Choosing Guest Speakers For Your Event

Selecting the right guest speaker for your event can be the difference between success and failure.

When selecting an event speaker you have a number of considerations. These span everything from technological know-how and diversity to their ability to engage and inspire your audience.

Get it wrong, and your reputation is damaged. Get it right, and you will have made a significant step towards a successful and memorable event. This might sound like a lot of pressure, but don’t panic! We’re here to help.

In this piece, we look at how to select the ideal speaker for your event.

What makes a good guest speaker?
What is the role of a guest speaker?
Choosing a guest speaker within your budget
Finding the ideal guest speaker for your event

Why are guest speakers important?

When planning a conference or event, one of the key elements to its overall success is having the right speakers. This includes session-, guest- and keynote speakers. A great speaker can help set the tone of the event and make it memorable for your audience. Guest speakers can add authenticity to your event, showing your appreciation for the event’s chosen topic or theme. After your event’s location, the guest speaker is the most important thing to consider.

What makes a good guest speaker?

It is important to approach speaker selection as a real opportunity to elevate your event rather than just another item to tick off the list. Selecting a good speaker can make or break an event.

Let’s start with what makes a good speaker. Yes, they need to be capable of entertaining an audience, engaging them and inspiring them to take action when they leave the room. However, the right speaker depends on your specific vision for the event and what you want to achieve.

A good guest or keynote speaker needs to be able to do at least some of the following:

Attract attendees
Engage, entertain and educate your audience
Reinforce key event themes
Inspire audiences and drive positive change
Provide fresh insight and perspective on event-related topics
Provide actions and motivational takeaways

What is the role of a guest speaker?

You already have a clear idea of the central themes of your event, the topics and the overall goals. The event speaker you select should align closely with all of these.

A guest speaker can perform a number of different roles. They can energise and inspire a crowd, support the event themes and add value by sharing insider knowledge. They can also offer a new perspective and break up the more routine aspects of the event. If you are clear on exactly what it is you want from your event, it’s easier to pick a guest speaker who can help achieve this.

What is the difference between a keynote speaker and a guest speaker?

A keynote speaker will generally introduce your event and set the tone for any speeches to follow, which should complement this speech. They also tend to be of a higher profile than a guest speaker and may attract a larger audience. Keynote speakers can also work well at the end of an event, to wrap up the day, and help your audience to understand all of the speeches that day. Keynote speeches at the halfway point of an event can help keep your audience engaged and entertained.

Guest speakers will make up the rest of your line up, offering varying perspectives on topics around the central theme of your event. Although your audience may be attracted to your event because of your keynote speakers, ensuring that you choose the ideal guest speakers for your event will ensure that your guests will leave with smiles on their faces.

Type of Event

Having the best speaker in the world won’t mean anything if they don’t suit your event. The type of event you’re organising determines the speaker you’re looking for. You might want to consider:

How engaging they are: If you’re aiming to get your audience to network, then a more social speaker who may be available to stay around after the event may be the right choice. A workshop might work better with a comedian or actor who can make people feel comfortable and bring out conversation.
Their expertise: If you are launching a product and want a speaker to demonstrate this, you need to make sure that they have some sort of interest/expertise in your previous products. An academic conference should have an expert in that field.
Their values: For a charity event, for example, you need to ensure that they align with the values of your organisation.
Their background: An industry thought leader adds value by being highly relevant to attendees. They can provide insight into emerging trends, predict future trends, share data and offer actions that attendees can take away and use within their organisations.

The alternative is to opt for a speaker who has limited or no industry knowledge but will fulfil another purpose. This could be an author, a celebrity or a motivational speaker with the ability to engage and inspire your audience.

Choosing a speaker for a virtual event

If you are hosting a virtual event, it is essential that your speaker has access to a stable internet connection, and that you also schedule a call with them so that they can be more comfortable with your event software and ensure that everything works correctly.

Check out our guides on hybrid events and virtual events to find out more.

Choosing a guest speaker within your budget

When planning a conference, it all comes down to staying on budget. This means knowing exactly what your budget is for guest speakers. It would be nice to handpick the best and brightest keynote speakers from around the world, but event and conference budgets don’t often stretch this far.

How much does a guest speaker cost?

The price of a guest speaker can vary, depending on the time of year, the speaker themselves, as well as the event you are holding. Although you are sure to pay more for a keynote speaker, choosing speakers who are passionate about the theme of your event will make it more likely that you will stay within your budget.

And yes, you do have to budget for speakers. The days of freebies are over, especially if you want a professional speaker. It takes time, effort and experience to deliver a good presentation, and this needs to be paid for.

