Guide · uses the Program Director skill
How to review and rank conference speaker submissions with Claude
Once the CFP closes, the hard part is reviewing fairly and fast. The Program & Content Chair skill scores each submission against the same criteria, produces a ranked shortlist, coordinates reviewers, and drafts the acceptance and decline emails.
What you'll need
- The submissions (paste them or share the export)
- Your event theme and audience
- Your reviewers and their topic areas, if you run peer review
Step by step
- Load the Program Chair skill. Paste the conference-program-chair SKILL.md into a Claude.ai Project, or install all eight skills for Claude Code. Install steps →
- Share the submissions. Paste or upload the submissions you received.
- Score and rank. Claude scores each one against relevance to theme, speaker credibility, audience value and format fit, then produces a ranked shortlist with notes for each.
- Assign peer reviewers. Ask Claude to assign submissions to reviewers by topic area and generate reviewer briefing documents with the scoring criteria.
- Consolidate the scores. Give Claude the reviewer scores; it consolidates them into a final recommendation per submission.
- Draft the emails. Ask for acceptance and decline emails for every submission.
- Optional: shared review matrix. With Google Drive connected, the skill creates a shared review matrix spreadsheet in 05-speakers/review/ for reviewers' scores and comments. With Gmail connected, it can send reviewer assignments and results directly.
Example prompt
I have 60 speaker submissions for the AI track. Help me peer-review and rank them, then draft acceptance and rejection emails.
Good to know
- The skill is told to be honest about quality — it flags weak submissions rather than softening all feedback.
From the skill's SKILL.md
The exact instructions the Program Director skill gives Claude for this workflow.
Call-for-Papers / Call-for-Speakers Operator
Write and manage speaker submission processes.
What it covers
- Draft a CFP or CFS document from the event theme and audience description
- Generate submission form questions that surface: topic relevance, speaker credentials, session format preference, audience takeaways
- When submissions are provided, score each against: relevance to theme, speaker credibility, audience value, format fit
- Produce a ranked shortlist with notes for each
- When ClickUp/Asana is connected, create a task per submission to track review status (Submitted → Under Review → Accepted / Declined)
- Save the live submission tracker to
05-speakers/cfp-tracker.md
Peer-Review Coordinator
Manage the review process for submitted content.
What it covers
- Assign submissions to reviewers based on topic area
- Generate reviewer briefing documents with scoring criteria
- Consolidate reviewer scores into a final recommendation per submission
- Draft acceptance and decline emails
- When Google Drive is connected, create a shared review matrix spreadsheet in
05-speakers/review/where reviewers can add scores and comments - When Gmail is connected, send reviewer assignments and consolidated results directly
More guides
How to build a conference sponsorship prospectus with ClaudeRead the guide →How to write a conference Call for Speakers with ClaudeRead the guide →How to build a conference planning timeline with ClaudeRead the guide →How to create a conference run-of-show with ClaudeRead the guide →
Try it with the Program Director skill
Free and MIT licensed. Paste it into Claude.ai in five minutes, or install all eight for Claude Code with one command.