How to choose the right keynote speaker

I turned down quite a few speaking events already this year. I just said No. 

That’s good for me and even better for the event planner (although they may not realize it at the time). I get hired for dozens of keynote events every year. Many are repeat clients – in fact one is my biggest Young President’s Organization (YPO). They are a group of CEOs and Presidents across the globe from major corporations. The reason I get so many YPO speaking gigs is I know the audience and my message and content is perfect for them. 

YPO hires tons of keynote speakers every month for similar events and they are smart about it because they have a clear understanding of success. My message is about motivation, leadership and inspiration. I turned down several educational focused conferences that asked me for a presentation because the audience is going to those events or conferences to learn how to become better administrators, more organized and the tricks of grant funding, etc. I’m not their guy. The best keynote speaker for them is someone in that space who can provide key insight. The lesson of this intro is; if you want your event to be a huge success the main keynote speaker has to have the perfect fit for the event. 

What is your main objective? Inspiration, Adventure, Pushing Boundries, Entrepreneurship? Why are you bringing in a guest speaker? What ever your reason is, your best keynote speaker has to set the tone for your event and their content should be sticky. That means the right speaker will have a message that is brought up over and over again during the event by participants and leaders. A guest speaker is just that your guest. But that’s the speaker for your event that you want everyone talking about long after the party is over. I’ve gone back to organizations and talked to new employees who already knew some of the concepts and strategies I help people learn to use fear as a motivator and inspiration – because my speaking topics became a part of that company’s culture. 

Step 1 – Understand what you are trying to achieve at your event

Purpose, vision, and objectives. Why are you holding this event, what does success look like and how can you measure whether it was a win or a loss? What are the speaking topics most relevant to the event’s theme?  

I always have an extensive call before I’ll agree to work with a client to see if I’m the right person for their next event. I want to know if my keynote topic and key points or take-aways that are woven into each of my speeches, will drive the outcome (primary objective) that aligns with the event’s theme. If they are thinking of me as a potential speaker – I ask why? 

You should ask a potential keynote speaker their unique perspective; what are the main takeaways from their talk? What are some of the past events that they spoke at? Can you pull out some lasting impressions that captured the audience’s attention?  I like to share not just a demo reel but a couple of my TEDx talks to give people an idea of my take-aways and presentation style. I want people to leave the event feeling excited, optimistic and energized. If I don’t have a clear idea of the goals and that’s not what the event planner wants then we aren’t the right fit for each other. A good speaker, the right guest speaker to anchor the entire event is perfectly aligned with the event’s theme. 

Another important thing when thinking about the right keynote speaker, is to get a feel for their style by watching some of their videos. You want to see the person you’re about to pay a hefty fee actually speak. What is their speaking style – Do they use humor well? Are they very serious? Watch the attendees in the audience too. Does the speech engage an audience by bringing them down to scary depths and then raising them back up to great heights, like a good movie would? 

The truth is that entertainment has to be some percentage of the talk to keep the audience engaged. I always focus my talks on good storytelling. Too many speakers fall back on just providing industry knowledge – they follow the old military adage “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you just told them.” That only works if you’re trying to educate or inform. If you want to motivate and inspire an audience then your keynote speaker has to be able to tell a story.

There are many story formats you can see my blog here on using storytelling in your keynote speeches. Just be sure that you understand the style and format of your speaker.

It is sometimes helpful when you are researching keynote speakers to put together a guest speaker checklist and give careful consideration to the speaking topics, the way they are presented and the perfect fit for your conference.  You can rate each speaker you talk to based not just on the speakers experience or other aspects of their marketing, but how they fit for your event’s theme, and the conference’s objectives. 

Step 2 – Clearly Define the Audience:

As the event planner it’s up to you to understand the audience and provide them with a unique insight or a new perspective. Knowing who they are what their interests are and the challenges they routinely face are all key insights that your perfect keynote speaker is going to want to know. Once he or she understands what their expectations are a great keynote speaker will tailor a talk to exceed those expectations. And really leave a lasting impression. My best-selling book, Fear is Fuel, is full of tips, tricks and strategies for pushing out of your comfort zone. My audience is going to expect to learn not just about fear, but about how they can deal with fear and anxiety in their everyday life too.  

My message will not really resonate at a conference with government services (GSA) employees trying to learn how to fast-track their career and get to the next pay-grade. Know the audience, know the desired outcomes – then match the speaker to your needs. Another idea is ask your audience for any special requests – do they want leadership ideas, motivation, personal growth what kind of speech will make your conference a huge hit? Walk around your business and speak to the attendees before your selection process starts. 

I’m lucky enough to have some incredible adventure stories of world records I’ve set or competitions I’ve won and this allows me to fit into a lot of categories – leadership, sales, decision making, inspiration, etc. I fit into those categories not because I was the only one to mountain bike up and down Europe’s highest mountain, but because I was able to pull lessons and key themes from an adventure that applied to my businesses and make the business better. They were a take-away for me from the adventure and they became the same take-aways I leave with thousands of people each year to help them reach their summit. OK, that was a bit corny, but you get the picture. 

