How to Select a Speaker
 Answer these questions first.
They will help you plan your next event.
1) Results?
What do you want the speaker's presentation to accomplish?
That is, do you want to make money, cause change, have fun, or lift morale?
2) Budget?
What is your budget?
Is your budget consistent with the results that you want?
Types of Speakers
There are four types of speakers.
Each serves a different purpose: sell attendance (celebrity), teach (educational), entertain (entertainer), or inspire (motivational)?
Celebrity
These speakers are well known. Their popularity will attract a large attendance to your event. Your audience will feel awed that they saw the celebrity. Expect to pay higher fees because these speakers are popular. Also realize that they often became famous for activities other than speaking.
Educational
These speakers convey information and teach skills. Sometimes the topic will be highly thought provoking. When these presentations are delivered without interaction, stories, or humor, they can sound like dull lectures. And too much content can leave the audience feeling overwhelmed.
Entertainer
These speakers will entertain everyone with humor, stories, music, or drama. Their programs seldom contain educational content.
Motivational
These speakers inspire people to take action, feel good, and make changes. Everyone will leave the program feeling wonderful. Purely motivational speakers may omit telling how to achieve the success they talk about.
How to Hold a Successful Event
- Hire a professional speaker.
- Select the right speaker with the right approach to the right topic for your audience.
- Tell the speaker what you expect from the presentation. That is, what are your goals for the program, what is the theme for the event, what message do you want to convey, and what issues (if any) do you want the speaker to avoid.
- Provide the speaker with information about your organization. Send copies of newsletters, annual reports, past programs, and other publications that tell about your organization. Also provide the names of key people in the organization so the speaker can interview them.
- Send the speaker a copy of the event's program and a map showing how to find the facility where you are holding the event.
Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)
• Isn't it less expensive to make our own program?
This is a good idea if you plan to deliver that presentation at least 50 to 100 times or if the topic contains proprietary information. Otherwise, the cost of hiring a professional will be significantly less than your development costs.
Most professional speakers spend at least six to twelve months developing a keynote address or a workshop. Then they spend years perfecting it.
When you hire a professional, you buy a complete, proven program.
• Won't it cost less to make our own program because we use payroll money?
It's much more expensive to do a mediocre job yourself that to hire a pro.
• Can we use your workbook to conduct our programs?
The answer is yes if we can work out a licensing agreement. Otherwise, unauthorized use of any copyrighted material is illegal. This includes cartoons from the newspaper, articles, sections of books, and my workbooks.
By the way, ask speakers who use cartoons taken from commercial sources if they have paid royalty fees for using them. If not, they are breaking the law. And you, the meeting planner, could be part of a lawsuit.
• What do we get if we buy a canned training program?
That program in a box is like a TV dinner. It was designed to be presented by anyone to anybody. And the actual cost, which can include certification workshops for your staff, licenses, and materials, may be far more than what you would pay for a customized program delivered by a professional speaker. Actually, a generic program can be very expensive.
• What about E-Learning?
It depends. Some skills can be learned by reading a book or working through a guided computer activity, but adult leaning occurs through interaction with others.
Most e-learning programs look good on paper, but they are similar to putting people into solitary confinement with a computer.
• How can we save money on our program?
The best way to save money on any event is to invite fewer people. This is because the value of the audience's time is your greatest expense.
Actually, a better question is, "How can we maximize the return on our investment?" The answer is, 1) hire a professional speaker, and 2) Use the techniques presented in the program.
Most short cuts are detours around success.
• Do you ever speak for free?
I donate presentations and workshops to nonprofit organizations on special occasions. I believe this is part of being a good citizen.
Please realize that I earn a living by speaking, facilitating, and writing.
Frequently Used Excuses (FUE)!
- I'm too busy attending meetings to learn how to lead one.
- We're lost and plan to fix it by going faster.
- I don't have time to attend a program on time management.
- We want to schedule a program on communication but no one talks to anyone around here.
- I'll work on planning my career once they give me a raise.
- I can't take a program on leadership because I'm too busy doing everyone's work.
- We're more interested in saving money than in providing programs that work.
When you want results, call an expert.
Call Steve Kaye at 714-528-1300.
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