Per your third point, in fact, I am interested in reaching people who are not "top applicants". It's easy to know who the people on top of their profession are, and there are plenty of events for them. I am interested in people who are not "top", whether because they are not interested in mainstream success, or because they just haven't succeeded, but are doing things that I would find interesting, or they have valuable experiences to share, but I don't know who they are, or where to find them, because - they aren't well known.

I even thought it would be interesting if all the applications were anonymous, so people are selected only based on the thing they are currently doing / interested in, without knowing their identities, gender, age, etc. to eliminate bias. But I guess that would creep people out a bit.