A professional event speaker (speakers who make a living from giving keynote presentations) often views their time at an event or conference as time that belongs to the organisation that booked them. They are also often naturally inquisitive people and want to get involved rather than just passively observing.
What many bookers don’t know (or forget), is that most professional event speakers (certainly the ones we work with) want to be of service and help your event be a great success. If a top-rated keynote speaker agrees to present at your event, it’s likely he or she is genuinely interested in your organisation, it’s mission, goals and values.
This article explores how a keynote speaker can contribute to your event in ways aside from just the keynote speech…
How else can your speaker add value during the event?
Of course, your keynote speaker is going to unite all of the messages and themes you want to convey at your event, but beyond that there is more they can do…
Keynote speakers have generally succeeded in something before becoming a speaker. On their way to the top, they may have been trained or worked in a number of disciplines. Because they have such vast experience, they could have turned their skills to many things, but in order to market themselves effectively they have carved out a niche. What this means is that, once you’ve engaged them, there are likely able to help you in a number of ways.
You will need to ask what else the speaker can do for you, but in order to help them help you, you need to have an idea of your event outcomes. Here are some examples of extras a keynote speaker can do at your event:
- Have lunch or dinner with key members of the company team (or VIPs) to explore ideas addressed in the keynote
- Run a breakout workshop
- Facilitate a networking session
- Present awards at your awards ceremony in the evening session
- Extend the session with Q&A
- A book signing
- A podcast interview as a follow-up, or for delegates who couldn’t attend
Keep in mind that it’s not unreasonable for the speaker to ask for an additional fee for these extras because they will need to do additional work that may also require additional research or planning on their part.
What can your keynote speaker do before or after the event?
- Building the buzz and increasing event engagement – Externally, depending on their profile, your event speaker can help promote your event, especially if they are the main attraction! Internally, within corporates, one of the issues, especially in HR-led events, is getting buy-in from the team. This happens because employees have tasks and targets and they may opt to put their time and focus on those rather than attending an event, especially if the event is viewed as optional. Your keynote speaker can increase engagement through persuasive written, video, voice or social promotion, creating greater interest in the topic
- Become a voice for the company – Professional speakers are great communicators. Many speakers are well-networked and many have thousands following them on social media. Because they are well-respected and liked, and enjoy facilitating conversations they stand out, sparking debate, voicing an opinion and igniting a buzz around your brand narrative. Becoming a voice for your company can take the shape of brand advocacy, PR or acting as an influencer.
- Driving home a theme – Post event a keynote speaker can drive home the message they gave on stage. They can help to embed a philosophy or idea in your organisation, supporting it through the latest project or launch and helping it to reach its goals and future growth. At Stellar Speakers, all our speakers have a framework of keynotes, workshops and trainings. Many also have books. These assets can be deployed to your advantage, supporting the growth of the business and helping to galvanise your teams around a product or philosophy. This works especially well when an organisation has clear development goals for the year, and they use the keynote speaker to help set the tone, then help to create follow through.
- Utilising the key messages – After the event, you will want to include the keynote speaker’s central messages in your post-event follow-up. Here you will be reinforcing the ideas from your event speaker. You can of course create this follow-up yourself, or ask the speaker to be involved, by recording an interview or podcast on the day of your event. This could expand on the theme of the keynote and give additional examples of useful information. With the speaker’s permission, the keynote could also be recorded and shared with stakeholders in additional ways throughout the year. This can help keep the ideas at the front of mind.
How to arrange extras with your keynote speaker
It’s also important to explore what’s possible and any additional fees with the speaker’s agent. You want to avoid asking for something as an afterthought which becomes difficult to negotiate once a speaker has been selected and the scope has been included in contracts.
Stellar speakers are a unique speaker agency representing change-making event speakers. As well as providing 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. For more information contact: https://stellarspeakers.com/contact-us/
