03 Feb 10 How to Hire the Perfect Keynote Speaker

The success of your meeting or event could hinge on how good your keynote speaker is.  Meeting and event planners need to have a good plan for finding great keynote speakers.  Here are some tips:

• Establish the date, location and budget of your event. These factors will play an important role in determining the pool of keynote speakers available to you. Your date, for example, will affect which keynote speakers are available, whereas your budget will limit whom you can and can’t afford to hire. In order to save on the cost of the keynote speaker’s travel, you may want to consider the distance between where he or she resides and where your event will take place.
• Determine the type of presentation you want and the time of day when it will take place. Some speakers are skilled at delivering workshops, while others excel at providing keynotes. After-dinner speakers should incorporate humor into their talks, where morning speakers should be energizing.
• Clarify why you want to hire a keynote speaker. Some common reasons include the desire to:
  • Educate
  • Motivate
  • Shift behavior
  • Initiate a change effort
  • Raise funds
  • Promote a cause or organization
  • Entertain
• Consider which keynote speakers have been successful in the past with your group or a group similar to yours.
• Call your friends and associates. Asking for references can be a great way to narrow down your search. BigSpeak can locate any keynote speaker for you whether you see them on our roster or not.
• Establish who the core decision makers are regarding a keynote speaker and tap into their vision.
• Consider the demographics of your audience. Do you need a keynote speaker who will appeal to a general audience or one who will interest a specific demographic group (e.g., an all-women’s group)?

Tags: Audience, Budget, Change Effort, Decision Makers, Demographic Group, Demographics, Desire, Dinner Speakers, Event Planners, Humor, Keynote Speaker, Keynote Speakers, Keynotes, Morning Speakers, Pool, Rsquo, Success, Tap, Time Of Day, Travel