Why standardising a process for working with speakers is good for your event.

Have you ever wondered how the speaker bureaus manage to find and suggest speakers who are always so professional and won’t let you down?

You are probably thinking it’s because of years of experience in the industry and being so well connected they’ve gained respect and attraction from the speakers as being the reason.

And if you have, I bet you’ve also thought that it would be wonderful if ALL the speakers that didn’t come via a bureau were just as professional as those that did.  And it’s at this point, you’ve probably assumed that because those speakers who are not with a bureau is because they are not professional or famous enough and therefore not worthy of justifying the bureaus hefty price tag.

What you have just done is assumed the “Value + Content = Worth” equation.

The truth is, using a bureau is not an option when you have a limited budget or even no budget. But you can still work out the V+C=W equation with a good speaker management process.

Bureaus and some speakers rely on you making assumptions as this allows them to drive up the price. However, justifying the price is a little more tricky as not all well known famous names are able to deliver a speech of value or with content as much as we would like whereas an unknown but practicing CEO is able to give invaluable insights and content rich and delivers well above their worth.

If you want to book the speakers who can deliver the Value + Content = Worth equation without the additional commission costs, all you need to do is standardise your procedure for booking and working with speakers.

  • Have a system where all speakers have to send you the minimum amount of information about themselves which enables you to quickly work out if they could be suitable BEFORE you decide to use them at your next event.
    • You don’t want to spend time having to hunt around the internet
    • If they can’t send you info - even if its just their corporate CV, how do you know they have the right experience and background to talk about what they said they could?
    • If they don’t want to send you their info, do you really want to promote someone who may give the same impression to your audience should they approach them afterwards?
  • Have proper Contracts with Terms & Conditions that you send to each and every speaker even if it’s a pro bono slot
    • If you are only signing speakers T&Cs you are putting your organisation into their hands
    • If they don’t want to sign your T&Cs be suspicious.  Most speakers who know their own delivery value will appreciate ground rules.  Some might argue and ask for changes, but that’s OK – it the ones who don’t you need to be wary of.
    • By making everyone sign T&Cs you will start being known among the speakers as a professional organisation which tends to keep the smaller, unsure of their own delivery value speakers away from applying to appear at your events.
  • Have a payment method system speakers can understand and trust
    • Many speakers are small businesses and so are not geared to waiting for payment of upto 180 days while you put their invoices through your standard corporate payment schedules
    • Having a system that gives speakers a guarantee that they will be paid for good performance means they can relax knowing the funds are there but know they still have to perform to get it – it’s why the bureaus are able to keep them on their best behaviour.
  • Have a two way feedback process which you are willing to be open about. 
    • Encourage the speakers to tell you how you did and they will tell others how good it was to work with you automatically
    • The more the speakers feel safe working with you, the more they recommend you to other speakers and your reputation grows as a great person to work with.
    • If speakers know you have an open feedback system, those that are or have reason to be afraid of being reviewed will steer clear of you and your process.


By having a simple process which standardises the way you work with speakers – not matter paid or unpaid, you will find that those who want to work with you will adapt to your process and do what you require.

It’s why we built iwantaspeaker.com – providing you a professional process to standardise working with speakers.

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