First Step: Judging by Planning Committee

Twelve experts in the industry are invited to participate in the Program Planning Committee. These individuals are selected based on their subject matter knowledge. AESP also ensures a strong mix of utility representation, board representation, geographic representation, and diversity of Planning Committee members. 

The Planning Committee members will review and score the submissions. Judging is completed in a fair and objective process. Judges are bound by confidentiality and are required to declare any conflict of interest in entries over which they deliberate, in which case they will recuse themself. 

Submissions are scored on a 1 (low) – 5 (high) scale on the following criteria:

• Innovation, to ensure that the topic is unique and new to the AESP community.

• Relevance and Impact, to conference attendees and AESP membership. Consider if the topic will inspire the audience and provide fodder for Q&A.

• Speaker’s Qualifications, to ensure the presentation is high quality. 

• Overall Impression, including the strength of submission writing, clear direction, and cohesion.

The judges will also apply their own experience to assess the quality of the submission. 

Second Step: Final Selection by Planning Committee

The Planning Committee members first review all submissions and scores before a highly collaborative planning session takes place, where Planning Committee members select the final speakers to be included as part of the agenda. If a topic area is missing, AESP may curate some content to balance out the remaining agenda.