 |
Avoid the Duds: 10 Strategies for Selecting The Perfect Speaker
Today, more than ever, the success of meetings relies heavily on the strength of program content and presentation. Nothing can spoil a meeting more than hiring the wrong speaker. That's because speakers do more than just convey the overall meeting message. You look to them to provide insights, awareness, and cutting-edge information in an energetic, motivational, entertaining, and professional manner. What more could you ask for? Well, the right speaker can emphasize an important message, offer inspiration, help people cope with new assignments, and lead the way towards change.
Selecting the right speaker for your event is one of the most important, yet daunting elements for creating a successful meeting. Your speaker can often make or break the event. If he bombs, your reputation not only takes a severe nose-dive, but you also have the pleasure of dealing with the barrage of complaints from a disappointed audience. Yet, if he does well, you can walk away with many of the accolades, compliments, and of course, the rave reviews. By now, you probably realize that this massive responsibility is not to be taken lightly.
Raise Your Expectations
The skill to selecting a great speaker is determining what combination of education, motivation, and entertainment best fits your function. Then set out to find a perfect match. But keep your expectations high, since nothing can spoil a meeting faster than booking the wrong speaker. The following 10 guidelines should help you keep your focus and also keep you away from the "duds."
1. Know the program objectives. Before you can start looking for the right speaker, you must know the program objectives. Begin with the end in mind. What are you looking to achieve? Is this an annual meeting, a training program, an incentive get-together, an awards celebration, or another type of event? This will probably be a committee or management decision, rather than one you will have to make. But you may have to make an intangible concept tangible.
2. Understand the audience's needs. Along with the program objectives, consider the needs of your audience. Does your group need industry-specific or technical information? Will a mix of motivation and entertainment serve your group's purpose? Today's audiences are generally younger, more educated, more diverse, and more sophisticated than in the past. They want content. They want to learn, but they also want it to be fun, so consider the audience needs and exactly what they expect. Consider surveying your audience. Ask them what they want or what skills would most help them in their jobs. For example, sales people may ask for advanced selling skills, but managers may request teambuilding programs.
3. Check for reputation. With countless speakers out there vying for your business, how can you possibly determine which one best meets your needs? Many speakers produce highly professional or glitzy marketing materials to help sell their services. You must look deeper than simply scanning a few brochures and ask pointed questions to find the right fit, such as What experience does this speaker have? How familiar is this speaker with this industry? and, Who else has used this person?
4. "Test drive" your prospects. If you don't have the opportunity to preview a speaker in person, then the next best thing is to request a video or audio recording of a previous presentation. A session that was recorded before a live audience gives you a better sense of a person's real ability.
Watch or listen carefully to how the speaker builds rapport and interacts with the audience. Ask yourself if this person would be right for your group. Is the combination of education, motivation, and entertainment appropriate for your needs? Does the speaker have a message that is appropriate, timely, and relevant to the theme or purpose of your event? Does it conform to your company's philosophy and policy? Do you feel the speaker is genuine and has the expertise to deliver a solid presentation?
5. Don't be star-struck. If you are considering celebrity speakers, make sure they can speak! TV personalities do a great job on the air, but sometimes have little public speaking expertise, and you should be aware that the skills needed for being on TV and for speaking live are very different. However, many well-known personalities make excellent speakers and can add enormous value and clout to your event. Politicians and sports, media, or entertainment celebrities often share life experiences, offer advice, or have an inspirational message to impart.
6. Be wary of grandiose claims. Speakers who claim to be all things to all people are probably desperate for work. Avoid them. True professional speakers, on the other hand, usually have certain areas or topics of expertise. They would much rather refer potential business to a true expert than jeopardize their reputation by trying to do a program outside of their knowledge zone. Also, beware of the charismatic and fluffy speaker as your audience wants good, solid take-away value.
7. Provide and ask for good information. Reputable speakers want to find out as much as possible about the meeting objectives, the audience, industry challenges, and so on in order to tailor their presentation to the group. Share information on your organization and audience to help the speaker design a program to fit your specific needs. provide them with newsletters, catalogs, or any other publications that highlight industry trends, key people, industry jargon or buzz words, and insider news and views.
Also include as much information as possible about the size and demographics of the audience such as age, gender, and positions.
8. Ask for an outline. Ask prospective speakers for an outline of the presentation to make sure they will be covering the material as you discussed. This will clearly lay out what's expected as verbal communication is subject to being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Seeing exactly what speakers plan to cover in the sessions should help to ensure that the material is tailored to your specific needs.
9. Maximize opportunities. Look for ways to maximize opportunities with your speakers. Discuss different ways they can add extra value and be a significant resource to help improve your meeting's success. Brainstorm ways that you feel they can assist you in planning, preparing, promoting, and presenting. Some suggestions include serving as an emcee, conducting special sessions or roundtable discussions about current issues for select groups such as company executives or the board of directors, and participating in a spouse program.
10. Trust your instincts. Through your communication with the speaker, you will quickly form an opinion or have a feeling about this person. First reactions count here. "I like this person" or "I don't like this person," or "I feel comfortable or uncomfortable working with this person," are strong indicators. These responses usually comes from your gut - a very trustworthy organ. Have confidence in your instincts and trust that so-called sixth sense. If you experience any kind of negative feeling, think about looking for someone else or get another opinion from a colleague. You want to make sure that you can work with this person and that both of you are on the same wavelength.
The true objective of hiring a professional speaker hinges on establishing a partnership where a mutually beneficial relationship grows and flourishes. When this happens, you know you've chosen well.
