How To Find The Best Marketing Keynote Speaker For Your Event?
What, first of all, is a keynote speaker exactly?
A keynote speaker will set the tone of a meeting, convention, or seminar.
The rest of the members will follow his or her tune in the same way that just the pitch of the oboe is followed by the rest of the orchestra during tuning.
Because of this a great keynote speaker, if they set the right tone for others to follow, can have a huge impact on the overall success of your event by uniting your audience together.
One way keynote speakers often do this is by successfully getting the audience see an issue or idea in an unexpectedly new way.
Some keynote speakers have the ability to do this from their own experience, while others are adept at envisioning multiple topics from new perspectives.
An exceptional keynote speech should leave your audience energized and inspired, eager take in the rest of your event's content.
What Other Qualities Are Part Of a Great Keynote Marketing Speaker?
The best marketing keynote speakers are comfortable with themselves, giving them credibility as having both feet placed firmly on the ground.
They are also able to make an audience feel like they are being addressed by friends or family.
Adept keynote speakers will be attuned to the tension involved anytime somebody goes up on stage, as well as able to diffuse this tension using a spirit of connectedness with the audience, typically through the use of humour.
Another essential aspect for a great keynote speaker is the ability to remain comfortably at the centre of attention while still managing to come off as interactive and attentive to what others have to say, whether it's during their speech or during informal gatherings.
What Is Too Much To Expect from Your Keynote Speaker?
An organization facing serious problems that is expecting a keynote speaker fly in and magically remedy every issue is definitely going to be disappointed.
However, with more realistic expectations, a great keynote speaker can help a struggling organization get back on its feet by inspiring people with ideas and fresh ways of thinking.
And although the keynote speaker himself cannot provide your organization with a detailed plan for specific improvements, he or she can get the members of your organization feeling positive and motivated to develop these plans on their own.
Think of the keynote speaker more as a motivator and uniter, rather than as an all-around expert.
Finding and Booking The Right Keynote Speaker
While you are trying to find the right keynote speaker, it is always ideal for the host of the event and meeting planner to meet with the speaker beforehand in order to discuss the exact purpose of the keynote speech.
This meeting should allow you to have a better sense of whether or not this speaker will fit with your vision of your event or not, and to witness the speaker's charisma and presence first hand.
It will also give you a taste of the prospective speaker's overall communication skills which are of course paramount to their, as well as your, success.
And even if you are dazzled by your first meeting with the speaker, if this person is already in demand it may place restrictions on the time when they will be available to deliver the keynote speech for your event.
Most people will want to have their keynote speech at the start of their event, but a popular speaker may not be available at all times of day and you could have to settle for a mid-event keynote speech (which can nevertheless be effective and is not totally unheard of).
Generating Buzz Before Your Event
Your event and its participants can get a lot more out of your keynote speaker if some buzz about their speech has been built up beforehand.
Some ways of doing this are publishing an interview with the speaker on your blog or YouTube channel.
Make sure it's something short and catchy to both get attention and leave people wanting more.
You can also use social media posts to your advantage, as they can be surprisingly effective at gathering attention for your event and for the speaker.
As an added bonus these things can raise your social media presence and web traffic overall.
Are Keynote Speakers Really Worth the Bother and the Cost?
Language and people are very strange in that one and the same thing can be said in such a way that it falls completely flat or perfectly hits the bullseye.
It is perhaps not too much to say that the actual content of what a person says is completely insignificant, and what matters is only the speaker's persona and the listener's predisposition towards them.
For this reason, a great keynote speaker is absolutely worth the cost and effort since they can hit the bullseye, so to speak, with just about any topic, whereas an amateur or inexperienced speaker can muck up even the unmuckable.
I take the weight that this condition places on the keynote speaker's shoulders very seriously, and I genuinely love helping to motivate people and transform a random accumulation of people into a harmonious and rewarding experience.
Speaking really is my passion, and I am happy to talk with anyone who is wondering whether or not I would be a great fit for their event.
Don't hesitate to contact me about my availability or about any other questions you may have.
I recently organised a series of digital marketing workshops with David and audiences of time-poor small business owners.
To say their time spent with him was valuable is an understatement. Their post-workshop feedback forms rated his presentation at the very top end of the scale and for all the right reasons: his deep understanding of their business needs, his expertise in applying e-marketing techniques such as blogging and Google AdWords to help drive sales, and his friendly, interactive and humorous style.
I would not hesitate to work with David again, and in fact I’m actively looking to make that happen.
David was absolutely wonderful – he is a very insightful and engaging professional speaker. Just what we needed in a speaker!
Would hire him again – no questions
.… David has had rave reviews from all our clients