TruThteller Tour Speaker FAQs

Everything you need to know


TruThteller Tour Speaker FAQs

Everything you need to know

Your Truthteller Tour Speaker Questions Answered

We created this handy list of FAQs to guide you through the process of applying to be a speaker at one of our Truthteller Tours. If you can’t find the answer to your question below, feel free to email at info@womenforone.com. When you’re ready to send us your submission, scroll down to our submission form at womenforone.com/share. We can’t wait to read your story!

A Truthteller Tour is an empowering event of celebrating and giving voice to women’s experiences: stories of triumph, loss, and everything in between. It’s an opportunity for women to own their stories and their lives. It lets women step up, speak out, and shine, which is Women For One’s motto for the Truthteller Tour. You can find out more about this signature community event HERE.

Celebrating and including the voices of women from all walks of life is important to us. Women For One is committed to reaching various groups and communities that reflect the reach of our global tribe and mission, as well as the diversity of the region in which a Truthteller Tour is being held. Our Truthteller community encompasses women from more than 60 countries, of all ethnicities, age groups, socioeconomic and professional backgrounds, sexual orientations, religious and political persuasions, and life experiences. Overall, we want all our live events, especially our Truthteller Tours, to demonstrate the beautiful diversity of our Wf1 community.

We want to empower women from all walks of life to make life happen on their own terms. But we’re not a membership organization, we don’t have a program we’re trying to sell you (although we have tons of resources and courses that are pretty cool, if we do say so ourselves!), we don’t have a belief system that you need to ascribe to, and we’re not recruiting you to be part of a movement or a religion. In fact, we’re not here to proselytize or persuade you of anything! We are simply here to support, uplift, and empower all women—no matter what their life story, background, or belief system might be!

It varies with each event, but we generally feature four to six women who read their stories in front of a live audience. Truthteller Tours often include pre-event receptions, which give our guests an opportunity to connect with each other.

Anyone is welcome to attend a tour, no matter what their geographic location might be. However, as far as speakers are concerned, we offer top priority to women who are located in the area where a tour is being held. Although we will read and consider all submissions, Truthteller Tours are opportunities to represent and give voice to the rich stories and communities that are part of a specific region, and it’s important for us to honor that.

Absolutely not! In fact, it’s kind of the opposite. We want vulnerable true stories that reveal the heart and soul, as well as the unique life lessons and experiences, of women everywhere. So while many of the Truthtellers in our community are accomplished badass women, this event is not about putting your expert hat on and giving our audience tips on how to rock their business, find true love, fill in the blank. We just want you, in all your raw, honest, messy realness!

As a women’s organization, our mission is to highlight the voices, truths, and untold or little-told stories of women (including both cis- and transgender). To that end, speaker opportunities are only available to women.

Unfortunately, we don’t currently have the resources to pay our speakers or cover travel expenses. However, we do our best to offer our Truthtellers as many perk as possible; all of our selected speakers receive two complimentary passes to the Truthteller Tour, professional coaching around presenting their story, complimentary hair and makeup on the evening of the event, and professionally shot and edited video clips of their speaking. All speakers will be featured on Women For One’s social media and in newsletters that reach our global community—and if they choose, media exposure from publications, podcasts, TV stations, and other outlets covering the tour.

No story is too big or small! Whether you’ve overcome a huge challenge or want to offer a funny story about parenting and relationships, we are eager for you to share your story in all its rawness, realness, and messiness! Because the Truthteller Tour is focused on helping all women to step up, speak out, and shine, we simply ask that your story focus on your life lessons, as well as the wisdom, growth, and kernels of truth that came from your experiences. We are not interested in expert accounts, “how-to” advice pieces, stories that aggressively push a political/religious/spiritual agenda, or stories that are self-promotional. And as awesome as fiction is, it’s your story that we are most interested in, so bring it on!

Absolutely! You don’t have to be a writer or a speaker to take the stage at a Truthteller Tour. When we review submissions, we’re looking for authenticity, inspiration, and how your unique voice shines through. Our editor will work with you to refine your story so that it reveals your true voice and genius. Women For One Founder and nationally renowned speaker and author, Kelly McNelis, will also offer coaching to all Truthteller Tour speakers.

All the stories that are submitted will also be published on the website, so we will still need a written version of your story. Because the Truthteller Tour is meant to showcase women who are not necessarily “stage speakers,” we made the decision to have our Truthtellers read their pieces, instead. You are welcome to improvise from your written piece (which should be in your hands when you’re on stage), as long as you remain within the 5- to 7-minute time limit for Truthtellers.

You can submit up to one story per Truthteller Tour, but you are welcome to submit to as many Truthteller Tour as you would like, provided that you send an original submission for each tour you submit to (i.e., we will not accept repeat submissions).

While we offer Truthtellers on our site the option to submit anonymously, we ask that anyone who is selected to be a speaker for the Truthteller Tour use their full name. Part of the power of our live events is connecting members of the Women For One community with one another, and featuring remarkable Truthtellers who are willing to fully claim their stories. Also, because the Truthteller Tour is a high-profile event, it’s important that anyone who wishes to be a part of it be comfortable with visibility, as you will be featured in external media, as well as Wf1’s video content and social media. However, if you are not selected to be a speaker but want to include your story on our site as an anonymous submission, you can simply let us know by sending an email to info@womenforone.com—and we’ll honor your request.

Check our Submission Guidelines. Our word limit for submissions is around 800 words, or 5 to 7 minutes long. Generally, we advise reading your story out loud—slowly enough for it to make sense to a potential audience—before submitting it. If your story doesn’t meet our criteria for word count and length, this may disqualify your submission.

No problem! Shoot us an email at info@womenforone.com and send us the link to your story. Just be sure to reach out to us only when our submission period is open. Check our main Truthteller Tour page for upcoming events.

You will get a confirmation email letting you know that we’ve received your story. Depending on the number of stories in our queue, you might not hear back from us again for several weeks. We will, however, contact everyone who submitted roughly two weeks after the end of our submission period for that particular Truthteller Tour—regardless of whether your story was selected or not. Also, we want to emphasize that there are no “winners” or “losers” when it comes to becoming a part of our community. We honor all the stories and voices of women, and while our speaker selections are dependent on a number of factors (diversity of themes, diversity of speakers, location of speakers, etc.), every single submission we receive will be published on the Women For One website.

Given the volume of submissions we receive, we don’t have the capacity to send everyone specific feedback for their stories. However, as we mentioned, all people who submit their stories to us will automatically become Women For One Truthtellers on our site. However, if your story does not meet our criteria for publication on the website, our editor will connect with you to offer suggestions for revising your piece.

Use the submission form on our Share page, but first, be sure to thoroughly read our Submission Guidelines, which also include tips for potential Truthteller Tour speakers. Please note that the option to submit your story to be read at a Truthteller Tour will only be available on our form during an open submission period for an upcoming Truthteller Tour.