I spend a lot of time at corporate conferences and events. In 2018 alone I've already spoken in San Diego, Mexico, San Francisco (twice), Maui, , Seattle, Naples, , and Ft. Lauderdale. And this month I'm heading to Phoenix, Albuquerque, Amelia Island, , and Tempe.

So it's no surprise that people are always asking me two questions:

  1. How do I choose a great speaker for my event? Or,
  2. How do I get chosen as a for events?

Image of mouth and the text: How to choose or be a great guest speaker.Believe it or not, the answer is essentially the same: Figure out what matters most to your audience and provide it or find someone who can.

In today's interconnected world, consumers have virtually instantaneous access to whatever amusement they want. Therefore being good on stage is not enough. Whether you tell jokes, juggle, stand on your head, do magic tricks or paint historically accurate while being hung upside down, you're just a momentary diversion. Booking an “entertainment speaker” is not a great way to create a meaningful event. And being an “entertainment speaker” is not a great way to get booked.

At the same time, those same meeting and audiences have access to almost all the information they want and need. Being an “information speaker” and showing up with knowledge – no matter how relevant – is not good enough either. These “information speakers” are the folks who remind you of your most pedantic college instructor – and give you the feeling that whatever the subject – Sarbanes Oxley regulations, diversity training, work-life – they're just a page ahead of you in the book. No one wants to book an “information speaker” and fewer people want to listen to them.

You shouldn't want to hire one or be one either.

Instead, what meeting professionals want, and what the best speakers provide, is a seamless combination of both insight and information AND entertainment. Just like the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down, having your audiences laughing while they're is the best way to make sure that they appreciate both the speaker and the meeting professional who booked them.

Once you've accomplished that, the next thing to do is to make sure that you – or the speaker you hire – transforms their audience. If the people in the seats leave the room feeling they have somehow been changed – by what they saw, what they heard, what they learned or what they felt – you can rest assured that they will appreciate and remember your hard work. And that they will ask you back to work for them again.

These practices are simple but not simplistic. Easy to say but not easy to do. But if you simultaneously entertain and enlighten your audience while you transform their thinking, you have figured out exactly how to successfully choose a speaker AND exactly how to be a speaker.

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