Support a Catholic Speaker Month 2012

Support a Catholic Speaker Month

Thanks again to everyone who helped prepare Support a Catholic Speaker Month 2012.  As I mentioned a few times, this project is designed to do three things:

  • Promote great Catholic speakers, who are so important to the life of the Church.
  • Introduce new and unfamiliar speakers, who deserve a bigger platform.
  • Help bloggers connect with their favorite speakers, blog about them, and build traffic to their own websites

Matt Warner, who came up with the idea back in 2009, says it best: “The goal is to create a rising Catholic tide on the Internet that lifts all boats, including speakers, bloggers, Catholic websites, and more.”

A couple weeks ago we welcomed nominations and built a list of more than 250 Catholic speakers. From there, over 11,100 people cast more than 82,000 votes to narrow our list down to 100.

Since this wasn’t meant to be a competition, I’ve decided not to release the results or rankings. Instead, you’ll find the top 100 speakers listed below in alphabetical order. I’ve also added each speaker’s home city, so if you’re planning an event in your area you can find some great local speakers.

Now on with the list!
 

Your Favorite Catholic Speakers of 2012

—> With supporting blog posts throughout September 2012

(Speakers: If I have the wrong website or location, please email me at speakers@brandonvogt.com so I can fix it right away.)
 

Honorable Mention

 

Video Interviews

To encourage video interviews for Support a Catholic Speaker Month, they will be specially embedded right here on the main page.
 

 

 
 

 

 
Now this is just the beginning. Support a Catholic Speaker Month wasn’t designed to just create a nice list. The real fun starts now. It’s time for you, and all other Catholic bloggers, to choose one of the speakers above to profile on your own site. Anyone with a blog or website is welcome to participate, but speakers will be claimed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

When choosing your speaker, don’t just rush to claim one of the “big names.” Rather, consider this an opportunity to learn about someone new, and to help an unfamiliar speaker gain more exposure.

To claim your speaker, just use the form below. I’ll update the above speaker list as claims are made to show which speakers have already been selected. I want to emphasize that by filling out this form, you’re promising to publish a post sometime during the month of September on the speaker you choose. So please only participate if you’re sincerely dedicated to writing a post. We’re all counting on you!
 


 
ALL SPEAKERS HAVE BEEN CLAIMED. However if you’d like to profile a speaker not listed above, write a post on your blog or website then email the link to speakers@brandonvogt.com so I can link to it under the Honorable Mention section above.
 


 
Once you claim your speaker, begin crafting your post. The entire month of September is marked as Support a Catholic Speaker Month so you can really post anytime during the month. However the earlier you post it, the quicker I can add your link to our list above. Ideally, you’d post it within the next couple weeks.

As for the style of the post, that’s totally up to you. You can do a biography, an interview, a compilation of clips, or whatever you want. Interviews are especially nice since they let us hear from the speaker personally. Check out these links for some inspiration:

(If you record a video interview, I’ll feature it prominently and embed it right on this page.)

However you choose to do your post, email me a link whenever it goes live:

Send blog post link to: speakers@brandonvogt.com

 
After all 100 speakers are claimed, I’ll then open up the process to anyone who wants to write about any other Catholic speaker. So if there’s a speaker you love who didn’t make the list, they’ll still have a chance to be highlighted. These additional speaker posts will be listed under the Honorable Mention heading above. Check back on this page for instructions after the top 100 speakers are all claimed.
 
Finally, as mentioned before, we really need your help spreading the word about these speakers. Whether you blog about a speaker or not, please share this page or paste one of the graphics onto your website, blog, sidebar, social media account, or wherever you want. [Badge link code here]

Catholic Speaker Month Badges

If you have any questions about Support a Catholic Speaker Month, leave a comment below or email me at speakers@brandonvogt.com. Thanks again for all your help. Now let’s go out and support our great Catholic speakers!