[sagichmal]

But that is exactly what the second speaker did. The organizers refused.

[elp]

The organizers said that call for papers had already closed. I.e this was late in the planning stage. (conf is 4 Oct) The speaker wasn't offering to help for the next conference.

I hope other conference organizers take note and work to improve diversity while also actively avoiding speakers who pull stunts like this.

[sagichmal]

That is not an excuse. Essentially every conference makes major changes to line-up and program well after the CFP is done.

[EdwardDiego]

I don't see where in his blog post he approached them with names, so please quote it for me if I overlooked it.