Written by Dana Brownlee as a Forbes Contributor
In my previous post, “Tired Of Speaking For Free? Here’s How To Get Paid To Speak,” I tackled the thorny issue of how to secure paid speaking engagements, but getting paid engagements presumes the speaker is worth the big bucks and not all are. Easily commanding five figures per talk, the best speakers have taken their craft to the next level. Here are a few nuggets of advice for novice professional speakers seeking to do just that.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
57 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most famous and influential speeches in American history. The “I Have a Dream” speech was effective not just for its words, but also for Dr. King’s impassioned delivery.
It represented the feelings of millions of people fighting for civil liberties. The speech, given by a lesser man in a lesser setting may not have earned the same attention. Dr. King knew if he were to truly help bring about change, he would need a speech and setting that would inspire. The March on Washington and “I Have a Dream” speech caught the attention of a nation, and brought it closer to the much-needed change.
eSpeakers believes in the power of great speeches like the “I Have a Dream” speech, and in great speakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To honor his speech given 57 years ago, eSpeakers has created an infographic in commemoration of that great moment in American history. You can view the infographic below.
Click this link to see the full inspiring infographic:
Celebrating 57 years of the “I Have A Dream Speech” Infographic
To find great and inspiring speakers for your own event, consider searching eSpeakers Marketplace.
In this era of constant distractions combined with higher expectations across the board, terms like “edutainment” are conceived every day as we try to define the higher bars we are all leaping over.
This couldn’t be truer in the event planning industry.
How To Book a Celebrity: Ten Things You Need to Know to Bag a Big Name
Hiring a speaker is a challenge in itself. Hiring a celebrity speaker is a whole different ballgame!
A celebrity speaker will drive lots of traffic and attention to your event; the free buzz that this person will create for you can pay for itself, it’s true.
If you decide you want to book a celebrity for an upcoming event, you need to consider that there are two sides to this coin.
But if you book a celebrity, you also need to be on a level of professionalism that you may not have achieved before. You have to have all your ducks in a row before you even consider contacting a celebrity to appear at your event.
Bring your “A” game.
If you appear in any way unprepared when you reach out to a celebrity’s PR team, they will not even consider your proposal because it will smell like a “waste of time”.
Celebrities don’t have time to waste. They also have their public reputations to consider. Most of them won’t appear at an event that won’t make them look good. If you come off as unprofessional at the get-go, they won’t sign on.
The way to successfully book a celebrity is to approach their PR person with all the information they need in a concise document that allows them to assess your event, what it has to offer and make a quick yes or no decision. If your proposal is incomplete or messy, it will much more likely be a “no”.
You don’t want that.
For them, time is money, so you need to have all your expectations set and ready to present up-front. With that in mind, we put together a list to help you present a strong proposal.
Big surprise: celebrities cost a lot. Be prepared to pay a minimum of $50,000 all the way up to a six-figure number.
Don’t just choose celebrities at random, just for the sake of having a big name. Your celebrity’s presence at your event should make sense. So know the purpose and theme of your event, and choose a celebrity who fits in with that idea. An appropriate person will have a much stronger effect than someone who is there just for the sake of their celebrity status.
Curate your celebrity speaker into your event for the greatest effect. Consider who they are and what they have to offer your attendees—would a full 60 or 90-minute keynote speech be appropriate, or a moderated Q & A session? Every speaker brings something unique to an event, even celebrities. Remember that when you are proposing your event to them.
The location of your event will affect which celebrity you will be able to book, because of two factors:
Your speaker may not want to fly thousands of miles. So the farther you are from city centers, allow more time to find someone who can.
You need to know the exact dates and times that your celebrity will be speaking, down to the minute, before you contact them with your proposal. Most celebrities want to spend as little time as possible at your event (no offense, it’s a time thing) so they will arrive shortly before their allotted time and leave shortly afterward. Provide this information upfront.
