Questions, answered.

CISO Open Mic is a platform where CISOs and other security leaders share insights, experiences and challenges through focused five-minute talks—or listen, learn and connect. Aspiring leaders and other community and industry stakeholders are also part of the room. A local MC and Event Director guide the evening, and a panel of four judges recognizes the strongest contributions. There are no vendor pitches or slide decks; the focus is on original perspectives, practical insight and community recognition.

CISOs and other security leaders are at the core of CISO Open Mic. We also welcome aspiring leaders and other community and industry stakeholders. Participation may be curated because each gathering is intentionally local and venue capacity is limited.

A local MC and Event Director guide the evening. Participants can share a focused five-minute contribution, listen to others and continue the conversation in the room. A panel of four judges recognizes the strongest contributions.

Each city has its own Event Director, MC and four-person judging panel. Their role is to facilitate the evening and create space for others—not to become its focus. CISO Open Mic is not about the people who run it; it is about the community it builds. Their profiles are published on the city page as they are confirmed.

No. The MC and Event Director are not compensated for serving in their roles.

When registration opens, the relevant city page will link to the event on Luma. Registration and topic submissions are handled together through that process. A submitted registration is not admission; you must be approved through Luma before attending.

No. You must register with an organizational email address. Registrations using Gmail, Hotmail or another non-organizational email address will be declined.

No. You must be approved through Luma before attending. Walk-ins are not permitted, and arriving with an expectation of being admitted does not provide access to the event.

No. A registration and its approval belong only to the person named in Luma. Substitutions, transfers and name changes are not permitted. Anyone else who wants to attend must register separately and receive their own approval.

No. CISO Open Mic may hold separate events before or after a main gathering. Approval for one event does not provide automatic entrance to another. Each event may require its own invitation, registration or approval.

Only if they register separately through Luma and are approved before the event. You cannot bring a friend or guest who has not been registered and approved.

No. Previous attendance, taking the mic, judging or receiving an award does not guarantee approval for a future CISO Open Mic event. Every gathering is curated separately, and each registration requires its own approval.

Every CISO Open Mic gathering is intentionally curated to create the right mix of experience, perspectives and community participation within a limited room. Not every registration can be approved. A decline is not personal—please don’t be offended.

No, not with the same information. A declined registration is a decision, not an invitation to keep applying. Repeated submissions using the same information will not be approved.

No. CISO Open Mic does not sell tickets. Attendance is managed through registration, approval and the capacity of each venue.

It means the available attendance capacity has been reached. If a waitlist is available, the city page will provide the appropriate link.

Choose Calgary, Montreal, Boston, Ottawa or Toronto from the Home page. Each permanent city page carries its current event and registration details.

Yes. The Montreal city experience supports English and French pages. Event-specific language details will be included with the registration information.

No. You can take the mic or take it all in. Listening, learning and connecting with peers are equally valid ways to participate.

Topic submissions are included in the Luma registration process. You do not need to complete a separate CISO Open Mic form.

Topics should be relevant to security leadership and grounded in your own experience, insight, challenge or lesson. Practical decisions, pressures, trade-offs, failures, emerging issues and thoughtful questions for the community are welcome. Sales pitches, product demonstrations, recruitment, self-promotion, personal attacks, naming and shaming, or disclosure of confidential or proprietary information are not appropriate. A participant may promote another event or cause in which they are involved only when the CISO Open Mic team has explicitly approved it in advance. Without that approval, the promotion is not permitted. CISO Open Mic may decline a submitted topic or stop a contribution that does not meet these expectations.

Selecting that you will take the mic is a commitment to attend and be ready to speak. If you say you might take the mic, you should still arrive prepared in case you are called. If you cannot attend, decline the event through Luma before it begins. Contacting an event organizer or another participant does not change your registration status and does not count as notice. A mic no-show—someone who committed to take the mic, does not attend and has not declined through Luma—will be banned from future CISO Open Mic events.

No. Indicating that you will or might take the mic does not guarantee that you will be called. Mic opportunities depend on the available time and flow of the event. You should still attend prepared.

Be ready when called, keep your contribution focused and within five minutes, and follow the MC’s direction. Share your own perspective without pitching, grandstanding, attacking others or revealing information that is not yours to share. Finish promptly when your time is called so the room remains open to others.

CISO Open Mic discussions are held under the Chatham House Rule. You may use the information you receive, but you may not reveal the identity or affiliation of the speaker or any other participant. Do not attribute comments to a person or organization without their express permission.

Yes. We appreciate positive LinkedIn posts and other media about CISO Open Mic, but posting is entirely optional and no one should feel obligated. Please do not expect a response to every post. We will do our best, but we may not see it. Including #CISOOpenMic makes a post more likely to get our attention, though it does not guarantee a response. Anything shared must respect the Chatham House Rule: do not identify participants, attribute comments or disclose confidential information without permission.

There is no expectation that individual team members will be thanked publicly, and individual call-outs are generally discouraged. CISO Open Mic is a collective team effort focused on the community, not an event for organizer self-promotion. If you choose to acknowledge the work behind an event, please recognize the CISO Open Mic team collectively.

Yes. The host club’s dress code applies. Anyone who does not meet it upon arrival will not be admitted, even if their Luma registration was approved. Review the venue requirements before attending.

Provide any dietary or accessibility requests during registration and as early as possible. We will work with the venue to accommodate them, but available accommodations depend on advance notice and the venue’s capabilities.

Yes. Food and alcohol must not be consumed in excess. CISO Open Mic and the venue reserve the right to intervene, including cutting off alcohol service to an attendee when necessary.

Everyone must treat others respectfully and follow the Code of Conduct. Harassment, intimidation, aggressive behaviour and repeated disruption are not permitted. Grandstanding, dominating the conversation and using the room for self-promotion are also not permitted. Organizers may remove anyone whose conduct compromises the room. Information about participation and personal information is available in the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

We aim to cycle judges and prioritize people based in the host municipality or surrounding region. At times, we may bring in an experienced judge from another region to support continuity and consistency between CISO Open Mic events.

No. Judges are not compensated for serving in the role.

Awards are given purely at the discretion of the judging panel. Award decisions are not directed or influenced by the MC, Event Director or representatives of CISO Open Mic. If you are not present when your award is announced or presented, we will make our best efforts to get it to you.

We use Educredu, a third-party service provider, to prepare and send participation certificates. We provide Educredu only with the relevant participant details needed to issue and deliver those certificates.

Sponsors help support the community and event experience. They do not control programming, judging, editorial direction or who is invited to participate.

Only sponsors directly supporting the event may receive limited professional information provided during registration, such as your name, title, organization, business email address and LinkedIn profile. We do not sell attendee information or provide it to unrelated third parties. Sponsor communications are subject to their own privacy practices and applicable consent and unsubscribe requirements.

No. CISO Open Mic does not receive commissions, referral fees, kickbacks or similar compensation tied to future business a sponsor may receive as a result of participating in an event. Sponsorship support is separate from any later commercial relationship or outcome.

No. CISO Open Mic is built around original perspectives and practical peer exchange, without slide decks or sales pitches.

No. Sales and business development representatives from organizations that are not current CISO Open Mic sponsors cannot attend. Participation as a community or industry stakeholder does not create an exception for sales attendance.

No. CISO Open Mic does not offer a “try before you sponsor” option. An organization must be a confirmed sponsor before its sales or business development representatives can attend.