The Perfect Match
Overwhelmed with the plethora of speakers to choose from? You may want to turn to a speaker's bureau for advice and guidance. A good bureau should act as a consultant and partner to help your event succeed. Even though many hundreds of bureaus are out there, the numbers pale in comparison to the thousands of speakers. A bureau's sole purpose is simply to make your job easier and provide you with solutions. They want to find the best possible match for your event within your price range. So, where do go looking for one of these bureaus? Here are a few places to start your search: the phone book, chambers of commerce, convention and visitors bureaus, the Internet, industry colleagues, and friends.
A Final Note:
Look for CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) or CPAE (Council of Peers Award for Excellence) designations. Both these are conferred by the National Speakers Association and are considered the speaking profession's international measure of professional platform skill (http://www.nsaspeaker.org).
Armed with these guidelines and resources, your search for the perfect speaker will be more fruitful. And with a little effort and some time, you will connect with a speaker who will fulfill your goals- one that will be both inform and enlighten. Your audience will thank you. Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: "Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies," working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.
MORE RESOURCES:
|
Marketing: 7 Lessons From Super Bowl CommercialsPatch.comWhile spectators look forward to the commercials for entertainment purposes, I enjoy analyzing them from a public relations and marketing perspective to see if the company was on point with its strategy or if it failed miserably in promoting its brand.and more » |
Google News
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Direct Mail Marketing Generates Sales Leads: Heres How
1. Personal
Unlike an advertisement in a trade publication, which can be read by anyone, your sales letter arrives at your prospect's place of business as a piece of personal communication from your mind to his.
Peek a Boo - We See You -- 7 Trade Show Tips for Marketing Managers
Peek a Boo - We See YouDoes your company have a description for a full-time job
that says "Stand in the booth and hand out brochures."?Doubt it.
Top 10 Marketing Pitfalls
Ten Marketing Pitfalls
By Stuart ReidIf you want to make it BIG in Internet Marketing you need avoid some common mistakes. Here's a list of the top ten Pitfalls that catch out beginner Marketers (and many established ones too!).
Joint Venture Marketing: What and Why
What is a Joint Venture? A joint venture is an agreement
in which two or more businesses work on a project for a
set period of time. Usually with a specific project or
goal in mind.
The Advantage to Buying Promotional Products Online
Buying your promotional products and corporate apparel online provides five major advantages: a greater selection, better pricing, convenience, customer service, and faster ordering time.Manufacturers often display their entire line of products on the internet, providing you with a greater selection of products.
Discount Promotional Items - How to Save Money
It takes money to make money is an adage we hear everyday in the business world. So, when it comes to getting promotional items, you've got to budget for it.
Strategic Marketing and Tactical Marketing Know The Differences And Profit
Most people mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing, you're automatically talking about "Tactical" marketing - placing ads, generating leads, sending out mailers, attending trades shows, creating brochures, implementing a follow-up system, and so forth.They fail to realize that the "Strategic" side of the coin - what you say, how you say it, and who you say it to - is almost always MORE important than the marketing medium of WHERE you say it.
How to Turn More Referrals Into Paying Clients
60% of all small business owners, sales and solo-professionals claim that more than half of their new business comes from referrals. Yet when asked about the process they so successfully use to get those referrals and turn them into paying clients, most will have a puzzled, deer-in-the-headlights, stupefied look on their face, and keep quiet.
Motivate Your Market Force
IntroWant me to tell you something on how you can motivate your market force in 2005. I will do so today.
Networking the Media
The media is a business's absolute best friend. It is THE
source of information distribution to the masses.
Target Your Market
Your market is not everybody, as so many small businesses assume. It is the
people/organizations who need, want, have the money--and the willingness--to
pay for what you are offering.
Rules of Thumb for Marketing to Your Past Customers
Keeping in touch can dramatically increase business, when done properly.It's a fact that your customers are your best leads.
How Well Do You Know Your Prospects? Find Out With This 10-Point Quiz
It's crucial to know your prospects if you want to market effectively to them. Take this quick 10-point quiz to see how well you know and understand your prospects.
Provacative Research Works
If you want to double your business, then you need to get inside your client's head through proprietary research and provocative results.By conducting proprietary research, you obtain special information that prospective clients can't find elsewhere.
Chill Out With A Summer Time Marketing Plan
Is your business experiencing a summer time slump? Traditionally only industries related to travel enjoy a boost in business during the warmer months. The rest of us tend to take vacations, clean up our desk and while away the time playing computer games while we wait for business to pick up.
Using Flyers In Your Business
If you are not using flyers in your business you are missing out. Flyers can be used to sell your product, promote your product, promote your services, and in a number of other areas.
Trade Show Display Booth - A Marvelous Contact System
Trade show booths are one of the best direct contact systems with end consumers. The face to face meeting opportunity with customers can provide some excellent results?provided you have a good communication strategy in place.
Top 5 Ways to Generate Qualified Leads for Your Small Business
Do you ever wonder if you could be doing a better job marketing your small business or professional service firm? Successfully marketing a small business is hard work. There are several key skills required to consistently develop new business that you, as a small business owner, must master in order to succeed.
Marketing to the Affluent - with Wine
With its association to an affluent, sophisticated lifestyle, wine can make a good accompaniment when marketing to an affluent audience. However, I am not talking here about ordering expensive wine at a client diner.
How to Promote your business website using free online resources.
There are many ways to promote your website for free online. Here are 10 highly effective strategies you can use right now.
|
