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Inspiration leads to transformation. And that’s what a great speaker does for an event. Their stage energy and presence, storytelling, educational background and message have the potential to hit home with attendees.

They’re looking to be inspired, to be informed, and to some extent, to be entertained. A good speaker is a kind of “influencer.” They can create a buzz that lasts hours, days, months and even years after an event.

With so much change across the event planning industry — from audience expectations to demographics — planners rely on their events’ keynote speakers to help them energize what can sometimes be a tough, tired and sleepy crowd.

But the presentation doesn’t start there. The message and hype begin the second the speaker is booked. Before that happens, planners must understand that the speaking industry is a unique ballgame. Knowing how to play by the rules requires skills and research in finding and comparing speakers, from their professional credentials to their personality traits.

A Speaker Agent’s Perspective

Planners hire speakers for their audience, not for themselves. And speakers’ booking agents understand that well, said Rick Stowe, senior managing director at EastCoast Entertainment (ECE).

ECE has offices along the East Coast and agents nationwide, including Asheville, Birmingham, Columbia, Nashville, Philadelphia, D.C., Atlanta, Charleston, Hilton Head, NYC, Raleigh, Augusta, Charlotte, Houston, Palm Beach and Richmond.

“I have been in the booking industry for 35 years, and in recent years, I’ve seen many corporations asking for DEI and tech-related speakers, especially when it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI),” said Stowe. “We see it every day in the news cycle and more corporate leaders are looking for creative opportunities to incorporate hot-button and sometimes sensitive issues.”

AI has been dominating conversations across all industries in some capacity this year, and most especially on event stages across the country.

Last month, at the FICP conference at JW Marco Island (Marco Island, FL), one of the keynote speakers was Samantha Jordan. Jordan is a futurist and consultant for Future Day Institute, a leading foresight and strategy firm founded by world-renowned futurist, Andy Webb.

She delivered a presentation about the possibilities of emerging and ever-changing technologies that had people talking for days.

Jordan is known for taking a very complex topic and making it easy for all to understand. She started her presentation on this note: “The term futurist can be a bit confusing because, unfortunately, I don’t actually predict the future. If I did, I guarantee I’d be about 100 miles south of here, definitely still in the Gulf of Mexico, but I’d be on a yacht, not on a stage.”

She continued with this: “As a futurist, my job is not to predict the precise future, but rather, to model multiple plausible versions of the future. And the reason that I do that is to help organizations look at those multiple plausible futures, so that way they can take a step back and ask themselves: What decisions do I need to make today to be prepared for any one of those scenarios?

“So really, what I do is more about preparation, not so much about prediction. And that’s what today’s discussion is all about. We are going to prepare for the future, especially in the era of generative AI. Here’s our game plan for the day. We are going to do a quick AI primer.”

By the end of her presentation, Jordan had the crowd not only on their feet, but digging for their smart phones and tablets searching for similar topics surrounding “AI.”

The next day on the same stage, keynote speaker Michelle Poler’s energetic, humorous, inspiring and entertaining presentation helped the attendees identify themselves with the topic at hand: Fear.

Poler’s storytelling moved the audience from tears to laughter. She danced, poked fun at herself and shared her books, “Hello Fears: Crush Your Comfort Zone and Become Who You’re Meant to Be” and “The Hello, Fears Challenge: A 100-Day Journal for Self-Discovery.” (These have been translated into seven languages and distributed in four continents.)

But Poler did more than just energize her audience. She used herself — her brand — as the driving force to move others. She talked about how she used her fear of public speaking to break barriers and to get herself be invited to speak at The Global Leadership Summit, Google, P&G, ESPN, TEDx, Netflix, Microsoft and Meta, among many other stages and platforms.

Wherever she has been featured, whether on the Today Show, Forbes, CBS or on the cover of Insurance & Financial Meetings Management, Corporation & Incentive Travel’s sister publication,  Poler has impacted an audience.

Not surprisingly, the 2023 FICP annual conference — the meeting industry’s marquee event that brings together hundreds of meeting professionals, from rising stars to strategic leaders — hired her to be one of their keynote speakers.

“Where do you like to be 10 years from today?” she posed.

“Have you thought about that? That’s the question that my professor asked us on the first day of class,” Poler said, getting closer to her audience. “She challenged me and the rest of the students to think about our perfect life 10 years from that day. And at that moment, I knew that I was about to have a panic attack. I mean, who here has done something like this?

“When you try to plan your life ahead, it’s pretty scary because you want to dream big, but not too much. You want to sound ambitious but humble. You start dreaming of a 150-foot yacht, and somewhere down the line, you settle for a freaking kayak.”

The audience laughed, relating to her story.

While not all meetings or events require a motivational or inspirational speaker, it’s easy to see why having one helps engage attendees. This, of course, depends on the event. Often before a keynote speaker presents, event planners add a little adrenalin with fun entertainment to get the audience’s attention. In this role, the speaker is the first person to help cement the theme of the event.

“Many of the top America’s Got Talent performers are fun, and add relevant transitions between speakers. It can lighten the atmosphere if the keynote is on a serious topic. If you are advertising the speaker, someone with a recognizable name such as a celebrity or compelling background story often will help engage the audience,” said Stowe.

Negotiating the Contract

As an agent, Stowe finds the negotiations between the speaker and the event planner one of a kind. After all, one size does not fit all. During the selection process, Stowe advises planners to take the time to provide as much detail as possible on their goals.