Step 3 – Check the Speaker’s Credibility

It may sound obvious, but one of the things you absolutely need to do is verify your keynote speaker choice, ensure their speaking credibility and understand their success with similar conferences. There are a couple of ways to go about doing this but the easiest is looking at some of the talks or presentations they have online. Do they bring a unique perspective or focus to the audience? 

If you do a YouTube search for great keynote speaker, or if you just look at Ted talks and a speaker on your list pops up then you can rest assured that they’re probably experienced and at least meet a minimum quality. To dive deeper into how good a guest speaker they are you should ask for testimonials from their past clients. 

I’ve spoken at eBay’s headquarters, for thousands of people at the International Franchise Association, to Intel, for Ford Motor Company, at Airbus, and hundreds of others and I’m always happy to put potential clients in touch with past attendees and former clients. 

Last, you can always count on a high quality Speakers Bureau to find professional speakers. The bureaus are willing to put their name and reputation behind the quality of the people that they put out to their clients. Their number one goal is to make sure you use them year in and year out because they recommended the right people for you.

Step 4 – Define Your Budget Considerations:

A great keynote speaker can cost over $100,000, a keynote speaker with a best selling book can be somewhere between 20 and $50,000 depending on their demand. A new conference speaker may charge $5-10k. When you consider hiring a world class keynote speaker you need to consider not just their speaking fee, also where a bureau’s fee is going to come from if you’re going through a Speakers Bureau, where the speaker is travelling from and what class of service they demand, how much accommodations will be at the event and how many nights will they need, in many other small details around bringing in a keynote speaker. 

When I was on the initial phone call for the International Franchise Association (IFA) we were going through many of the points discussed here, as Gary Vaynerchuk was the opening keynote speaker and I was the closing keynote speaker to an audience of over 4000 people. 

I wanted to make sure our key elements were aligned and we were amplifying each other and the objectives the CEO of the IFA wanted to achieve with this event and it’s speakers. They said they had a series of suites booked at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas for us, they asked me travel plans and dates, and we walked through all the details before they asked the final question: is there anything else that you need to deliver the perfect keynote speech? What I thought of was the quirky way Van Halen would demand only green M&M’s in their dressing room before shows, and I jokingly said to the event planners and leaders on the phone at the IFA that I wanted a bowl full of green and M&M’s in the green room before the speech.

 Everyone laughed and took it tongue in cheek in the way that it was meant to be. But the story didn’t end there. As you could probably guess I showed up in the green room before the keynote speech to find bottles of water laid out, fruit and cheeses on a buffet, and there at the end of the buffet was the whole bowl full of green M&M’s. It was a wonderful touch that showed not only they were a super professional organization but they had a sense of humor as well.

Step 5 – Negotiate Terms with Your Keynote Speaker

If you are dealing with a Speakers Bureau they will likely do the negotiation for you, if you give them a fixed budget. However if you are in contact directly with your keynote speaker you can oftentimes negotiate from their fees. An experienced speaking professional will make this process simple and straight forward. 

A lot of event planners research potential speakers and find me on espeakers.com because I rank highly for inspirational and motivational speaker. My fee listed there is $20,000 – $30,000 for an in person keynote. But that’s not what I always charge. 

Here’s a secret you can use to negotiate for a better speaker than your budget allows. If someone tries to book me within a day or two of a city I’m planning to be in already, I will often give a discount or not require travel paid. 

There are certain high times of the year for speakers, (October, November, February, March, April) that are prime time for speaking gigs and professional spekaers book up sometimes 18 months in advance. If someone wants to block me for less than my full fee during those times I’m very unlikely to do it. But if it’s august someplace really nice, or close to my home and I[m the right person I will sometimes consider a discount. 

You can also help your speaker by purchasing bulk shipments of their books, or giving out audible gift certificates to the attendees (if the speaker has an audio version of their book). This can even make for a nicer event if your speaker is willing to sign books to people for an allotted period of time.

Conclusion – Finding the Right Speaker for Your Event

If you follow these five steps you have a very high probability of succeeding in your event objectives by bringing in a world class keynote speaker. A professional speaker will leave your audience not just with inspiration or motivation but also asking questions of themselves, considering new possibilities, and feeling energized about the group of people they just went through that experience with. Your potential speakers and their keynote address is what will make live events memorable for the rest of the audience’s life so consider all of theses factors and choose speakers wisely!

Make sure you take the time and money to invest in helping the speaker succeed at your event. Your expectations and the expectations of the audience are critical, helping the speaker realize why you chose him or her, what you expect, and what the takeaways should be, are critical to helping them deliver the right message under the spotlight. 

A lot of speakers get excited when they get a standing ovation, I found that the more emotional the talks I give the more likely I am to get a standing ovation, however a highly emotional talk about my near-death experience with leukemia when my daughter was a year old may not give the same kind of inspiration and motivation that talking about winning the Race Across America on a four person team could give them. This is why it is so critical to work with your keynote speaker and craft what will ultimately become an audience-inspiring event. If you do this you’ll sit back and smile at the end knowing you helped change some people’s lives.