Typically, the conference committee or meeting planner gathers a list of potential prospective speakers from a favorite speakers bureau and recommendations from others in the organization.  With the advent of social media (and I do mean “advent” as most planners and speakers haven’t tapped into the extensive reach of social media), recommendations will also come from a “google-ish” search on facebook, Linked In etc.  Ability and competency will be verified through the speaker’s website, YouTube channels etc.  Social media isn’t going away – but the use of it to find and qualify speakers will become much more sophisticated as meeting planners and decision makers learn how to use these online tools.