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Advice on Hiring a Professional Speaker
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3 Steps to Finding the Best Professional Speaker for Your Event
Terry Sumerlin is a professional motivational speaker who gives presentations nationally as The Barber-osopher. Here he uses his 10+ years of experience behind the microphone to help others find effective speakers for their meetings, conferences, conventions, retreats, and other events. Find out more about The Barber-osopher at this professional motivational speaker's website or read The Barber-osophy blog.
Make Sure You Share in the Applause
Tips for Finding a Speaker That "Fits" Your Meeting or Event
There are three steps involved in hiring a speaker for your event.
1. You need to decide what type of speaker and theme you need for your meeting. To help you with this, we suggest that you answer the four questions below.
2. You need to find a speaker that fits those requirements.
3. You need to work with the speaker to help him prepare for your event.
To get started, answer the four questions below. These will help give focus to your event and the kind of speaker that will provide the most value to your audience.
The Barber-osopher, professional motivational speaker
A Sample of His Style
The Barberosopher--Humorous Motivational Speaker
Terry Sumerlin is the Barber-osopher. He uses humorous anecdotes from his life as the owner of a 50-year-old barbershop, and as a husband and father, to illustrate important principles for success in life and in business.
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1. Who is the Audience?
Who Must the Message Address?
Is the audience made up of professionals, managers, customer contact staff, administrative staff, sales staff, or a mix?If the audience is made up of managers, a presentation on developing leadership skills and retaining staff might be welcomed. If the audience is primarily customer contact personnel, a presentation about making your company customer-focused might be appropriate. If the audience is in sales, a motivational speech might be in order. And, if you have an audience made up of employees at different levels and in different departments, you might want a presentation centering around teams and team-building. Finally, if the audience includes spouses and other family members, you may need a speaker that is mostly an entertainer.
Sometimes the type of business helps you determine the kind of speaker you need.
Is the business of the audience primarily B-to-B or B-to-C? Is it a high-tech or high-touch business? A retailer? A manufacturer? A distributorship? A product-oriented or service-oriented business?
Sometimes if all of the members of the audience are in the same business, an industry expert that also has good presentation skills would be a good choice. But, if that is not the case, you will need to find someone who can effectively present relevant business principles.
2. What is the Purpose of Your Event?
How Can A Speaker Give Focus To Your Themes
If you hope to motivate attendees to greater effectiveness, you need a speaker with a motivational component.
Many events combine education and motivation. In that case, you might have subject-matter experts doing break-out sessions, and a keynote motivational speaker who can summarize themes and help make the audience more receptive to the educational presentations.
Some events are designed primarily to promote networking within an industry group. Then, you will want an interactive speaker that can warm-up the audience so that even the more introverted members of the audience will be inspired to meet and greet new people around them.
Beyond the general purpose of the event, you need to consider appropriate themes. Some examples might be:
"How to Thrive in a Changing Workplace"
"Give Your Best Every Day"
"Organizing Your Life for Greater Satisfaction"
"Building Relationships for Happiness and Success"
Choose your speaker on the basis of his or her demonstrated ability to effectively communicate the themes you have chosen and provide a "fit" with your event's purpose.
3. What Type of Presentation Do You Need?
Subject Matter Expert, Celebrity, Entertainer, or Motivational Speaker
- The Industry Expert. An industry expert has widely-acknowledged expertise in a particular subject matter of interest to the audience. In order for this kind of presentation to be successful, the speaker must also have excellent communication skills.
- The Celebrity. A well-promoted celebrity can increase attendance and excitement for an event. As in the case of the industry expert, he or she must have speaking experience and skill. In addition, he or she should complement the general themes of the event.
- The Entertainer. Some professional speakers' presentations are primarily entertainment. They may be comedians, magicians, musicians, jugglers, etc. They often incorporate themes into their presentations.
- Other Professional Speakers. Many of these fall into the general category of "motivational speakers." They often encompass characteristics of the other categories. For example, speakers like Zig Ziglar have attained celebrity status. And others, while not comedians as such, use lots of humor to enliven their presentations.
