Conference Speaker Scraper
Extract speaker names, titles, companies, and bios from conference website /speakers pages. Supports direct HTML scraping with multiple extraction strategies, plus Apify fallback for JS-heavy sites.
Quick Start
No API key needed for direct scraping mode.
# Scrape speakers from a conference page
python3 skills/conference-speaker-scraper/scripts/scrape_speakers.py \
--url "https://example.com/speakers"
# Use Apify for JS-heavy sites
python3 skills/conference-speaker-scraper/scripts/scrape_speakers.py \
--url "https://example.com/speakers" --mode apify
# Custom conference name (otherwise inferred from URL)
python3 skills/conference-speaker-scraper/scripts/scrape_speakers.py \
--url "https://example.com/speakers" --conference "Sage Future 2026"
# Output formats
python3 skills/conference-speaker-scraper/scripts/scrape_speakers.py --url URL --output json # default
python3 skills/conference-speaker-scraper/scripts/scrape_speakers.py --url URL --output csv
python3 skills/conference-speaker-scraper/scripts/scrape_speakers.py --url URL --output summaryHow It Works
Direct Mode (default)
Fetches the page HTML and tries multiple extraction strategies in order, using whichever returns the most results:
- Strategy A -- CSS class hints: Looks for speaker cards with class names containing "speaker", "presenter", "faculty", "panelist", "team-member"
- Strategy B -- Heading + paragraph patterns: Looks for repeated
<h2>/<h3>+<p>structures - Strategy C -- JSON-LD structured data: Checks for
<script type="application/ld+json">with speaker data - Strategy D -- Platform embeds: Detects Sched.com/Sessionize patterns used by many conferences
Apify Mode
Uses apify/cheerio-scraper actor with a custom page function that targets common speaker card selectors. Standard POST/poll/GET dataset pattern.
CLI Reference
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--url | *required* | Conference speakers page URL |
--conference | inferred | Conference name (otherwise inferred from URL domain) |
--mode | direct | direct (HTML scraping) or apify (Apify cheerio scraper) |
--output | json | Output format: json, csv, or summary |
--token | env var | Apify token (only needed for apify mode) |
--timeout | 300 | Max seconds for Apify run |
Output Schema
{
"name": "Jane Smith",
"title": "VP of Finance",
"company": "Acme Corp",
"bio": "Jane leads the finance transformation at...",
"linkedin_url": "https://linkedin.com/in/janesmith",
"image_url": "https://...",
"conference": "Sage Future 2026",
"source_url": "https://sagefuture2026.com/speakers"
}Cost
- Direct mode: Free (no API, no tokens)
- Apify mode: Uses
apify/cheerio-scraper-- minimal Apify credits
Testing Notes
HTML scraping is inherently fragile across conference sites. The multi-strategy approach maximizes coverage, but JS-heavy sites will require Apify mode. When direct scraping returns 0 results, try --mode apify.