I don't understand the other answers. Being invited to give a talk at a conference is an indicator of esteem, regardless of whether you could make it. I see no harm in writing Great Conference (2017), invited to give plenary talk on topic X, but could not attend.

I don't understand the other answers. Being invited to give a talk at a conference is an indicator of esteem, regardless of whether you could make it. I see no harm in writing Great Conference (2017), invited to give plenary talk on topic X, but could not attend.

Mentioning in CVs declined jobs, grants and scholarship and funding is common in some fields, see e.g. the results of this search, http://www.google.com/search?q=high+energy+physics+cv+declined

In fact, one of the first hits mentions at least half a dozen declined declined talks

http://cosmo.nyu.edu/aim/macfadyen_cv.pdf