Your celebrity needs to know that there is a solid team ready to receive them. If they don’t know who to contact or your team seems to change on a daily basis, you will seem unprofessional and they won’t want to be involved. Make it clear who on your team does what, and how they should contact them.
Using a speakers bureau can cut down on a lot of back-and-forth and guesswork for you. It is a speakers bureau’s business to know which celebrities are available for speaking engagements, what they charge, and what their special expectations are. Engaging a speakers bureau to do all this legwork for you can save you a ton of time.
Not sure where to start? Check out our directory of celebrity speakers!
It’s important to know who your audience is, so your celebrity can know what to expect if they accept your offer. Also, they can curate their speech appropriately so they can have a greater impact, which is better for them and for your audience.
All of your promotional material will need to be okayed by the celebrity’s PR team before it is distributed. To avoid wasted resources when they reject something you’ve already paid for, make sure you know how you plan to promote the event so you can get their approval as soon as possible.
This doesn’t go on your proposal. But it’s important to have a strong Plan B, because most celebrities will have a cancellation clause written into their contracts in case they are offered a film or other such engagement and need to back out suddenly. If this happens, you need to be ready to deploy your second-best speaker at a moment’s notice!
This list will help you get everything you need in line to book a celebrity for your event. We hope you enjoyed it. If you think we missed anything important, let us know!
Did you find this article helpful? Here are three more you might enjoy:
Corporate event planning: ten tips to make it unforgettable!
Four amazing tips to turn you into a powerful public speaker.
So you’ve done the hustle, you’ve sold your skills and pitched like crazy. And you did it—you landed that next big contract!
Well done…now what?
This one’s bigger than any event you’ve organized before and you’re feeling ever-so-slightly in over your head—you’re more nervous than excited! And you’re not sure where to start.
What you need is an event planning checklist that will ease your fears.
With all the moving parts involved in planning an event, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But don’t panic—you’re at the very start. The perfect place to be to plan an unforgettable event from the ground up.
But first, you need to get organized.
With this event planning checklist, you can keep track of all those little details and make sure you don’t forget anything.
Looking for the perfect speakers for your next event? Search our speaker marketplace here!
As a professional in the event planning industry, you’re in the perfect position to help your colleagues find the right speakers to make their meetings great! Connect with our SpeakerShare program to learn how you can make a commission from referring speakers!
An event planning checklist is essential to keeping organized whether you’re a veteran planner or are brand new to the industry. Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments.
Now, get planning!
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Four amazing tips to turn you into an amazing speaker.
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Corporate Event Planning: Ten Tips to Make it Unforgettable!
As all event planners know, corporate events are not all created equally. This can make corporate event planning a tricky business. An art, even.
Corporate events all have the same goal in mind: to bring a group—large or small—together for the purpose of inspiring them to do better in their professional lives, one way or another.
They can be engaging, emotionally-charged power-events, leaving attendees feeling united in their common purpose to advance their industries for the greater good of society as a whole!
Or, they can be awkward, boring snooze-fests that have the participants checking their watches and plotting their escapes out a side door.
If your work is in corporate event planning, an event like this can be a career-killer.
But, have no fear! We’ve compiled a list of ten tips to make sure your next corporate event is unforgettable.
This is the whole point of corporate event planning and can’t be overlooked. If your attendees don’t leave your event inspired in some way, then you haven’t done your job as an event planner.
This is where the speakers you choose can play a key role in making your event unforgettable. Choosing the right person to speak to the particular challenges and issues of your participants can make all the difference between an event with impact and one that fades into distant memory.
The main purpose of corporate event planning is to help businesses break down divisions that exist between their employees and various departments. This is also true for larger events that can work to bring people together who inhabit different areas of the same industry.
Through interactive activities such as workshops and icebreaker events, your participants will enjoy opportunities to get to know each other in more casual situations, rather than just sitting passively side-by-side at presentations and talks.
People love to feel included, especially in this era when so much of our lives are dominated by digital interactions rather than face-to-face.
Spend lots of time during the event talking to participants, asking them how the event is going for them and how it might improve. Take polls and post the results. Create social media platforms dedicated to letting participants interact with each other.
