You’re planning an event, and you need a keynote speaker to tie your theme and message together.
You have your theme, message, and audience defined.
But now you have to go out and find a speaker that fits your event.
One of the biggest challenges as a planner is choosing one speaker from all the great presenters on the circuit.
If you allow it, you could spend hours (sometimes days) searching online for the best keynote speaker for your event.
There are dozens of speakers who would do a great job at your event, but you’ve still got to make the choice.
So how do you make that choice?
5 Steps to Research Your Next Keynote Speaker
As an event planner, you are responsible for bringing people together. This includes the audience, the vendors, the speakers, and more. Once you have the theme, message, audience, location, and catering all booked, you need to find a keynote speaker that fits your event. Here are X steps to do just that:
#1. Search on Google
This is as simple as opening a browser and typing into your URL bar “keynote speaker” and scanning the results. However, you want a more specific type of speaker. Here are some types that you can add to that Google search:
- Accountability
- Leadership
- Diversity
- Authenticity
- Teamwork
- Empowerment
- Feminism
- Inspirational
- Motivational
- Innovation
- Communication
- Business
- Humor
- Generational
- HR / Workforce
- Workplace
- Community
- International
Now, you can take any one of the adjectives above and add it to your Google search like this:
- Leadership Keynote Speaker
- Inspirational Keynote Speaker
- Innovation Keynote Speaker
Google will then show you the results of your search based on your query.
If you want to search an exact phrase, you can use quotations around your chosen keywords:
- “Leadership Keynote Speaker”
- “Keynote Speaker Leadership”
- “Keynote Leadership Speaker”
You can also combine search phrases so that you only pull results that include certain keywords without defining the order you want to see them in:
- “Leadership” + “Keynote” + “Speaker”
You can use these same techniques once you have a list of speakers’ names that you want to do a little research on before you try to hire them for your event.
#2. Search on Google News
What’s nice about Google News is that it helps you out with exact phrase, included keywords, and excluded keywords right in its search bar so that you don’t have to do all the quotation work like in step one — even though the quotations still work.
When you open Google News, you will see a search bar. In that search bar, you can type the name of any speaker you’re looking to hire.
You can also click the small down arrow on the far right side of the search bar. This will open your quotation toolbar for exact phrase, has words, and exclude words options. From this dropdown, you can also set a time range.
#3. Review Their Website
At this point, you should have a list of speakers you’re wanting to hire. This means you can do some specific research on them before you hire them. One great way to see if they would be a great fit for your event on a deeper level is to review their website.
Simply search the speaker’s name in quotations, and if they have a site it should come up.
Once on their website, look for what they offer as a speaker. What types of messages do they speak toward. Will they fit your event theme?
You can also check their blog to get a feeling for their voice. While not everyone speaks how they write, you can still get a feel for their message, how they approach certain topics, and why they are speakers.
#4. Search YouTube
Did you know that as of this post, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet next to Google? It’s a massive platform that offers up visual content at a scale never seen before. What’s more, you can use the same search tips from Step #1 in YouTube and get great results.
You can start your search on YouTube, but you’d have better luck finding speakers on Google through search, bureaus, and agencies. Then, take those speakers’ names, search them on YouTube, and start watching their videos.
#5. Search Social Media
Once you have your list of speakers from the research techniques above, consider going to social media platforms and discovering how your potential speakers interact with their own audience online. While this may seem like an “extra” step, it does payoff to see how speakers are engaging online.
Takeaways
Once you have a list of speakers for your keynote slot, make sure and research them online. You want to get as close to a perfect fit your event as possible. This involves discovering who they are on stage and on the internet.
Here are the 5 steps to research keynote speakers:
- Search on Google
- Search on Google News
- Review Their Website
- Search on YouTube
- Scan Social Media Profiles
If you’re interested in a roster of the top keynote speakers, Platinum is here to help. Our speakers are vetted, engaging, and professional. View our roster and let us know if you want to discuss booking a speaker.