Are you considering to engage an external speaker for your upcoming event?
You may wish to note the following best practices…
- When engaging a speakers bureau, pay attention to the experience and credentials of the company. Regional knowledge and network does count.
- Preferably work with speakers bureau that are selective of their speakers, and whom are familiar with their speakers. There are, for instance, bureau that charge speakers a fee to be listed – a practice that may not guarantee best match for the clients.
- Pick the speakers bureau that try their best to understand your needs (and those help you clarify your requirements) and provide the best matches that suit your requirements, instead of the ones that try to sell you their preferred speakers despite your specific requirements.
- The following information is useful for the speaker search / selection:
o Date of event
o Location of event
o Who will be in the audience: Nationality / Age range / responsibility / post titles / Sex ratio
o Is it an internal event / client function
o Rundown of the event – how is the keynote speech fit in?
o Expectations of the organizer
o Preferred take away
- Pick speakers who customize their speech for individual clients, instead of those who use the same script at any occasions.
- Always ask for a video of the speaker
- Always have a conversation with the speaker before the event (if possible, request to speak with the speaker before making the engagement decision)
- Should a company is facing some challenges, engaging a futurist / business trend speaker would be a pretty good option, for (i) the extensive exposure of these speakers on new trends usually can inspire the client with some good ideas on business strategies and (ii) these speakers usually do lots of research before their individual speeches to ensure the information provided is up-to-date and relevant. Many times, the keynote speech when presented, is indeed the result of a very thorough diagnosis / consultancy of the company / industry.
Contact us today at Speakers Connect to let us help you identify the best speaker for your upcoming event!