Three Guidelines To Help You Book A Guest Speaker

Posted on: 5 March 2018

When you are responsible for arranging a large formal event or conference, it may be desirable to have a guest speaker address those in attendance. However, having to hire a guest speaker may not be something that you have experience doing. This can make it difficult for you to know what to expect from the process of hiring these professionals. To help you with avoiding routine problems while maximizing the effectiveness of your speaker, there are some strategies that you may wish to employ.

Be Prepared To Pay A Deposit At The Time Of Booking The Speaker

At the time that you book the speaker, you will be required to pay a deposit. This deposit will be non-refundable, and it is designed to ensure that the speaker is only booked by those that are serious about using their services. Unfortunately, individuals that are unfamiliar with this process may not realize that they will need to pay the deposit at the time of making the reservation. Considering that many of these speakers will be in high demand, it can be essential to be prepared to pay the deposit to ensure that you are able to book the desired speaker for your event.

Request An Outline Or Highlights From The Speaker

As the date of your event approaches, you may need to arrange for promotional items to be deployed to help advertise the event. While your speaker may be one of the main attractions for your event, it can be difficult to advertise this part of the event if you are unaware of the themes and details of the speech that they will be giving. To help you with preparing promotional items, you may want to request a topic outline from the speaker. This outline will allow you to know the topics that will be covered during the talk, and this can dramatically improve your ability to market the event.

Avoid Scheduling The Speaker At The Same Time As Meals

The time when you schedule the address from the speaker can be an important factor in determining its effectiveness. For example, individuals will often make the mistake of attempting to combine the speaker's address with mealtime for the event. This can lead to a situation where the guests are distracted from the speaker by their food, and it can greatly lessen the impact that the speech may have. If you must schedule the speech for mealtime, you should stagger it by at least several minutes to allow guests to get settled and started on their food so that they will be better able to focus on the speaker.

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