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4 Things to Remember Before Hiring A Guest Speaker

Hiring a good guest speaker will help you communicate your message effectively

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Happen to have an event on the horizon and planning to enlist the services of a guest speaker?

Hiring a guest speaker may seem like a straightforward affair that can be left for last-minute, but it’s an important an aspect of event planning as any other. In fact, there are a few things to remember before hiring a guest speaker because the decision could make or break your event.

Event speakers are one way to keep your audience engaged during your event, corporate or otherwise. What a good speaker can also do is create a buzz around your event, either before or after the fact. The right speakers can bring shine and add credibility to your event, giving it weight and significance.

Bungling it up can take valuable points away from the event, and that’s not what you want obviously, regardless of the occasion. 

And even when you find a speaker, should their message fail to resonate with your audience or the speaker fails to live up to the billing, then it beats the whole purpose of inviting one over in the first place.

In an ideal world, you want to find a keynote speaker that helps you effectively communicate your intended message or achieve a desired goal or outcome as far as the audience is concerned.

Question is, how do you go about hiring a guest speaker that will add value to your company event?

Here are some important tips on speaker selection to keep in mind:

1. Define the purpose of your event

The first thing you need to ask yourself before you embark on a guest speaker search is what you are looking to achieve by bringing in a speaker.

Is it to educate, inspire or entertain? Or maybe you wish to motivate your people or provide fresh perspectives.

You also need to ask yourself what message you wish to communicate to the attendees. Are there particular themes or topics you want the event to be based around?

At the end of the day, it’s about the insights you want your audience to gain from the speech. 

Defining your purpose beforehand not only helps you in narrowing down the pool of speakers to choose from, but also ensures you find a speaker whose message aligns with the purpose or overall theme of your event.

This way, you are sure to create a more impactful and cohesive experience for the attendees.

2. Keep the audience in mind

Closely related to the first point, you also want to define your audience in advance in order to book the right speaker.

In the case of in-house corporate events targeted at a particular group or with a certain end goal in mind, this will not be as big a factor as it would be for say, a large conference that brings together a diverse array of people as far as things like demographics and background are concerned.

Still, it’s something you want to think about especially if you’re a larger company – and depending on the event objectives you want to achieve.

For instance, if the goal is to inspire employees on navigating work challenges or how to bounce back after personal or professional setbacks, a resilience speaker could be a nice addition.

Similarly, if you are planning a charity event, a speaker that is passionate about humanitarian causes would fit the bill. Planning a conference? Then an experienced conference speaker might be more suited for the job.

3. Consider the speaker’s expertise

With your event theme and audience defined, you want to ensure the speaker(s) you end up choosing will not be a case of fitting square pegs in round holes. 

Most professional speakers are more of generalists, but you will also find those who are experts in a given field.

For example, you will find experts who specialise in topics like artificial intelligence (AI), adversity and resilience, cybersecurity, civil rights, geopolitics you name it.

There is no harm in hiring generalist speakers like motivational speakers, as it all depends on the objectives of your event.

However, in instances where you’re looking to deep-dive into a given topic during your event, you might want to consider hiring an expert who specialises in the area of focus you want to shed light on.

4. Do your due diligence

Once you are clear on whom you are looking for, it’s time to do a little digging. Start by narrowing down on the names based on the criteria you have laid out.

Next, assess their reputation within the industry. Obviously, you don’t want someone with controversies following them around as this could dent your credibility.

Visit their websites and check their biographies to know more about their credentials and experience. Do they have video clips of past talks or presentations they have been involved in? 

This can help you evaluate their speaking credibility and to understand their style and delivery better.

As well, go through the list of clients they have worked with before and check what those previous clients say about them.

Lastly, you need to interview your potential candidates, preferably face-to-face or over a video or phone call. Direct interaction is the only way to get to know the speaker better and get a feel of what they are like.

The choice of guest speaker has a huge bearing on the success of any event. For this reason, it is a choice you do not want to gamble on. 

Avoid going with the most popular names you find out there, and instead, find a speaker that will align with the theme of your event and be right for the audience that will be in attendance.

The guest speaker needs to be someone with considerable experience and expertise on the key topic the event will be centred around. 

He or she needs to be able to work with diverse audiences (as well as connect with them) in order to keep the attendees engaged and be in a position to hammer the point home.

Whether it’s a motivational speaker, local celebrity or industry leader, hiring a good guest speaker will help you communicate your message effectively and ensure the audience leaves the event with memorable takeaways.

Jillian Haslam is a renowned international keynote speaker whose insightful speeches have captivated audiences worldwide for over 14 years. As a thought leader in the field of adversity and resilience, her presentations aim to empower individuals to navigate setbacks effectively and bounce back from personal and professional challenges. She inspires individuals to be the best versions of themselves and works with professionals, teams and corporate leaders to help them achieve their goals. Jillian’s experience with diverse audiences and ability to deliver compelling presentations packed with practical advice has solidified her reputation as a go-to keynote speaker for businesses, conferences and event planners looking for a guest speaker who can connect with audiences at a personal level and deliver an unforgettable experience.

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Success Advice

How to Alter Your Business Approach With Technological Advancements

Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner.

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Image Credit: Midjourney

Technology’s evolution has impacted everything, and business is no exception. Keeping up with technological trends has become a challenge for almost every business owner. Entrepreneurs unable to do so are being wiped out of the market.

There is no doubt that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) have taken over the business world. These technological advancements are impacting decision-making, success percentages, and other entrepreneurial aspects.

