A Comprehensive Guide To Picking A Motivational Keynote Speaker

By Frances Smith


A few things come to the mind of any conference participant upon receiving the invitation. They include the venue or setting, food, guests and social interactions with other participants. Food and venue are fairly straight forward. You have little control over social interactions. Meeting expectations on the motivational keynote speaker is one of the biggest challenges. How do you surmount it?

A background check will give you an idea of the person you are about to engage for your meeting. There are amateurs and other guests who are hyped for marketing purposes. Attend an event where your target guest is speaking. Watch videos or podcasts to learn about his mastery of content, engagement with the audience, presentation skills and style. The decision you make will be based on first hand experience.

Go for an accommodative speaker who involves you in preparation. The conference is themed and intended to achieve a particular goal. Failure to stick to the theme will throw every participant off balance. Accommodating your theme means thorough research to understand and assimilate your concerns. The audience must feel as though the guest is one of their own. This cannot be achieved unless one is ready to research.

It helps to have a person who commits substantial time to your gathering. This means readiness to engage and interact with participants before and after his presentation. It shows disinterest and pure commercial interest to pop in a few minutes before you hit the podium and then out immediately you are done. It is necessary to build up to the presentation and later engage on one-on-one basis afterwards. These personal encounters leave an impression in the minds of participants.

Consider a referral from other organizations that have held similar functions. Peers recommend speakers who delivered to their expectations. Further more, some speakers can perform well for one audience and not the other. With a referral, your target guest is already tested. This enables you to know details that are impossible to get from the media or their publicity pamphlets.

Valuable speakers agree to co-promote events they are participating in. This taps into their fame or networks ensuring that you get the publicity you need to host a successful conference. It works best for new events or where you do not have a definite list of participants. People who admire the guest will be ready to attend because of his presence. Negotiate such details when signing a contract.

There are speakers who use events to promote their wares. This should be done with restriction to avoid overshadowing your event. In fact, it should be negotiated during contracting. It is helpful in that it offers something memorable to take away but must never override your theme or activities. The understanding should be that, it is not about the speaker but your event.

Prominent speakers are risky because their style or message easily overshadows yours. Some people could have encountered them in other forums. The impact in such a scenario might not be as intended. Guest who are proactive to understand the audience, their journey, mission and vision will produce better results.




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