Business speakers seem to be all the rage these days, with every company and its competitor looking to bring in a corporate speaker in the name of bolstering team spirit and improving productivity.
Well, if there is one thing companies have never slacked on, it is jumping on the latest trend that purportedly promises amazing ROI. From marketing to tech trends, teambuilding or wellness trends, no business wants to lag behind. And rightly so!
Unfortunately, while companies have their own ideas on what they’re looking to achieve by embracing certain work trends, some of these efforts sometimes end up falling short in terms of their intended impact. They end up becoming white elephant investments with little value to show for in the long-term.
Booking corporate speakers is by no means a new “trend”. Neither is the cost of doing so difficult to justify. Hiring business speakers has an incredible impact if you can find the right person depending on what your company is hoping to achieve by hiring one.
How to identify the right business speaker
Inviting an expert from outside your organisation offers a fresh perspective and can have far-reaching benefits for your people and the company at large.
As an organisation, you need to be clear on your objectives before you set out to hire a corporate speaker. It is after doing that that you embark on a search for the best person to help you get the job done.
To do that, you should start by first identifying the right speaker profile. Usually, this will be dictated by your goals. What do you wish to achieve by bringing in a professional speaker?
Are you looking for corporate wellness speakers to tackle a particular subject such as mental health?
Or a keynote speaker to share valuable insights on a certain topic?
An industry leader to address a particular issue affecting your industry or organisation perhaps?
Or a corporate motivational speaker to instil a sense of purpose and motivation in employees?
Do you need a resilience speaker to help overhaul defeatist practices such as low employee morale and inefficiency in favour of healthier habits and culture?
Or maybe you’re hosting a corporate end-of-year party and looking to have an after dinner speaker appear at the event?
Hiring a guest speaker that directly aligns with your objectives as a company increases your chances of on-boarding the right speaker who can have the desired effect.
It is important to recognise that the corporate speaker landscape is a wide and vast one and that business speakers are not equal. While they are basically in the same line of work, there are differences that separate these speakers, most notably subject matter expertise.
Understanding what type of business speaker you need beforehand will make your search easier and help you find the most fitting candidate.
Occasions that are ideal for hiring business speakers
Bringing in a guest speaker can add value to your corporate event by engaging employees (or whoever makes up your audience), sharing insights and adding to the overall atmosphere.
Here are examples of occasions that may warrant hiring a corporate speaker:
Company kick-offs
Enlisting the services of a business speaker at the start of a new year or quarter can be a great way to energise and motivate employees. The speaker can help you set the tone for the upcoming period and rally everyone around the company’s goals.
Corporate retreats
Corporate retreats are always a welcome opportunity for everyone from leaders to employees to strengthen camaraderie, reignite motivation and boost morale. They are a perfect time to bring in a motivational business speaker.
Team-building events
Whether you’re planning indoor team building events or outdoor team-building activities, a good business speaker versed in corporate event services can elevate your event day by boosting morale and making everyone feel like they are part of something great.
They can help turn what would otherwise be just another event day into a memorable occasion.
Sales meetings
Salespeople do not have the easiest job in the world. A good speaker can share insights that can help your sales staff close more deals, as well as provide some much needed motivation that inspires them to keep chasing targets or embrace new strategies that enhance results.
Product launches
Do you have a new product or service in the offing? A good story can create a buzz around it. Bring in a speaker to hype it up, discuss the story or journey and turn your launch event into a spectacular day.
Leadership development initiatives
Leadership speakers can help organisations develop their leadership teams, providing training or sharing insights on a wide range of areas.
These include topics such as handling challenges, motivating employees, conflict resolution, effective communication through executive communication coaching, just to cite but a few.
Employee training & development
Similarly, businesses can invite speakers to carry out training sessions or workshops around topics or areas like soft skill development, diversity and inclusion or presentation skills coaching – all investments that promise huge returns for companies.
Motivational events
Business motivational speakers come in handy when companies want to instil a sense of purpose in their employees or deliver uplifting messages (and insights) in times of difficulty.
Industry-specific workshops or seminars
Organisations or institutions in specialised industries – for example banking, hospitality, oil, airline and more – may set up workshops or seminars and invite expert speakers to address issues pertaining to the industry, whether that be industry challenges, trends or best practices, etc.
After dinner events
There are many ideas and entertainment options to make a corporate evening event a memorable occasion, from bands to comedians, to after dinner speakers, caricaturists and more.
Depending on the occasion and its objective, a public speaker can help enlighten, raise awareness, inspire or motivate the audience without causing a huge dent in your event budget.
Company milestones or anniversaries
Hiring a guest speaker is a great way to celebrate a company milestone or anniversary.
Guest speakers can deliver a speech around the company’s journey and accomplishments. The speech can illustrate a company’s record of rising above challenges as they look to inspire everyone around a common goal.
