The good news is there is a process you can follow to find the best speaker for your event. In this article, we’ll share that process.
There are two ways to find speakers for your event:
1. Dictate the theme of the event and then find speakers who can fit the theme
2. Find a big-name speaker, you hope will draw a crowd, then see what they can speak on, and choose a topic that you hope everyone will enjoy
We would like to gently steer you to option one. Here’s why…
It might seem odd for a speaker agency to come right out and tell you that your event theme should not be driven by a speaker. But that’s the truth. It shouldn’t be. It should be driven by three other factors. These factors are elaborated on below:
Uncover your event theme
As an agency, we can rule speakers in or out very quickly when you know your event theme. In our view, ‘motivating’ or ‘inspiring’ or ‘entertaining’ isn’t a theme. For us those three elements are a given and we invite you to dig deeper so you can truly motivate, inspire and entertain…
A theme for an event could be ‘understating the impact tech has on your industry’, or ‘the effect your business has on climate change.’ Themes can also be wrapped around a new project, especially if they galvanise the team. Themes can also include product launches or celebrate success. The type of project or the type of success might also help develop the theme.
Here are some questions to help you explore the possible themes for your event:
Topics – To decide the best topic for the keynote speech, first reflect on:
1. What knowledge or information gaps do you see in your organisation right now?
2. What knowledge or information that you don’t yet have will be required for the organisation in the future?
3. What are the trends in the market or world events that impact your business that you feel you need to understand more about?
Just by uncovering the event theme, you are already closer to finding the best speaker for your event.
Unearth the outcome
The theme is different from the outcome. The theme gives the gathering context, while the outcome tells us the end result you are looking for.
When an event organiser tells us the outcome they want, it makes it easier for us to produce a worthwhile ROI. From our point of view as an agent, ‘jolly up’ and ‘get together’ doesn’t really help.
For example, if your theme is to galvanise your team for a new project the outcome might be to give the team more understanding about what it means to work together on this project. Here you can explore various topics, such as:
- Personality types – This could involve an entertaining, inspiring and motivational keynote presentation on different personality types and how they work together and where they clash. It could include follow-up testing, individual debriefs and then a group session where team members learn about each other’s strengths, weakness and communication styles.
- Understanding teams – Team members generally have two teams – a work team and a home team. These days with so many people working from home it’s helpful to understand the dynamics and get both teams onside.
- Bringing in a new philosophy – There are a number of ideas that could be introduced such as positive accountability and how the team can grow and trust each other
I’m sure you can see by now that just by knowing the theme and the outcome, you can end up with something much more inspiring, entertaining, motivating and educational. Now you are not just booking a speaker with no real purpose behind what they say or do.
Have clarity on the audience
The best speaker for your event will want to know about your audience, so they can tailor their message accordingly. For example, a keynote may be delivered differently to different companies, departments or industries. For example, HR may be generally process-driven and want more ‘how’ detail, while marketing are more people-driven and may need some demonstration or interaction to keep attention.
It also helps the keynote speaker to know something about your organisation’s values and culture, so they can introduce appropriate phrases and key messages.
To summarise… to find the best speaker for your event then you need to follow a three-step process:
1. Uncover your event theme
2. Unearth the outcome
3. Have clarity on the audience
Follow these three steps enables you to approach a speaker agency that can very quickly narrow down the talent available and find you the best fit to achieve the event theme and outcome for your audience.
This article explains more on the theme of finding key note speakers for your event.
We believe all keynote speakers should be Stellar Speakers – able to entertain, connect with an audience and make a positive impact. As a unique speaker agency representing change-making keynote speakers, we provide expertise to help you manage your budgetary expectations and provide realistic options. We provide a preferred partner’s service base, so that partner clients get everything they need, lowering your risk as a booker of speakers, so you can make your choice about your next speaker with confidence.
