Searching for a keynote speaker? Start with these 3 questions

The hunt for a keynote speaker can feel confusing and overwhelming, and most planning teams don’t know where to start. 

All too often, a typical search begins like this:

1. The people in charge of organizing a company’s event sit in a conference room and announce a vague objective.  “We need a speaker on teamwork,” they might say.  (“What kind of teamwork?”...is the question that nobody asks. Just “teamwork.”)

2. The group wonders if anyone knows anyone who would be good on that sprawling subject. “Nope,” is the typical answer.

So whoever is on point for planning then turns to Mr. Google, which spits out a massive list of “teamwork” speakers.

Here’s the problem: 

Blindly searching for a speaker makes you vulnerable prey to the most effective marketers, not necessarily the most effective speakers. 

Many of these speakers pour a ton of money into ensuring you find them, and they work intensely on the business of marketing themselves online. 

So when you’re looking around on Google, it’s tough to know how to choose. The speakers who pop up at the top of search results tend to be impressively packaged, and it’s easy to assume that they’re all probably pretty good. 

When it comes to these polished-looking speaker choices, you probably can’t go wrong. 

Right?

Wrong.

Truth: Just because a speaker appears at the top of Google doesn’t mean they should be the first - or even the 30th speaker - you turn to for your event.

What you need is a leader of thought who’s also a maestro at the art of speaking.

Also read: THOUGHT LEADERS AREN'T ENOUGH. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS SHOULD BE LEADERS OF THOUGHT.

These rare talents are hard to come by. But the good news is that when you know what you’re looking for, it’s easier to find.

Avoid this CONVERSATION when searching for a KEYNOTE speaker:

As the head of a speakers bureau, here’s how the typical scenario plays out on my side of the phone. 

Let’s say that the call is from the head of planning at a mid-sized company. 

“We want to bring the team together for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic,” they’ll say. “We need to have messages about unity and getting people back in sync.” 

OK, great start. Let’s dig in.

“What’s the guiding message of the event?,” I’ll ask. 

Silence. 

“Do you want to teach soft skills in terms of working together?” I’ll offer. 

“Is this to help your top execs strengthen their leadership skills?”

Crickets. 

“Or is this for rallying people around a new objective or working group or functional group? If so, you’ll need someone who’s inspirational while teaching your audience soft skills in the 45 minutes you’re allocating to the keynote,” I’ll continue.

Still no response.

“Or do you just want a motivational speaker?” I’ll suggest. “Like an athlete? Or business speaker?” 

Tumbleweeds.

The hard reality is that most of the time, the person I’m talking to hasn’t a clue about anything I just said. All they do have is a generic notion of what they need, but zero grasp of their desired angle. 

When I dig for answers, and they have none, it’s time to stop the conversation. 

I’ll tell them that  before I can connect them with the right speaker for their event, they must figure out their messaging.

Sometimes, to make things easy, I’ll offer up three fantastic speaker suggestions who are very different from one another. This is just throwing darts at the dartboard, but I can see that these poor drowning folks need a life preserver.

Then I’ll say,

“If none of these work, provide me with the following information, and that will help me to hone in on who to recommend next: 

> What was liked and not liked about these speakers?
> Considering them as a whole, what qualities were missing?
> Is there new specific messaging sought for the keynote speaker that resulted after reviewing the initial suggestions?"

But their problem remains: they don’t know what they’re looking for. And many times feedback isn’t provided, just a request for more options and a few speakers the planning team thought of to track down.

And therefore they are not in control of selecting the best possible speaker. They’ll just stumble into whatever speaker solution falls into their lap. 

A random speaker will catch their eye because of a cool website or video. 

Or they’ll be pitched hard by a bureau, without understanding the type of performance or messaging they need. 

That’s when the gambling comes in. 

When you fail to define your desired outcome, you’re just guessing that the speaker you hire will not only perform well but will deliver a message that has impact.

Without understanding exactly what that impact should be.

So….uh, yeah. That’s a problem.

Sad to say, more times than not, your speaker will belly flop. 

We’ve all been in that room. And it’s painful.

The cold hard truth about the speaker world:

Here’s the reality: Many (most) speaker bureaus pack their websites with a ton of speaker options. The great ones are listed right alongside the speakers who  - with all due respect - should stick to their day jobs as subject matter experts and never step onto a stage.

Many of these luminaries don't even speak that often. They’re known for writing a book, or for inventing something, or being a celebrity.