Did you know we have an interactive database of fabulous speakers? Check out the marketplace here.
The invitation is the first introduction to your event. So make sure it isn’t impersonal and humdrum, so recipients stay away from that delete button. Make your invitations thoughtful, informative, and reflective of the theme and intent of the event. If potential participants can get a good idea of what’s in store if they attend, they will be more likely to consider registering.
An integral part of your corporate event planning may include choosing a theme.
A theme creates a narrative that can anchor your participants firmly in the experience. Find ways for attendees to participate, such as dressing to the theme or creating playlists they can download on their devices.
Studies have shown that experiential learning is far more effective than passive learning, such as sitting and listening to lectures.
So, at your next corporate event make sure to include some experiential learning opportunities. This can include specialized training sessions or pop-up workshops. When an educational aspect is included in an event, it is transformed from a potential waste of time to a productive chance to improve skills and knowledge.
A venue isn’t just a space—if chosen carefully, it can be elevated to an important part of your event’s story. So, put some thought into your venue selection. Choose something that fits with the theme and feel of your event. Also, a venue that has an interesting focal point or feature will add character to the even. It will also give your attendees a cool spot to gather.
Corporate event planning also means planning for the future. Post-event is a valuable time to gather feedback to put towards your next event, as well as making sure attendants don’t forget the experience they’ve just had.
Send fun, interesting questionnaires to all the participants, inviting them to share what their favorite and not-so-favorite parts of the event were.
You’ve put so much thought into the venue, theme, content and speakers of your event. Don’t cop out when it comes to the food!
What’s on the buffet tables may seem inconsequential compared to what’s on stage. But the truth is if you offer refreshments that go beyond the usual mediocre event fare, people will remember. Food matters, so don’t treat it like an afterthought!
Last but not least, the right presenters and keynote speaker will make or break your event. Choosing speakers correctly is not optional when corporate event planning, as they have the power to lift an event from mundane to memorable.
If you’re looking for an amazing, inspiring speaker for an upcoming event, make sure to reach out to us so we can help you find the perfect fit.
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The four commitments of a winning team.
Developing the breakthrough mindset, and succeeding.
What makes the great ones great?
Your budget is set, the venue booked, speakers secured – now it’s time to promote your next event with social media marketing.
Of course, social media has to be a big part of that, but…
where to start?
The trick with all social media marketing is to be strategic and leverage your assets. The good news is that your event naturally will have a lot of assets, like speakers, sponsors, testimonials, attendees – even your event team.
Here is a 7-step social media marketing event strategy you can use to roll out social media promotion for all your events.
Your first decision for social media marketing is to choose which social channels to focus on. Rather than trying to be everywhere, choose 2-3 channels you can easily manage. To get started, here are 3 questions to ask:
For most B2B events, Twitter and LinkedIn will get you the most exposure, Facebook is more likely to get you the most engagement.
“Video is an extremely effective medium to showcase the passion and enthusiasm your event inspires.” Social Media Examiner
Now that you have your social channels, it’s time to build a simple social media marketing strategy for your team. The goal should be to get maximum engagement and conversion with the smallest time commitment.
Start with these steps:
“Many organizers forget to place enough time on event promotion using social media.” Canva
The earlier you start getting the word out on social, the sooner you will start to get traction. Of course, not everyone will get on board, but all you need is a small percentage to get the promotions started to start making noise.
A good place to start is with the people you have the most influence over your team, main stage, and breakout speakers, sponsors, your venue event team, caterers, entertainers, and hotels. You might be surprised at the number of influencers on your list!
“…make sure your hashtag is visible at your event so your guests know to use it. Include it in handouts and display it on screens throughout your venue.” Eventbrite
Look for opportunities to share the excitement of your event with creative posts.
The more you reward people for using your event hashtag, the more you’ll see it being used. Have someone on your team check daily for mentions and then reward people with likes and shares.