If you know how much you can afford, this will narrow down the list of potential speakers. When you enter into discussions, it’s important to be clear on exactly what you are paying for and when it will be paid. Some guest speakers will expect travel and accommodation to be provided on top of their fees.

Finding the ideal guest speakers for your event

Now that you know the type of speaker you want and the role they will play at your event, you need to find them. Finding the right speaker amongst the thousands out there is no easy task. We recommend starting your hunt in the following places

Similar events and conferences – look back over the programmes of similar events and see which speakers featured. Dig around on social media and YouTube to see if you can gauge the success of their presentation.
Agencies like Speakers Corner and JLA to find potential speakers
Databases like Collabstr to find influencers from social media
Your contacts – yep, go back through your contact list and see who jumps out
TED Talk Speakers – both TED and TEDx talks put the emphasis on the best quality and most engaging speakers, so use these in your search for speakers.

Choosing the Right Guest Speaker Checklist

So you have a shortlist of potential speakers, you now need to decide if they are right for your event but also if they can deliver the goods.

See them in action – the obvious way to determine if they are right for your event is to watch them speak. If your timeframes allow, then this really is the best way to judge if a speaker is suitable. The next best thing is to watch them speak at an event on YouTube or Vimeo. If you can’t find them on these platforms, then ask the speaker or their representative to send over some footage of them presenting in front of an audience.

Visit their website – although websites can be misleading, they should at least give you an initial impression of the speaker’s suitability and quality.

Check Slideshare on LinkedIn – look for your speaker on Slideshare to see what their presentations look like. You can get a good idea as to their professionalism and the quality of their talk from the slides they use. Someone with well-presented and attractively designed slides is often a speaker who makes an effort.

Speak to them – having a direct conversation over Zoom or phone allows you to ask them key questions and also to get a feel as to how they carry themselves and how well you might work together. If they ask lots of questions about the event’s themes and the audience you know you are onto a winner.

Check out their LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media profiles – are they active? Have they promoted events that they have appeared at in the past? Are they an asset? A speaker who is familiar with social media and will help you market your event adds real value to your event. Julius Solaris, in his article on hiring conference speakers, points out: “A good speaker has a healthy and engaged following on different social networks. What you are looking for here is a sign of positive engagement and meaningful content.”

Diversity – A diverse range of guest speakers will help offer your audience an insight into the many perspectives on a certain subject matter. Some events may call for more of a debate style, and it would be important to invite guest speakers with opposing stances.

References – make the effort to follow up on any references provided.

Relevant Experience – check to see if they have any experience of working with similar audiences.

Availability – you might have found the perfect person to present your event, but first, you need to make sure they’re available. Depending on the speaker, you may need to book them up to a year in advance. It’s also a good idea to gauge what they’re willing to get involved with, whether they’re only open to delivering a keynote speech or also able to participate in a panel discussion or Q&A session.

Key considerations

There are three key areas that are worth looking at in more detail when it comes to selecting a speaker for your event:

Engagement

Ever lost several hours down a TED Talk wormhole on YouTube? What TED Talks demonstrate is just how compelling and engaging presentations can be nowadays.

It doesn’t necessarily matter how, but one thing your speaker must do is engage the audience. Audiences today are more demanding than ever before. They expect to be entertained, be able to interact with the presenter and to see technology utilised. Storytelling is a key element to engaging an audience. Having a strong narrative helps bring a talk together and maintain interest throughout.

It’s also beneficial to have the guest speaker interact with attendees in breakout sessions and refreshment breaks.

Adaptability

When choosing your speaker, you should look out for an eagerness and ability for them to adapt and tailor their presentations to your needs. Do they deliver a one-size-fits-all presentation or do they research the audience and the event in order to tailor their talk? We’re not talking about a completely new presentation but some effort to connect with and engage your specific audience. If they request information about the event and the audience and ask pertinent questions, this is a good indicator that they are a good speaker.

Technology

Technology plays an important role in presentations today. It can enhance talks in numerous ways, but primarily through increasing engagement and enabling interactivity. Find out from the potential speaker what their tech requirements are – this will give you an idea as to how comfortable or ambitious they are with technology.

20 Bedford Way – Central London Venue

20 Bedford Way is a Central London venue ideal for conferences and events of all sizes. Our flagship Logan Hall conference space has a capacity of 910 people and is kitted out with the latest A/V equipment. It is available for hire at affordable rates. Get in touch today to find out more.

How to Choose the Best Guest Speakers for Your Event