How to Choose a College Speaker For Your Next Event
Do you want to know how to choose the best college speaker for your next big event?
Choosing a good college speaker can be very challenging. There are a lot of university speakers out there and like anything, some are good and some are not-so-good. This article will help you separate the wheat from the chaff and help you choose the right speaker for your next big event!
If you want to successfully book a speaker for your college speaking event, follow these 4 useful tips.
Quality should be the main priority
Colleges, universities, and educational institutions should make use of their speaker budgets to bring in the best that money can buy. Yes, it’s good to save money, but being ‘cheap,’ likely result in a sub-par professional speaker. If you’re not willing to pay speaking fees to get a speaker, you’re likely not going to get a great speaker. It’s as simple as that.
Determine your goals
As an organizer, you must have a clear idea of what you want your audience to leave with, or leave knowing that they didn’t already know. Focus on the purpose of the event. What do you want them to realize? Do you want them to excel in academics? Be entertained? Laugh like crazy? Be motivated? Have a certain skill? These questions will help you determine the kind of college speaker you want for your event.
Ask friends and colleagues for recommendations
If someone has been in your position previously, or if you can get in touch with someone at another school who is in a similar position as you, you can get a lot of advice and recommendations by asking that person’s opinion… and then keeping your mouth shut (You’ll probably be amazed at what you learn by doing this in all areas of life)!
Research your speakers
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of speakers and settled on choice between a few, conduct a personal investigation into the speakers that you are considering. Have a look at their websites and scrutinize their samples and bio. Understand how they approach their professional speaking career. What do they offer that is unique? What do they do that’s effective?
Most importantly, ask yourself, “how does this speaker’s message and persona fit with my goals for the event?”
Once you find a great fit to that question’s end, you’ll be setup for a great speaker at your event!