Adapting to these developments is integral to business success. Let’s explore how you can accomplish these milestones.

Embed the strength of AI and ML.

AI has modified business operations in major ways. For instance, companies have employed bots for customer support. These bots go through an effective learning process via Machine Learning before being able to answer like humans.  

Bots can also perform detailed data analytics and make business moves with high success percentages.

ML is used more for the analysis of data chunks and generating successful predictions. This simply means that business owners do not have to worry about large-scale financial losses. 

In terms of deployment and usage, a reputed company like Netflix employs machine learning for decision-making.

Blockchain is increasing the count of business opportunities

Tampering of financial transactions is quite common and causes severe monetary damage to customers. With the rise of digital payments, this risk has increased. 

Blockchain is used to elevate your experience for monetary transfers. It combats penetrating events to extract confidential customer information. 

Most business sectors are using block chain but finance and supply chain management sections have a higher count. These two corporate sections have several monetary deposits and withdrawals taking place. 

In terms of percentage, approximately 72% and 5% of finance and supply chain firms have implemented block chain successfully.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Learning and Individual Development

You invest in learning some of the very important skills, including digital marketing, financial management, and how to gain customers as an entrepreneur.

You need to set up your knowledge base about doing business on Coursera and Udemy with the basics that are necessary for the business, building further by networking with experts through webinars.

Besides, Agile methodology will introduce elasticity to your company: this review and feedback system with further correction regularly will allow for enhancing efficiency and promptly reacting to the market.

Developing key skills to achieve goals

Running a business successfully is not only about having niche/domain knowledge. Business owners need to have communication / soft skills as well in addition to niche information.

Here are some key technical/domain-related areas that business owners should have a strong grip on.

Data Storage on Cloud: These days, companies do not store their data on physical servers. Therefore business owners should know how data is stored/edited/removed/updated via AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms.

Data Analysis/Interpretation Qualities: These days, data is as precious as gold. Business owners with data analysis abilities make correct predictions. As a result, their ventures grow in volume.

Development/Coding Knowledge

Programming knowledge gives business owners an edge whether the application is developed in-house or outsourced. It assists in getting updates deployed and handling application underperformance without getting professional support every time.

Hacking proof framework

There is no benefit of having an advanced automated system if can be penetrated. Successful business owners have above-average knowledge of cyber security and hacking attempts. They are able to choose top-notch anti-hacking software without much of an ambiguity.

Communication Abilities/Soft Skills

Here are some key communication qualities that business owners should have:

Communication/Conversation: Business owners should use to-the-point sentences in both written and oral communication.

Issue Resolution Abilities: Business owners should be able to drill down to problems and solve them. This is done successfully only if an entrepreneur has in-depth business domain knowledge.

Agile Implementations

It is mandatory for business owners to have knowledge of iterative/agile models. With such a competitive environment, it is impossible for business owners to succeed without adopting an agile framework.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

A productive business venture starts with a clear vision. The first factor making a business successful is the idea behind it. It helps with endless growth and combating competition successfully. Katherine Philips once mentioned that business goals are inevitable if goals are set concretely.

  • Goals should be based on smart achievements instead of complexity. Focus on the value that each one of them adds. 
  • Business objectives should not be vague. Key indicators should be constructed to measure the success/failure of each milestone.
  • Be realistic when setting goals. Do not aim at impossible milestones since they can be demotivating.
  • Milestones/goals need to be time-bound. Set a completion deadline for each one of them. 
  • Business goals should not be alien. Owners can think out of the box but not be obsolete / unrelated.

Create a productive well-crafted Business Strategy

Business owners cannot succeed without having a network. Some tips help in this case. Attend conferences and professional gatherings to connect with other entrepreneurs.
Here are some other related points business owners should pay attention to.

  • Attend meetings and conferences to stay updated with trends and meet business owners who already have well-set ventures. This helps in enhancing the learning curve of new / growing entrepreneurs.
  • Being a part of business communities/groups is very productive. When one shares opinions and discusses decision-making tactics, it helps in preventing errors and enhancing success rate.
  • Even the most experienced business owners have mentors as learning never stops. Take part in mentorship programs so there is an assurance that you are following the correct roadmap.

Conclusion

There is absolutely no doubt that business dimensions have evolved with technological advancements. Successful entrepreneurs have grabbed these changes in due course of time and continue to evolve. On the other hand, people following old paths and conventional steps fade out of competition. In a nutshell, keep an eye on the processes and practices you follow as these factors decide success rate.

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Success Advice

Understanding the Power of Yes and No: How to Create Boundaries For Success

These words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds

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Creating legal boundaries
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The two smallest yet most powerful words in life, “Yes” and “No,” have a big impact on our growth on both personal and professional levels. In addition to affecting the choices we make every day, these words have a significant impact on how our success unfolds. (more…)

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Motivation

From Couch Potato to Go-Getter: A Step-by-Step Motivation Plan for Everyone

By understanding what motivates you, you can turn your dreams into reality

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How to be motivated
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Are you tired of feeling like a couch potato? Do you want to transform your life and become a go-getter? You’re not alone! Many people struggle with motivation, but the good news is that change is possible. (more…)

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Success Advice

10 Micro Financial Habits for More Wealth and Peace of Mind

The World Economic Forum still reports that half of U.S. adults lack financial literacy

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micro financial habits
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You’ve heard about developing financial habits, but what about micro-financial habits? Micro habits are the tiny things you can do every day with minimal effort that, together, transform your future. (more…)

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