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James Arlen, a Toronto-based security practitioner and contributor to LiquidMatrix and Securosis, has been turned down more than once. And, he says, it can hurt.

"I was rejected from several big-name conferences for several reasons," he said. "A proposed talk for Black Hat wasn't technical enough, not timely, and the material was not new enough. ShmooCon turned me down for not being technical enough, and because, apparently, 'no one wants to hear management material.'?"

RSA, meanwhile, has deemed some of his proposals too technical. What stung more, though, was being dismissed for not being an experienced-enough speaker, despite having spoken at several conferences.

"A whole lot of the time, I'm fairly certain that the selection committees don't know what they're looking for until they see it," Arlen says.