Customer appreciation events
Do you host customer appreciation events or plan to host one? Consider bringing in a business speaker to deliver an informative or inspiring presentation around your products, services, industry or initiatives that will leave a lasting impression.
Reasons to hire a business speaker
As you can see, business speakers can wear multiple hats in service of companies looking to invite a professional speaker to one of their many functions across the year.
These roles pretty much hint at the slew of benefits companies can expect by hiring a good business speaker.
If we could sum it up, however, some key reasons why inviting a guest speaker to your corporate events makes sense include:
Cultivate resilience
Rally teams
Skill development
Boost productivity
Fresh perspectives
Reinforce culture
Get answers to unique problems
Enhance business management
Foster teamwork
Let's delve into each a little closer.
1. Cultivate resilience
Every business goes through ups and downs, as do individual employees. Inviting a corporate resilience speaker can help breathe positivity at a time when it’s most needed. They provide perspective to challenges bedevilling businesses, teams or individual employees.
More importantly, though, a resilience speaker imparts lessons on how to overcome obstacles either at a personal or professional level.
Resilience talks tend to be structured around overcoming adversity and thriving amidst challenges – lessons we could all use. A typical speech may draw from the speaker’s own life experiences.
2. Rally teams
Corporate inspirational speakers or motivational speakers can be a catalyst for transformation. Usually, they will give a speech that shares a personal or industry success story that can serve as a motivational spark for everyone in attendance.
Any time is a good time to have a motivational business speaker over – not just when you’re grappling with challenges or need to inspire your people.
3. Skill development
Many corporate speakers share actionable tips and techniques for improving aspects such as communication, leadership, time management and teamwork.
This is one of the main reasons companies hire business speakers. However, when it comes to skill development, corporate workshops or training tends to work better since a 30-minute speech may not be sufficient to drive the desired outcome.
4. Boost productivity
Motivational speakers are known for their passion. They also tend to be quite knowledgeable and possess this ability to bring out the best from those around them – no matter how bleak things seem.
As such, they can be great for coaxing the best out of your people. The good thing is that the best motivational speakers offer practical insights through keynote topics that come laced with advice that can be acted upon, beyond merely motivating.
Business motivational speakers are also useful when it comes to employee training, whether the goal is to improve communication, boost team skills, improve leadership or develop other soft skills.
5. Fresh perspectives
Hiring experts from outside of your organisation allows you and your people to see things differently. Business speakers are in fact more of consultants, offering viewpoints that differ from the entrenched practices and culture.
That’s never a bad thing to have. It opens you to new ideas and allows your teams to challenge conventional perspectives that may not be working to the organisation’s benefit.
But this is two-pronged in that a business speaker can also be useful in…
6. Reinforcing culture
While a speaker can help organisations purge unhealthy habits, what they can also help companies achieve is encouraging employees to align with a culture the leadership may wish to reinforce.
It’s not exactly whipping people into line, but more of motivating employees to buy into a culture that works to the benefit of everyone. For that to be effective, the speaker needs to be well briefed and to do their homework beforehand.
7. Get answers to unique problems
Ideally, a speaker should be able to tailor their message of the day to the individual company or audience, as opposed to providing generic advice that may not prove very useful after the speaker has left. It’s a personal MO I personally like to preach even to upcoming public speakers because that is where the magic lies; and if unlocked, can be super effective.
Every business has its unique set of challenges that need to be looked at contextually. And when you have a corporate speaker that packages their insights based on an organisation’s specific challenges or goals, the impact of the information they provide can be immense.
8. Enhance business management
For any company to succeed, it is important for leaders to continually improve their management skills.
One way to do that is by working with a leadership speaker who can teach executives and managers the importance of cultivating emotional intelligence by helping them hone their social skills and develop empathy, self-awareness and other important attributes. These are particularly important in the world of today.
A professional speaker can also share tools, strategies and frameworks for effective problem-solving, risk management, navigating change effectively and inspiring organisational stakeholders.
9. Foster teamwork
Many business speakers also work closely with organisational teams to help them eradicate unhealthy habits and cultivate skills that allow individuals to shine while at the same time strengthening team cohesion.
An experienced corporate speaker will have tried-and-tested strategies designed to boost employee engagement and team morale. They can help your people feel empowered and valued, and can help your teams bond over a shared purpose.
Conclusion
So, there you have it – there are plenty of benefits companies stand to gain by bringing in a business speaker; just as there are occasions that warrant the invitation of one.
But by all means, this is not an exhaustive list.
As a business, the right corporate speaker can prove to be a masterstroke depending on what you wish to accomplish – improve communication, develop resilience, boost morale, increase productivity, improve teams, you name it.
Get your choice of speaker right and not only will they add some spice to your next event, but most importantly, the insights they impart are sure to leave a positive mark whose effects – if the organisation is deliberate about it – can reverberate for a long time to come.