What Are Conferences Looking for in a Speaker? Interactivity and Sensitivity
Skift Take
This is not your grandfather's keynote. Choosing the right speaker to engage an audience is more complex than ever before. And that's a good thing.
The days of booking a famous name to deliver a canned speech full of platitudes to a conference or meeting are long gone — at least for gatherings that want to succeed long term.
Today's speakers need to be armed with some savvy skills if they hope to hold the attention of an increasingly diverse and often global audience. And woe is the booker who ignores potential political minefields.
Sheldon Senek, executive vice president of Eagles Talent Speakers Bureau, which books a huge stable of superstar speakers, including Suze Orman, Jon Kotter, Barbara Corcoran and Bob Woodward, said the key is to understand your client.
"With political pundits, you know what side of the fence they're on, and groups hiring those speakers know what they're getting in to," Senek said. "Corporate groups may not want hot buttons pushed, and most speakers are aware of their audience. For example, Laura Schwartz, the former White House director of events under President Clinton, her presentations aren't political at all, and she has made a point to be both professional and personally non-partisan," said Senek, adding that Schwartz focuses her presentat
