Are you working on an upcoming event or conference?

Do you want to ensure that everything goes well?

Here are some simple tips on how to choose the best keynote speaker for your next event ensuring that it goes well and is a huge success.

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Introduction

Finding a good event guest speaker can be an overwhelming and stressful ordeal because it can either make your event a complete success or a dismal failure.

While going through the selection process, it is going to be essential that you have some basic information in place before you begin contacting any of them.

Here are 8 questions that can help you with your speaker selection criteria:

1. What is the theme of your event?

Every successful function has an overarching theme or tone that will determine the direction of how things unfold.

Having a clear understanding of what your main message is will be a critical factor in choosing the right person.

Remember that the role of a keynote speaker is to establish and spark your main theme.

For example:

Do you want to focus on teamwork and trust?
Do you want to focus on leadership development?
Do you want to focus on sales and marketing?

If you look at most of the major conferences and seminars, you will see that they tend to focus on one overarching theme that sets the tone for what your attendees can expect.

2. What is the objective of the event?

Setting a clear benchmark or KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a necessary step in this process so that you know what you want to accomplish from this gathering.

Remember that you are the one hiring the speaker. Lay out your goals and expectations for the event and make sure that her or she are able to meet them. Be specific about what you want and be honest so that you do not end up with buyers remorse.

For example…

Do you want to generate more sales or donations?
Would you like to create more awareness around an idea or product?
Are you interested in your attendees having some form of transformational experience?
Do you want to inspire and motivate your staff or industry peers?
What actionable takeaways should your audience leave with?
What type of experience should they have?

Make sure you create a simple and clear list about the top two or three goals you would like to accomplish from this event.

(Tip) At the end of the event, ask your attendees for feedback by asking them to answer a questionnaire. Once you’ve collected their responses, you can sit down with your speaker to see if the goals you created together were achieved.

3. What is the budget of your event?

Setting a clear budget can be a challenge but is a very important step in this process. Planning an event requires a great deal of restraint and discipline because without it, things can quickly get out of hand and you will see your budget double or triple in a blink of an eye.

This is why its so important to understand what the objective of your event is.

For example, if you are looking to increase sales, then your budget might be higher than an event where your goal is just to network or build morale within your company.

Also, the cost of a keynote speaker can widely vary from $1000 up to $100,000. Therefore establishing a clear budget will quickly be able to help you narrow down the field of who you can contact.

(Tip) Make sure you read the fine print and know all the costs up-front. The figures they give you don’t usually include expenses with transportation or accommodation. They might require a specific setting in order to give their talk. Find out in advance what all the costs will be, so you can avoid unwanted surprises later during the event.

4. What is the location of your event?

Before you even send out an email or make a phone call to a speaker, you need to have a venue (or two) that you can potentially work with.

It’s essential that you make sure that the space you want to rent is available and that it fits within your budget.

Once you know which venue you might possibly book, then you will know how much space it holds and where it is located.

Will you be by a nearby airport where the speaker can easily travel to?

Will the space you rent hold enough people? Or, will it be too big and make your event not look successful because not enough people showed up?

Booking the right venue goes in tandem with finding the right keynote speaker.

5. What is the date of your event?

Selecting speakers for a conference can be tricky when you have to coordinate the date and their availability.

Depending on what type of expert you are looking to hire, generally speaking, you should be planning your event six to twelve months in advance.

If you want a nationally recognized speaker, then you will definitely want to be planning a year in advance since many of them are quite busy and traveling all over the world.

However, if you have a specific speaker you really want to work with, then you might want to consider contacting them first and check their availability. This way you can plan your event around the dates they have available.

So either…

A. Pick a date and then narrow down your search based upon who is available.

B. Pick a keynote speaker and coordinate your event around when he or she is available.

6. Who is attending your event?

Having a clear understanding of your audience will make it much easier to determine who you should book for your event.

For example…

Is this gathering for your staff?
Are you inviting your peers?
Are you looking to launch a nationally recognized conference brand?

The essential point here is that you need to have the end user in mind and find out who would best be suited to talk to them.

You want to make sure that you have chosen the appropriate speaker that fits your audience demographics and psychographics.

For example…

If your audience is younger (30 and below), you might want to have someone who creates an interactive session since a younger crowd has shorter attention spans.

However, if your attendees are older, then they are more accustomed to sitting through lectures and just listening without too much interactivity.

If needed, you might want to consider surveying your audience and getting some feedback from them. Many major music promoters do this with their email list which is a great way to ensure that your event sells out since your customers are telling you who they want to see.

7. Should you work direct or with a speakers bureau?

Many guest speakers for events have an agency or speakers bureau that they work with who handle all of the booking details.

However, this is not to say that you can not try working with them directly.

In fact, some prefer to do so.

The key difference is that by working with their agency, you will have an account manager who will help you strategize and coordinate. Of course the downside is that their fee is included which means that you wont have much wiggle room for negotiating the price.

By working with them directly, you will have a better opportunity of being more intimately connected to them so that you can work through some of the finer details.

For example, one thing you might want to consider is how flexible they are and how much time are they willing to spend to work with you in advance?

Depending on the type of event you are producing, you might need someone who is flexible and willing to work with you on specific items. If you are working with the bureau, it can be difficult to make these types of special requests.

8. What type of speaker are you looking for?

There are over one hundred thousand professional keynote speakers you can choose from which means that you can get dizzy searching through the web and the endless profiles in all of the directories out there.

Famous vs Lesser-Known

A well-known speaker can help you to draw people to the event ensuring that the venue is full. However, you have to make sure that they will live up to expectations otherwise it can backfire and hurt your image. Sometimes a lesser known speaker might be better able to impress your audience.

Specializations

Do you want to work with someone who has positioned themselves on being a leading authority in a topic? Many experts specialize in a specific area such as business, marketing, innovation, or inspirational.

Characteristics

But on a deeper level, you want to know that they have certain characteristics.

Here are some simple questions you should ask yourself that will help you with the speaker selection criteria:

A. Are they likable?

When they walk out on to the stage, do they give off a good vibe and will they be easily received by your audience?

B. Are they relatable?

While they are considered experts and industry leaders, do they share stories of real life examples so that your attendees can connect with them?

C. Are they empathetic?

The guest speaker you select should be able to connect with your audience in an

D. Are they passionate and mission driven?

Every good leader is extremely passionate about their mission and what they are talking about.

E. Are they a great storyteller?

When he or she gets up on stage, they should be able to mesmerize the crowd.

F. Can they inspire and motivate?

While the lecture can be informational, it should still inspire and motivate your audience to take some form of action.

G. Can they articulate key points?

Because they are an extension of your organization, you want to make sure that they will be able to deliver the information in a way that people can easily digest.

H. Are they confident and charismatic?

A good orator is someone who has a high level of self esteem and can stand in front of an audience of 50,000 people with a great deal of confidence.

I. Do they have a unique perspective?

Whomever you decide to work with, make sure that they are bringing something different to the topic.

J. Are they respected as a trusted authority?

If you want your participants to commit to listening to someone talk, then they must be seen as a trusted authority.

K. Is he or she knowledgeable about your industry?

It should go without saying that whomever you work with has some understanding of your industry.

L. Is the information applicable?

Make sure that the person you work with is going to present information that can be applied so your audience feels they gained something useful.