At your event, have your host encourage attendees to Tweet using your event hashtag. At some events, organizers will install a flat-screen TV displaying a rolling Twitter feed so attendees can see their tweets going live!
Planning a successful event is all about getting the biggest, best bang for your budget, right? Social media is no different. A part of your social media marketing planning strategy should be to monitor weekly some basic numbers:
“Social media messages should never be limited to text-only posts.” Dan McCarthy, Event Manager
After your event is a great time to keep the buzz going. Use social to get your event survey out, get attendees to share pictures, or promote your next event. People will be talking about your event and with a little encouragement the buzz will keep going (and promoting next year’s event.)
Enjoyed this article? Here are three more to help you create a great event:
How to Hire a Speaker Without Losing Your Sanity: 5 Tips For Hiring a Speaker
Connect Today’s Top Entertainment with the Events Industry through the Largest Directory of Talent.
“Teamwork: The Best Team Always Wins…The 6 Traits of High Performing Teams”
Four Amazing Tips To Turn You Into A Powerful Public Speaker
Although it may be one of your biggest fears – it’s up there with death on peoples’ top five list of fears – public speaking is most likely going to be a part of your life at some point, so trying to avoid it and wheedle your way out of every opportunity to speak in front of more than two people just isn’t an option, or not a good one in any case. Instead, wouldn’t you rather be able to make public speaking into one of your skills – something to proudly show off on a CV, and wow your co-workers with during presentations? Spreading your ideas is easiest when you’re talking to people in person so that they can see your passion and interest firsthand, so making every single speech impactful with these four tips can help to shape your image and spread whatever message you need to get across.
1. Be Unselfish
“While one way of psyching yourself up before the ‘big speech’ might be to convince yourself that you’re an expert and everyone listening to you is just an idiot in their underwear (a commonly suggested thought process), this is terrible in practice.” Joe Worrell, a speaker at Writemyx.com and Nextcoursework.com, advises. “Your audience will feel alienated and be able to instantly notice your high and mighty status, whether that be through your body language or any complex terms which you use but don’t explain. To be as down-to-earth and accessible as possible, make sure that you speak in layman’s terms or explain complex concepts and terminology, and match your attitude and tone to the audience and situation.” A speech that works wonders for high school students, for example, won’t be accepted that easily by your co-workers and could be seen as condescending, while the vice versa situation may leave the students bored and confused. Don’t just think about yourself – consider your audience while planning any speech.
2. Use Powerpoint Properly
Media can be a brilliant asset to any speech or presentation – when used correctly. If it’s overused or relied on, your audience will become disinterested, and often assume that you have no actual passion for your topic. Someone reading off a computer screen in a monotone isn’t usually that convincing, but if you stand out in front of the media and only use it as a prompt, you’ll look a lot more passionate and knowledgeable. Also, your audience members won’t know every single line of your script if it isn’t on your powerpoint, so you’ll be able to keep the element of surprise and ‘planned spontaneity’ which make speeches so humanizing and relatable.
3. Mix Stories & Stats
Anecdotes can make an audience sympathize or empathize with you and understand your viewpoint. Statistics convince an audience and make them believe what you’re saying. “Both accurate stats and personal stories need to be used in equal measures to keep an audience engaged and convinced,” Natasha Hyde, a writer at Britstudent.com and Australia2write.com, says, “so don’t flood your speeches with stats and make them sound like one long financial report, but also don’t make them sound too much like old wives’ tales that you’d share with the family. Finding that balance, along with original content to keep the speech moving and flowing well, is the secret to crafting amazing speeches that will win over your audiences.”
