Picture this: you hire a speaker for an event, and as you watch from the sidelines, you realize the audience is falling asleep.

As a conference organizer, it’s your job to hire or recommend speakers for events.

Without proper work and research into hiring the perfect speaker, the odds of your audience being bored or completely disinterested increases.

The good news is, we’ve got four key tips for you to ensure success with hired speakers at your next event.

These tips will help ensure the audience is engaged, and walks away saying that was the best event with the greatest public speaker they’ve ever been to!

1. Communicate your desired outcome ahead of time.

Before you hire a professional speaker, you need to make sure you’ve clearly communicated what you want from them.

If there are unclear or uncommunicated expectations for what they’ll deliver to the audience, the likelihood that their presentation won’t deliver increases.

2. A Professional speaker is worth the money.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “you get what you pay for.”

This is especially true when it comes to hiring speakers. Perhaps you’re tempted to hire an amateur speaker to cut costs, but this could backfire big time.

Experienced speakers often come with a higher fee, but with that higher fee comes a wealth of experience.

That experience will make sure they deliver their message to the audience in an engaging, compelling, effective way.

3. Always check references before hiring a public speaker.

A way to find out if a professional speaker is a good choice is by checking with those who have seen them speak, preferably recently.

A professional speaker’s website may say all the right things and have glossy photos that send a great message, but this isn’t enough to base a decision on.

To ensure the speaker is actually the best match for your next event, talking to someone who has hired them and heard them speak is an important step.

4. Give the speaker as many details as possible.

To help the speaker create the most effective content for your event, they need as many details as possible.

Just as you shouldn’t hire a professional speaker without doing your research first, a speaker should also do some research to make sure they’re a good fit for you!

Provide as many details as you can, and they will have a much easier time crafting a compelling and engaging presentation that the audience will remember for years.

Once you’ve implemented these four tips and have found the right speaker, your work isn’t done just yet.

2-4 weeks before the event, set up a conference call with the speaker to review any pertinent details. Make sure you’re both clear on the logistics, expectations, and any other information specific to the engagement. This pre-event call is a crucial part of the process.

Hiring the best professional speaker for your next event isn’t always easy. If you use these tips, you will help to ensure the most successful outcome possible for your organization, the audience, and the speaker!

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