I think many people are reading "register and submit a talk proposal now!" as something for speakers only. Can we split that out into:
"[Register now!] Also, if you have something to share, [submit a talk]." (Both can go to the current link, or directly to those sub-pages.)
I know it's a pain to update the site, but maybe we could also replace the blue "Rochester" section at the bottom of the page with a "Register" section? Leave the ♥, change Rochester to "Register", leave the current text, add "Register now!", and change the link?