Some extremely mediocre speakers spend half of their speaking income on marketing, SEO, and ads. And that's how they fill their calendar; via the wizardry of Google robots, not by word of mouth, referrals, or reputation.

You find that out the hard way, in real time, on your dime. And too often, you’ve invested a lot of dimes on a speaker who bombs right in front of your most important audience.

Ugh.  

Also read: DON’T BLOW YOUR INTERNAL EVENT BUDGET ON A CELEBRITY SPEAKER

To hone in on your message and properly vet speakers, you need to ask three questions before you start your speaker search:

1. What is the one element or message that should be woven into the core of the entire event?
   
   
2. What is the intended outcome for the speaker you’re looking to hire?
   
   
3. What speaker qualities will you need?

The more you get to the heart of your needs, the more likely you’ll find the perfect speaker for your event.

Real-life DOs and DONTs of your keynote speaker search:

Here’s what the “Do” and “Don’t” speaker searches look like in real life, based on actual requests I’ve received. All details have been changed to protect the guilty AND innocent.

Looking for a Speaker on Team-Building 

DON’T:

“Hi, we’d like a speaker who can talk about building a more high-performing team.”

DO:

“Hi, we recently merged with another company and need a speaker about team building. One company is slow and methodical while the other is fast and nimble. Conflict is occurring between the two groups, thus impeding progress. The background for this is that we have very different cultures and ways of getting work done. So while navigating conflict and getting to resolution is important for all organizations, we’re on a little bit of a collision course now as we have different people coming to work together and we need to find a new way of getting work done.  We need people to raise tough issues and work through them, and we want to normalize conflict. We also need people to be able to move beyond emotions and move into the logical, decision-making space where we can decide how we’re going to work together as a new team.”

Looking for a Speaker on Storytelling 

DON’T:

“Hi, we’re looking for a speaker who can build storytelling competency and inspire the audience.”

DO:

“Hi, we’re looking for a speaker on storytelling for our upcoming sales meeting. Currently, our challenge lies in our sales team selling features and a product and we really want them to sell a story, a vision for what they can accomplish. Our company has the story we want to tell, a story that allows all of the different departments to get on the same page with who we are and what we do and why. Where we could use help is to have the speaker translate this into selling practices and help teach our sales team how to sell through this story. The objectives for the keynote are to help our team improve how they tell stories, create a cultural shift from product driven-stories only, and help overall how they communicate.”

Looking for a Speaker on Innovation

DON’T:

“Hi, we’re looking for a speaker on thinking differently about innovation.”

DO:

“Hi, I lead our Global Product team and am looking for a speaker on innovation for our event. We have seen dramatic growth over the last five years, which has accelerated even more in the last 12 months. With that, we need to think creatively and drive innovation within our team. What made us successful over the last 5 years won’t necessarily get us to where we want to be five years from now. We have two goals with this event. One is to improve our ways-of-working, most specifically around courage, in order to drive peak creativity. The team has embraced tenets like speed, agility, and having a scrappy mindset, but improving our ability to have courageous conversations feels like something we need to address. The second goal is to drive a greater sense of "foundership" throughout the team, which we believe to be the key difference between groupthink and true innovation.”

Looking for a Speaker on Culture

DON’T:

“Hi, I’m looking for a speaker who can help us develop an improved workplace culture.”

DO:

“Hi, I’m looking for a speaker who can talk about culture-building for all our senior leaders and HR. Our theme is people, purpose, and passion. As the rate of change accelerates and an increased importance is placed on agility, organizations must accelerate their pace of learning and take an active approach to developing their culture for the new world of work. Questions we want to explore: Is our organization able to respond promptly to rapidly changing opportunities and employee demands? Do we operate with a nimble mindset? Is our culture able to change to accommodate the new work environment? Are our teams on a clear path to update skill sets for a competitive advantage?”

See the difference? 

To find the right speaker for your event, you must understand what you’re trying to accomplish and do your homework. 

Here’s a cheat sheet on how to successfully wrangle your speaker selection:

• Be intentional about what you want out of a speaker with speaker bureaus, friends and colleagues, the planning group, AND your speaker selection committee 
• Get your planning team on board with a unified message
• Identify the best speaker after rigorously vetting options 
• Clearly communicate what you need out of the speaker so the speaker can nail it

The more that planning teams get to the heart of their event’s goals, the more accurately they can target the right speaker. 

Good luck! And reach out if you need help.