4. Passion
There’s a simple rule you should always keep in mind while speaking publicly: if you’re bored, then so is the audience. You shouldn’t be making a speech about something that you’re not passionate about, and, if you are, you can expect it to be boring and lackluster – for certain business aspects of work, like presentations and meetings, this may be the norm. Still, if you’re speaking to an audience that you care about, with a message that you care about, then you’ll need to do more than read out notes and flick through a powerpoint. Throw yourself into your content and perform. Hand gestures and proper inflections in speech are useful markers for passionate speaking, but the best way to tell is to ask yourself if you want to be up in front of your audience, speaking to them. The answer might be a very, very quiet ‘yes,’ squashed by all your fears and doubts, but if it’s a definite ‘no,’ then passion might not be possible for you to grasp, and your speeches will suffer as a result.
eSpeakers guest blogger, Katrina Hatchett blogs about lifestyle at Academic Brits, and also enjoys working for Origin Writings as a valued member of the writing team. She is also involved in numerous business projects since one of her passions in life is identifying project problems and their solutions, which aren’t always that simple. Still, they do give her the satisfaction of problem-solving time and time again. Her main goal is to improve the effectiveness of everyone’s communication around the world, and one of the small ways by which she contributes to this goal is by writing for the Ph.D. Kingdom blog.
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 22, 2019 — Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. That saying proves true within the entertainment industry, as indicated by the glowing success of Blackwood Talent & Entertainment’s recent launch of an entertainment industry-specific talent directory. As a division of eSpeakers.com, which has over 20 years of experience in the meetings industry, eSpeakers launched Blackwood Talent & Entertainment to serve entertainers and event organizers around the world. The new online talent directory, which launched on Sept. 10, 2019, at IMEX America in Las Vegas, helps event organizers target top talent for their meetings and events, including entertainers, comedians, musicians, celebrities, athletes, and more. Many entertainers have exclusive representation, but through partnerships with these agencies, Blackwood has made it possible for everyone to hire top talent.
“Finding, connecting with, and hiring top entertainment online is a challenge for most event organizers, and that’s where our directory technology comes in to save the day,” says Joseph Heaps, Blackwood’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Through our innovative platform, we’re providing verified reviews that are vetted by past clients, collaborative tools that allow multiple event stakeholders to share feedback on potential entertainers, and a no-risk booking as Blackwood Talent & Entertainment works with entertainers who guarantee their work, or they get their money back.”
This innovative online talent directory will feature stars such as Chris Rock, The Passing Zone, Aparna Nancherla, Sam Smith, Shelita Burke, Katy Perry, and Ellen DeGeneres. “It’s exciting to see event organizers connect and hire potential entertainment in this way, especially considering how difficult it is to connect with or even find out who represents them,” Heaps says. “Event organizers are tasked with executing a successful event, and we know that having the right entertainment on stage can engage the attendees and create a fun and exciting atmosphere. Our goal is to make finding, hiring, and paying the talent easy so they can focus on all the other aspects of the event.”
As the momentum behind finding and hiring entertainment online continues to grow, so does the company behind it. Blackwood Talent & Entertainment is a division of eSpeakers.com. eSpeakers.com is the largest online directory of speakers, trainers, authors, and consultants available online today. Online bookings for entertainment through this technology have surged over the last two years, necessitating the need for growth of a stand-alone branded directory.
For more information, visit http://www.blackwoodtalent.com.
Blackwood Talent & Entertainment is a division of eSpeakers.com. With over 20 years of experience in the meetings industry, eSpeakers launched Blackwood Talent & Entertainment to serve entertainers and event organizers around the world. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, Blackwood Talent & Entertainment also has offices in Nashville, TN, and Newport Beach, CA.
Media contact:
Joseph Heaps
Chief Marketing Officer
Blackwood Talent & Entertainment
888-377-3214
jheaps@blackwoodtalent.com
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eSpeakers is pleased to announce integration with the popular HubSpot customer relationship manager (CRM) as a new member benefit.
eSpeakers’ EventCX app keeps your speaking business humming, and our goal is to make it easy for you to manage your events and speaking business for growth. To go along with it, we recommend a great contact manager to manage the people and relationships in your business world.
HubSpot joins a list of other popular CRMs that are integrated into EventCX, eliminating the need for duplicate entry when linking people (in the CRM) to events (in EventCX). Details about the HubSpot integration are here.
