The CreatorFest Community Pick Shortlist is LIVE for 2026: Get Voting

It’s that fabulous time of year again! The CreatorFest Community Pick shortlist is now live and ready for your consideration.

Every year, we invite our CreatorFest community to throw their hat in the ring and pitch a session to take to the stage. Now, it’s time to vote for the session you want to hear in July.

Here are the sessions you have to choose from:

Why Brands Are Betting on Podcasts: The Rise of Creator-Led Branded Audio

Speakers: Chris Baughen, AudioUK; Stuart Thomas, LNER; Becky Lamb Prichard, This Is Distorted

As the creator economy matures, brands are increasingly turning to podcasts not just for advertising but for storytelling, audience building and long-term brand affinity.

This session explores how branded podcasts are reshaping the relationship between creators and companies. From successful brand partnerships to creator-led production models, we’ll unpack how podcasting and audio is becoming a powerful marketing channel, and what it means for the future of podcast monetisation.

Stop Sleeping on LinkedIn! How Creators Can Monetise the B2B World

Speakers: Fatima Khan, The AI Creators Club

LinkedIn is the most slept-on monetisation platform in the creator space right now, and I say that as someone making five figures a month from brand deals alone, with under 100k followers.

I also run a six-figure community and coaching business, all built on LinkedIn. So when I talk about monetisation on this platform, it comes from actually doing it, not theorising about it.

This session will break down the real playbook i.e. brand deals, consulting, digital products, newsletters, with original data from my own audience and 200+ clients who I’ve helped build personal brands on LinkedIn. Attendees walk away with strategies they can use the same week, whether they’re a creator, founder, or marketer trying to figure out how to actually make LinkedIn work for them.

The 1M Follower Playbook: Rapid Organic Growth for Creators & Brands

Speakers: Francesca Tighinean, Francesca Psychology & Better Influence

In this session, I’ll share the step-by-step playbook I used to grow multiple brands across platforms to millions of followers through organic strategy, including scaling Francesca Psychology from 0 to 3 million and Yoxly Health from 2,000 to 1.3 million.

They’ll understand how to position a brand for attention, build high-performing content pillars, and create repeatable formats that drive reach and retention. I’ll break down how to engineer videos for watch time, structure hooks that stop the scroll, and turn short-form content into long-term authority and community.

How to Create Your Own Luck: The Power of Building a Mission-Driven Personal Brand as a Creator

Speaker: Emma Redfern, Lucky Founders

Luck isn’t something that happens to you. It’s something you build. After 7 years of strategically growing my own personal brand, I’ve seen firsthand how the creators who seem to attract every opportunity aren’t just talented. They’re visible, intentional and playing a longer game. In this talk, I’ll walk you through the frameworks I use to help creators stop being the best-kept secret in their industry and start showing up in a way that actually opens doors.

We’ll get into how to craft a point of view that resonates, how to build trust with your audience long before you’re asking for anything and how to turn your presence into a magnet for the right people and the right rooms. You’ll leave knowing exactly why some opportunities have been passing you by and what to do about it.

The Legal Side of Today's Digital World

Speakers: Elisa Volpi, @italiansinbelgium and VAN DER VOLPI

Today, almost everything you build, share or sell involves content, collaborations and online visibility, which also means that understanding the legal rules, rights and responsibilities behind these is no longer optional. It’s not just legal theory; it’s about protecting budgets, content, campaigns and reputation.

This is going to be a deep-dive session on how to maximize strategies, campaigns and collaborations by understanding the rules (platforms rules vs the law, risk assessment, sanctions), recognising the importance of Intellectual Property (brand protection, content usage rights, the use of memes, music and AI) as well as the importance of clear and strong contracts (collaboration agreements, licensing & IP rights assignments, exclusivity, essential clauses).

The goal of this session is to share knowledge on the legal side of today’s digital world (with a main focus on the importance of Intellectual Property, Contracts and the “Social Media” laws), so that creators, businesses and agencies can maximise their campaigns and budgets in a smart and safe way.

From Niche to Notable: Turn Your Passion Into a Thriving Multi‑Platform Brand

Speaker: Marina Iakovleva, Dating Beyond Borders

This session will help you to:

Find your niche – figure out the gap only you can fill with your “unfair advantage” and create content that actually delivers value.
Use platforms together while staying true to your niche – make YouTube, podcasts, Instagram, and TikTok work as a team instead of spreading yourself too thin.
Work smarter with content – turn one idea into multiple pieces across formats without burning out.
Grow a real audience – build a community that engages, sticks around, and supports what you do.

The Creator Career: The Underestimated Essentials That ACTUALLY Help Creators Grow, Earn More & Win Opportunities

Speakers: Lauren Leyva, The Starving Student & Cooking with Lauren

This is a valuable, fast-paced session for creators who want to build something real & long-term, not relying on luck or virality. You’ll learn about the consistent & compounding things that you can ACTUALLY do to build credibility, earn more & unlock career-changing opportunities. This talk will tell you where to focus your time, whether that be skill-stacking, 5-minute habits or strategic month-long projects. You’ll leave with clear, actionable steps (that most creators overlook) to build a sustainable & scalable creator career.

Led by Lauren Leyva, an award-winning creator, campaigner & rising star, this talk will share some of Lauren’s specific successes (& failures) where she’s used compounding to level up & win big!