Speaker Map does not list where a speaker says they've been. It lists what it can prove.

Every appearance carries a verified flag, and the model never sets it

Each event on a speaker's card can come with a format, a rough timing note, and a source link, ideally the event's own site rather than a bureau page repeating the same three lines about who spoke where. Alongside that sits a verified flag, and the important part is who sets it: the server, checking whether the research actually visited the page it is citing, not the model writing the summary you're reading.

Practically, that produces two different kinds of line on the same card. A verified appearance has a source that held up. One marked "Unverified" still shows a link, but that link did not survive the check, so the claim sits there without the same backing as its neighbors. Treat that chip as an instruction, not decoration: open the link yourself before you use that appearance in a pitch.

The report can tell you when it never searched at all

Above the cards, a banner shows up if the whole run came back ungrounded, meaning the live web search failed across the board and what you are looking at is the model's own recollection rather than anything sourced. When that banner is present, the header also stops claiming every appearance is backed by a source, because on that run, none of them are. Two things used to be true that no longer are: the page does not silently swap researched claims for remembered ones, and it does not label a memory-only run as if it had checked.

If you see that banner, the move is simple. Re-run the search. A grounded run and an ungrounded one can return different lists for the same names, and only one of them is worth repeating to anyone.

What to actually do with the page

1. Read Speaker Map once per search, not once per pitch. It is reference material, the same way Peers is. You are learning the shape of a speaker's circuit, not deciding today's next move.
2. Open the source link before you cite an appearance. A page that lands on the event's own program is a firmer claim than one landing on a bureau listing saying roughly the same thing at one remove.
3. Take the identity note seriously when a card comes back empty. It usually means a namesake problem, which a more specific name or added context can fix on your next search.
4. Check for the ungrounded banner before you trust anything on the page. If it's there, the cards below it are not sourced yet. Run the search again.

Speaker Map will not tell you who to pitch. That is the events table's job, and one Stage Finder search returns four different answers covers how the four screens split that work. What Speaker Map gives you is the material to check a claim before you repeat it, which is a smaller job than it sounds and the one most speakers skip. For what actually belongs in the message once you've picked a target, how to pitch yourself as a speaker covers that next step.

• getting booked
• research
• verification

Back to all posts