Your next event is coming up soon. You have the location, the hotel, the agenda, every last detail has been planned… even the flight schedules have fallen in place. What you need now is the right Speaker for the event.

The question is, how do you find the right one?

Whether your next event is your Association’s National/International Conference, or your Company’s Yearly Meeting, finding the right Professional Speaker is critical to the success of the event. Find the right one, and you look like a hero. Select the wrong one and it can be a long flight home for you, your executive team and your assembled group.

Your Keynote Speaker sets the tone for the entire event. Do you want a “name” Speaker, and does your budget allow it? If yes, then your decision becomes much more manageable. For most meetings, companies and associations, the budget doesn’t allow for a famous, well known Speaker.

So what then?

Picking the right Speaker is like picking the right company to go to work for. First and foremost, they must fit the Culture of Your Organization. If they don’t fit the personality of your group, they will have little or no effect. Just as your Speaker has a certain personality and style, so does your Group. Make sure they fit and your Meeting is off to a great start.

Next, make sure their Content is relevant and will challenge and expand your Group’s way of thinking. While it’s nice if your Keynote Speaker is entertaining, what your Group really wants is to feel challenged, inspired and motivated to see things in a different way so they can do things in a different way. They have come to your Meeting or Conference to learn and find ways to improve the way they do business. Whether they are members of the old guard or are fresh new hires, everyone wants to learn new ideas and gain different perspectives. Whether they’ll admit to that or not may be another story.

Give them Great Content, and they will give you great reviews.

Finally, Great Content needs Great Delivery. Remember the professors we had in college that knew their material, but their delivery left much to be desired? In college we didn’t have a choice. We had to sit through it. Your audience expects and demands much more. Great Content isn’t enough…Great Delivery is Key.

If your Keynote Speaker can give you Great Content and Great Delivery, then you have a Great Hire.