3 REASONS TO ENGAGE A SPEAKER FOR YOUR UPCOMING EVENT
If you run events, whether it is a workshop, a community gathering, a networking event, a conference, or a fundraiser, at times you may be looking to bring in a speaker. Whilst this can be of great benefit to you, to your participants or attendees and to the speaker, prior to confirming the engagement we need to confirm the reason/purpose for why we are engaging a speaker in the first place.
Having clarity around the purpose of having a speaker at our events will empower us to make sure that the collaboration is beneficial. It will also enable us to measure the ROI (Return On Investment) on investing in a speaker. Whether that investment is our time, our money, or access to our community. And, it will enable us to brief the speaker on the desired outcomes and reduce discontent from either party.
Thought Leader/Expert – Professional Speaker
A professional speaker who is a thought leader or expert in their industry would be engaged to give value to your audience by sharing their knowledge and expertise. In this case, the terms of their engagement is to prepare, showing up and deliver massive value. These Professional Speakers get paid to do just that.
Collaboration – Win/Win/Win
In a collaboration between the speaker and the organiser, everyone must win and both parties need to work to fill the room.
Win: The audience/participants win by gaining great knowledge and value form the event and the speaker. In a collaboration event, we sometimes forget about the audience/participant so it is very important to put their needs FIRST!
Win: The speaker gets exposure to a community brought together by the organiser. As a speaker, if you have committed to sharing your database and promoting the event, then you MUST fulfil this commitment. If you do not contribute, you won’t be asked to speak again.
Win: The organiser increases their community by tapping into the database of the speaker. The onus is on the organiser first and foremost to make sure they have a community to tap in to. It can’t just be the responsibility of the speakers to fill the room. At the end of the day, it is the organiser’s event and if the room is empty, it will ONLY look bad on the organiser.
Launch The Speaker - Pay To Speak
For up and coming speakers who are looking for a platform to learn and grow from it could be worthwhile to pay to speak. Some event organisers and community leaders bring in a speaker to support the speaker’s business or growth by exposing them to their community. In this case, it’s possible for the organiser to ask the speaker to pay and possibly create an affiliate program for sales to the room.
In return for this, the organiser will usually provide the speaker with some great assets to use in the future. These assets can be a professional video of the talk, professional photography, marketing material, promotion of service or product etc. In this case, it is very important to outline the benefits of paying to be on stage PRIOR to engagement.
No matter what your reason for engaging a speaker (or speaking), at the end of the day, when there is clarity and agreement on the outcome for both parties everyone can contribute accordingly.
If you are looking for an event marketing expert to help make your next event a success then get in touch. And, as always, it is a pleasure to share your Eventologist journey.
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