When it comes to motivating your employees and management to step up to the plate and swing hard for the fences, you want to make sure that when choosing from among the many guest speakers out there, you pick the one that will resonate with – and therefore inspire – your staff to greater action and thoughtfulness. It’s not always an easy task, since there are many worthwhile individual speakers to choose from that all bring something different to the table. Here are some things you should consider when you are faced with making this choice.
Does the Guest Speaker Appeal to Your Audience?
First and foremost, if your employees and management staff cannot relate to your guest speaker, their message will probably be, worst-case scenario, ignored or disregarded. Take a look at your employees. Are they mostly young professionals, 20-and-30-somethings who came of age in the digital era and attended college while Mark Zuckerberg was creating Facebook at Harvard? Or are they an older, more mature crowd? Or is it really a good mix of ages?
What is the Content of the Speaker’s Talk?
Once you have that clear in your mind, you can begin to research speakers based on the audience. This goes much farther than just looking at their ages; you will want to consider their speaking style – are they humorous and light-hearted or more serious and solemn? The content of their speeches, too, is important, and you can find that out by asking them for a copy in advance of their speech or oftentimes by viewing their website or YouTube channel and seeing examples of past work. What you don’t want is a lot of humorous fluff, which is heavy on entertainment but light on substance.
Can You Afford the Speaker?
Perhaps the bottom line in any situation like this, you must come up with a budget beforehand and use it as a guide for choosing a guest speaker. Some of the most prestigious, high-profile guest speakers out there demand $1 million or more, like Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan. If your budget allows for such a huge name, and you think the fit is right, then by all means. If you have a slightly smaller amount of money to work with, just know that in general, the quality of the guest speaker is often representative by his or her fee, so getting the very best that you can afford could have untold benefit for your company’s employees.