4. What is Your Budget?
The Best Are Not Always The Most Expensive
Speakers' fees range widely. You can probably find a reasonably good local speaker for around $1,000. Excellent speakers with experience and an ability to customize their presentation to your organization can be expected to command fees ranging from $3,500 to $20,000. Celebrities and others who have achieved a degree of fame may receive speaking fees of $100,000 or more. Expect to pay travel and hotel expenses in addition to the speakers' fee.Remember, though, that the more expensive speaker is not always the best speaker. Review demonstration videos of all of the speakers on your short list. Videos showing speakers interacting with an audience will be of most help. If you spend some time on this kind of research, you may find an especially good speaker for your event that is among the less expensive ones.
How to Locate a Speaker for Your Event
Research Speakers
If you have determined your theme, and what kind of speaker(s) and presentation(s) you need, you can begin to search for talent.
If you need an industry expert or a celebrity, just combing your brain for names may work. But, if you need one of the other kinds of speakers, you will need to do some research.
In addition to those below, Speakers Bureaus and Meeting Planners can be good sources of information about professional speakers.
Speakers bureaus act as agents for professional speakers. Some speakers bureaus specialize in particular types of speakers-sports celebrities or authors, for example. When you hire a bureau to help you find a speaker for your event, you can be assured that anyone they recommend will have excellent speaking skills and experience.
A meeting planner will help you put together the details of your event. They have the experience to anticipate and overcome snafus of all kinds. They also may have first-hand experience with professional speakers hired for other events.
Even if you use a speakers bureau and/or meeting planner, you should not rely upon them to choose the speaker or communicate with the speaker about the kind of presentation you desire. An experienced speaker will customize his or her presentation to your particular audience or group. To do this, he or she will need information and dialog from someone with more knowledge of the group and its needs. Professional speakers who care about delivering a valuable presentation will consider this a key part of their job.
NOTE: If you represent a Speakers Bureau or a Meeting Planner, we welcome the addition of a link to your site here.
#1
Toastmasters International
Find local chapters of Toastmasters International more...0 points
#2
Dale Carnegie Institute
Find local offices of the Dale Carnegie Institute more...0 points
#3
Directory of Convention & Visitors Bureaus and State Tourism Offices
A directory of convention and visitors bureaus.0 points
#4
Google Search
Search Google using terms like professional speake more...0 points
#5
National Speakers Association -- Welcome to the NSA Web Site!
Site includes a member database.0 points
#6
Motivational Speakers, Keynote Speakers, and Workshop Leaders
SpeakerMatch has made the task of finding expert m more...0 points
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Find Your Perfect Keynote Speaker at TSG Speakers Bureau
The Speakers Group provides meeting planners acces more...0 points
How to Get the Most From a Professional Speaker
Information and Dialog Will Help Them Deliver
The speaker needs to know:
1. The overall theme and/or purpose of the event. Hopefully, you have chosen the speaker in part because their own themes and expertise are a good fit, but the speaker can often further refine his or her presentation to make it even more relevant to your audience and event.
2. The number of people you expect and basic information about the venue. This is a good time to have a conversation about the set-up of the room and needed audiovisual equipment.
3. Whether his or her presence is desired at times outside of the presentation itself. For example, the speaker might be willing to stay after the presentation for a reception or luncheon, so that attendees can speak with him or her personally.
4. A few specifics about the organization, its challenges and opportunities. Many speakers like to drop the names of well-known members of the organization into their presentation. If there are issues affecting many in the audience, the speaker may be able to work those into his or her presentation. And, if the audience is local to a particular city or state, there may be some topic in the news that could become part of the presentation.
Have a conversation with your speaker. Allow time for him or her to ask questions and get a big-picture view of your event. When the day of the presentation arrives, you will be able to share in the speaker's success.
Resources When You Are Planning A Meeting
- How to Get the Most From a Speaker
- Tips for working with Professional Speakers.
- How To Hire The Right Type of Speaker
- Advice on finding the right kind of speaker for your event.
- How to Help A Speaker Prepare for Your Event
- Suggested topics for your conversation with a professional speaker hired for your meeting.
- How To Introduce a Speaker
- If you've been tasked with introducing your speaker, here are some helpful suggestions for you.
Blog Posts from Google
A Sampling of Barber-osophy
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Posted January 27, 2008
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