“Make sure any ‘asks’ are upfront before the contract is signed,” he said. “This could be anything from meet and greets, social media posts, autographed memorabilia, etc. It’s never a good idea to go back after the deal is confirmed and ask for more.”

Speakers have the power to captivate, motivate, educate and even inspire an audience. They can even change an event. In the long run, event planners should look for the best speaker within their budget who can provide the most value before, during and after their event.

For example, Stowe recalls working with a major corporation that was looking for a recognizable speaker to present on the topic of “investing in your community.”

At the time, American, singer, songwriter John Legend was specifically looking for opportunities to share his message on giving back to the community. Legend would also perform three or four of his top hit songs at the end of the keynote segment.

Legend is an artist who rarely performs concerts for under an exact set fee, but since the topic was on something he is very passionate about, he ended up doing the event for a fraction of his normal performance fee.

“To say the least, the audience was truly inspired by his message and the short performance at the end was a true bonus prize,” said Stowe.

A Planner’s Perspective

Before planners set out to find the best speaker for their next meeting or event, they should dive into the goals for their event: Are they looking for greater employee engagement or retention? Increased revenue or profits in the following year? Whatever they want to accomplish by hosting an event, they must figure out what they’re hoping to accomplish through their speaker.

This will come in handy during their initial conversation, when the planner asks how their skills, style of storytelling and approach will help them meet their event goals. But reaching them — now, that’s a new search in itself. With today’s technology and social media platforms, that task has become a lot simpler.

“Reaching speakers has become democratized. We know more about a speaker from their social media or news,” said Rose Lanham, former event planner and president of Players for Good, a boutique speakers bureau for professional athletes in Atlanta, GA. “It’s so much easier to research and find your perfect speaker.”

Lanham started working in the events industry in 1996 with the Olympics, which led to producing celebrity golf events, corporate conferences and special hospitality events for Yahoo! Currently, she connects meeting planners with professional athletes for keynotes and celebrity appearances. So, she’s served on both sides of the net.

As a planner, she learned early on to negotiate the contracts between the speakers and the companies she worked for.

“When negotiating the contract, knowing your company’s objectives is the most important thing. Sometimes it’s price. But often, it might be that an executive wants to meet this person, or it’s important the speaker stays for the awards ceremony and hands out a trophy. Consider what is really important to your audience and decision-makers, and go ahead and ask,” she said.

Robin Raskin, CMP, founder of The Virtual Events Group (VEG) in New York, NY, agrees that when negotiating a contract, it’s good to list the responsibilities upfront. “These might include a rehearsal call, instructions to arrive in the green room, instructions for how to submit AV materials, instructions about bringing guests, getting badges and privileges granted to speakers,” explained Raskin.

Like Lanham, Raskin also finds social media platforms a great way to check out speakers before any plans are made or contracts are signed.

“I really rely on LinkedIn, but I always check out the speaker I’ve discovered on LinkedIn in a video like YouTube or Vimeo. If they haven’t spoken anywhere before, I get nervous,” she said. “I do intro calls before committing to them — I need to get to know them and hear their point of view before inviting them to speak. I try to mix established large companies with exciting speakers from new companies. New companies are less ‘secretive,’ and haven’t been over-coached by PR people so they tend to be fresher.”

What a Planner Wants

As Lanham said, choosing the right speaker begins with a clear understanding of your event. This includes identifying the type of speaker your event needs:

Motivational speakers: Skilled in storytelling, they often share personal experiences and lessons to motivate and move the audience to action.

Industry experts: They can provide in-depth insights, discuss the latest trends and foster intellectual stimulation.

Celebrity speakers: They can draw a large crowd and create buzz around your event or brand.

Educational speakers: A speaker who has teaching experience in your industry.

Choosing the right type of speaker involves a clear definition of your event’s purpose, understanding your audience and determining the type of speaker that best complements your event’s theme and goals. But above all, a planner wants a speaker who can be:

• Accessible and available
• Friendly and easy to work with
• Interested in your event and eager to be briefed by the event planner on the audience and purpose of the event
• Energetic and enthusiastic
• Generous with their time
• Reliable 100%
• Understands the audience
• Consistent from their website to their show reels and overall presentation

Day of Event:

• Turns up early, leaves late
• Works well with A/V team
• No overt selling or product promotion
• Delivers on stage

After the Event:

• Checks in with the event planner for feedback on the presentation and how it helped their attendees

Hiring Process

Once a planner identifies the type of speaker and selects the one they want, of course, it’s time to hire them.

“When hiring a speaker, consider how they can interact with your larger goals and entertain your guests,” explained Lanham. “When you hire a celebrity chef, perhaps they come out between courses to explain the dish, but can also share anecdotes from their experiences. Perhaps it’s a humorous story of the most ridiculous bridezilla requests or a recipe his grandmother taught the chef at age eight.

“When you hire a sports star, like NBA legend Rick Barry, he loves to shoot hoops in a ballroom with corporate attendees or join your trade show booth to interact with the audience in shooting contests. We have NFL players who join a pickleball court with attendees after their motivational speech.

“Other sports celebrities might be perfect for handing out the Top Sales Performer awards on the stage or you can have an ESPN talent be the emcee for the night. People love to feel they’re getting a behind-the-curtain experience with a sports star,” Lanham said. The list of speakers is endless and so are the topics they cover. C&IT