dots per inch rather than pixels.
If the programme prints your photo at around 5cm wide at 300 dpi, that is roughly 600 pixels. A 3000 pixel original covers it many times over, which is why “send the biggest you have” is the whole rule. If they print it larger, at a metre on a banner, they will tell you and you may need a proper photographer’s file.
The practical version: if your only copy is 1024 pixels because it came out of a web tool, say so when you send it. Organisers would rather know than discover it at the printer.
If all you have is a profile-sized photo
This is common, and it is worth being straight about what that means.
A 1024 pixel square is right for LinkedIn and fine for a website speaker grid. It is marginal for a printed programme and not enough for anything large.
You have two options. Go back to the original photo, before any web tool touched it, and produce a larger version from that. Or take a new one, which for a speaking engagement is usually worth the twenty minutes.
If you are producing one specifically for this, shoot with extra room around you, then keep the full-size original as well as your cropped versions. The original is what you send organisers; the crop is what you use online.
The photo itself
The usual rules, with two adjustments for this context.
Slightly looser than an avatar. It will be seen larger and cropped by someone else.
Plain background, seriously. It goes in a grid with other people. This is the one context where the background choice is not really about you.
Everything else is the same: soft light, camera two metres back, eyes sharp, whole head in frame, an expression that looks like you. Our phone guide covers the setup.
If you have a good original and just need the background and framing sorted, run it through here and export at 1600 pixels rather than the default, then keep your original file for anything printed.
Frequently asked questions
What size should a speaker photo be?
As large as you have, ideally 3000 pixels or more on the long side. Organisers can always reduce it, and print needs far more than screens.
Should a speaker photo be square or portrait?
Send a moderately loose crop and let them decide. They typically need square for a grid, portrait for a speaker page and landscape for social cards.
Can I use my LinkedIn photo as a speaker photo?
For a website, usually yes. For a printed programme, a 1024 pixel avatar is marginal, so go back to the original file if you can.
How do I send it without losing quality?
A cloud link or an email attachment at original size. Most messaging apps re-compress images, and print shows that.
Do I need to credit the photographer?
Check your licence. Many professional headshot licences require attribution when published, and organisers will print a credit if you give them one.