5 Things to Know When Hiring a Keynote Speaker

Hiring A Keynote Speaker

Getting the right keynote can make an event. If used properly, it can drive marketing and attendance. Generally, a keynote speaker is the top of your bill; they’ll speak for around an hour at a general session or before or after a social event or banquet.

Keynote speakers fall into a number of categories, including Motivational Speakers, Inspirational Speakers, Educational Speakers, and Celebrity Speakers. At Eagles Talent, we’re lucky enough to work with a huge range of talented individuals across all of these categories.

Read on for five tips on hiring a keynote speaker.

1) Know the Goal of Your Keynote

Think carefully about the objectives for your keynote. Will they round off a hard day of knowledge sharing and networking? Do you need your speaker to drive attendance and support your marketing efforts? Or perhaps you need a speaker who will motivate and inspire an audience to respond to a desired call to action.

The answers to these questions will determine where your speaker sits on the bill. A written list of objectives will help you with hiring a keynote speaker while knowing where they will fit best on the agenda.

At Eagles Talent, we’re always happy to work with you to tease out what you want. Feel free to get in touch early on, so you can move consistently in the right direction.

Here is a practical example of why it’s important to think as far ahead as possible and focus on the outcome you would like. If your event is a professional knowledge sharing conference, a technical speaker might seem like the obvious choice. After a hard day of knowledge sharing and networking, however, an evening plenary or dinner may be the perfect time to bring on a keynote speaker who can inspire and motivate, or simply entertain and provide a lighter note on which to end the day.

2) Make Sure the Keynote Fits the Audience

A quality speaker, such as those we work with at Eagles Talent, will almost always entertain and inspire, but, to maximize their effectiveness, it helps to aim for the best fit.

First, consider the objectives of your event. This may be to inspire, sell a product, share knowledge, or raise funds, for example. When hiring a keynote speaker it will help to keep these objectives firmly in mind.

You may already have a specific name in mind. Perhaps you’re a fan of this person. Don’t rush into hiring them, though, without first double checking that they match the objectives of the event and the desires of the audience.

Sporting stars and Olympians are a good example of more general speakers appropriate for a wide range of audiences. Their stories of determination, ambition and overcoming challenges can inspire anyone, whatever their interest or field. But know that, while a celebrity speaker may be great at driving attendance, it’s still worth considering their appropriateness to your theme and goals.

Tell us your objectives for the event and we can work with you to find the right speaker from our huge range of talent.

3) Get the Best Value From Your Speaker

Attaching a keynote speaker to your event is an investment. As such, it’s wise to extract the best value that you can. A keynote speaker can really drive your marketing efforts. As the headline fee and travel costs are already budgeted, many of our speakers will be willing to fulfill other roles at the event. Here at Eagles Talent, we will work with you to agree on the most appropriate way to do this.

4) Book Early

You’ll need to book your keynote well in advance. Typically, it should be the second thing you do after booking the venue. Speakers tend to be busy people with schedules worked out months, if not years in advance. If you’ve got your heart set on a specific speaker, you need to grab them quick!

Get in touch with us early on and we’ll help you consider the timescales required. If you need a keynote at short notice, we’ll do our best to find the best available speaker for you as quickly as possible.

5) Budget

To stay within your budget, you will need to keep an eye on logistics and other costs. If you are looking at someone from outside the country where you’re holding your event, for example, travel and accommodation costs can mount up.

We can help make you aware of interesting and exciting alternatives that suit your budget. At Eagles Talent, you can search by fee, state, region and by country, giving you more control over costs.

Although you need to think these factors through, you don’t need to sweat it too much. By working with Eagles Talent, we can take the stress and hassle out of choosing and hiring a keynote speaker that’s right for your event and your audience. We will help you to achieve your objectives and free you up to work on the other 101 things to think about when organizing your event.