At conferences I've attended I think it's extremely rare to have a speaker be compensated (maybe outside of the cost of flights/hotels). Perhaps this colors my view on the situation and might be true of the other folks here who are more open to novice presenters.

Also, it's more than reasonable to expect someone to rehearse, but I don't think there is any substitute for the real thing. It's like the saying about testing... everyone tests in prod, just some people try test before that too.

> At conferences I've attended I think it's extremely rare to have a speaker be compensated (maybe outside of the cost of flights/hotels)

Flights, hotels, and tickets are all compensation and what I was referring to. These conferences are all open to newer speakers.

> Also, it's more than reasonable to expect someone to rehearse,

Apparently not, judging by comments.

> but I don't think there is any substitute for the real thing.

But you don't need to go from not speaking to speaking at a conference. There are many other steps in between where you can get experience in public speaking.