Scientific conferences are most beneficial to participants when they showcase significant new experimental developments, accurately summarize the current state of the field, and provide strong opportunities for collaborative networking. A top-notch slate of invited speakers, assembled by conference organizers or committees, is key to achieving these goals. The underrepresentation of female speakers at prominent scientific meetings was documented with extensive supportive data in 2017. The purpose of this report is to update those data with recent  trends consequent to that transparency, and to suggest the means to further shift speaker selections towards parity. 

Learning Objectives: 

1. Become aware that speaker lists covering 35 years of 4 major virology conferences show historical bias against female speaker selections.
2. Become aware that those same data sets show now how enhanced transparency in selection procedures, can ameliorate  the unconscious bias in meeting organizers that has contributed to those historical trends.