A special offer from Michael Angelo Caruso

How to hire a keynote speaker

Most speaker websites look the same. Each of these professionals appear to be the best orator since Abraham Lincoln. Every speaker claims to work with “national companies.” How can a meeting planner ever know who is worth hiring? 

Many keynoters are average speakers who are really good at marketing. You might not find out your speaker is average until the day of your event—about five minutes into his or her keynote presentation.  

But the perfect keynote speaker is a critical component of your next conference or annual event. The speaker often begins the conference and sets the tone. The keynote’s content and message must be a good fit and so should the speaker’s delivery style.  

Perhaps most importantly, all of this must be done on a budget.

You'll learn how to:

• Avoid “pitchfests” from salesy speakers
• Eliminate nearly all unpleasant surprises
• Work by committee and still keep the process on schedule 
• Save tons of time in the early search for a keynoter 
• Persuade speakers to become very accomodating 
• Separate the posers from the top-of-the-line speakers 
• Get the speaker to promote your event 
• Find a speaker who is guaranteed to engage your audience 
• Avoid asking the speaker to customize her talk too much 

You'll also learn how to:

• Get speaker fees reduced and have the speaker thank you 
• Ask for easy “extras” from your keynote speaker 
• Pay attention to critical technical details 
• Make sure you’re not embarrassed by an under-performing speaker

Remember, when you’re hiring a keynote speaker, the speaker isn’t the only one whose reputation is on the line. Meanwhile, have you Googled, “best speaker in America,” yet?