Selecting a Speaker

Everyone knows that having the right speaker can make or break your sales meeting, so how do you find this perfect person? Work with a speaker’s bureau. A speaker’s bureau will help you find the right speaker for your particular event, help you get the results you want, and help you stay within your budget.

"A speaker can literally transform the morale of a team; there’s a lot of power in a speech," says Julianna McWilliams, a content consultant with the International Speakers Bureau (ISB), one of the top three speaker’s bureaus. "Using a speaker’s bureau gives you the right fit and can make a huge difference. We have 500 to 1,000 speakers on our Website, but we have access to many more in our internal database. The Website also provides people with videos, testimonials, recommended speakers, and more."

Advantages
Bureaus are set up to help you select, book, and even make travel arrangements for your speaker. Sure, you can do an online search for a speaker, but you need to know exactly what you’re looking for and you need to know all the costs upfront because many speakers often have hidden costs.

"Costs can really sneak up on you," says McWilliams. "You typically pay the speaker fee, but then there’s the airfare, writing costs, travel expenses – and some of them are crazy. We can negotiate a better price because the speakers know that we can bring them another event next week. Many times, you won’t even have to pay travel fees if we find a local speaker."

Speaker’s bureaus know who’s hot and who’s not and they offer connections with celebrities. ISB not only has the negotiation knowledge, but also an extensive database of speakers. For example, if you book a speaker through ISB and there is a last minute problem such as inclement weather or illness, they are able to find a replacement quickly.

"Recently, a speaker had a heart scare and he was scheduled to speak at a large conference of 2,000 people," says McWilliams. "We had another speaker on a plane within two hours and to the event in plenty of time to prepare. Without our connections, the event would have had a large hole in the program."

Working with clients to book the speakers/entertainment for their events all day, every day, allows ISB to stay up-to-date on who is getting the standing ovations, who is overpriced, who is easy to work with, and who has the name but no speaking ability. A speaker’s bureau can give you recommendations based on actual client feedback.

"Meeting planners don’t always have the time to focus on speakers," says Darrin Powell, vice president of ISB. "Keynoters and the like are a huge and important part of their event budget, but planners are responsible for so many other aspects of a conference and it’s just not reasonable to think that they could ever keep up with the changing and crazy pace of the world’s thought leaders, best selling authors, sports figures, and media personalities. That’s our job; we help reduce their risks."

Working with a Bureau

When working with a bureau, it’s important to have a clearly desired outcome, a goal for your event and for the speaker, says McWilliams. The more information you give them, the better they will be able to find you the perfect speaker. For example, McWilliams often asks her clients, "What time of day is the event?"

"If it’s after dinner, you’re probably going to want someone who is a little less formal and more entertaining," she says. "If it’s in the morning, you’re going to want someone who is high energy, a lot of content."

Other considerations include the amount of time you have allotted for the speaker, the ratio of content to entertainment, the audience demographics, event theme or purpose, and business outcome. Is it part of a conference or a stand-alone event? What’s the size of the audience? Some speakers won’t speak to audiences over 100 people; some won’t speak to audiences under 1,000 people.

After determining what type of speaker her clients need, McWilliams sends out a proposal of five to 10 speakers in a certain budget range. Typically, she includes some speakers who charge under $10,000, some $10,000 to $20,000 and some $20,000 to $30,000. Note: If you want a celebrity, expect to pay big bucks. Jerry Seinfeld costs around $100,000 per engagement and Dr. Phil is around $150,000.

It’s good to find one bureau to work with and create a relationship with them, says McWilliams. Why? If you contact many bureaus at once for the same speaker, it can raise the price because the bureaus are competing to get that same speaker and the speaker is aware of this. Bottom line: "Hiring a bureau is putting another person on your team," says ISB’s Patty Marriott. "It’s just that simple."