How do you match your event goals with entertainment and speakers?

1 Know your audience

Before you start looking for entertainment and speakers, you need to understand who your audience is and what they expect from your event. Consider their demographics, interests, preferences, and pain points. What are their needs and challenges? What are their values and aspirations? What are their learning styles and preferences? How do they like to be engaged and entertained? By knowing your audience, you can narrow down your options and select the entertainment and speakers that can resonate with them and meet their expectations.

2 Define your event goals

Next, you need to define your event goals and objectives. What is the purpose and theme of your event? What are the key messages and takeaways you want to convey? What are the desired outcomes and impacts you want to achieve? How do you want your audience to feel and act after your event? By defining your event goals, you can align your entertainment and speakers with your vision and mission. You can also use your event goals as criteria to evaluate and select the entertainment and speakers that can support and enhance your event.

3 Research and evaluate entertainment and speakers

When planning your event, it's important to have a clear idea of your audience and goals before researching and evaluating potential entertainment and speakers. There are numerous sources and methods you can use to find and vet the best fit for your event, such as referrals, reviews, testimonials, portfolios, videos, websites, social media, and interviews. Additionally, you can reach out to your network, peers, or industry experts for recommendations. When researching and evaluating entertainment and speakers, you should pay special attention to factors like relevance to your event theme or message, their credibility or experience in their field or industry, the quality of their performance or presentation, the value they offer for what they charge, and their availability for your event date, time, and location.

4 Balance entertainment and speakers

When matching your event goals with entertainment and speakers, it is important to balance them in terms of quantity, quality, and variety. Overloading your event agenda with too many entertainment and speakers can overwhelm and bore your audience, while compromising on the quality and relevance of your entertainment and speakers can affect your event reputation and satisfaction. To cater to different tastes, preferences, and learning styles of your audience, diversifying your entertainment and speakers is key. You can achieve this balance by choosing a mix of entertainment and speakers that can complement each other to create a cohesive event experience, allocating enough time and space for each entertainment and speaker to perform or present without rushing or interrupting them, selecting entertainment and speakers that can appeal to different senses, emotions, and intelligences of your audience, and incorporating interactive and participatory elements in your entertainment and speakers to engage and involve your audience.

5 Communicate and collaborate with entertainment and speakers

Finally, you need to communicate and collaborate with your entertainment and speakers to ensure a smooth and successful event. You need to establish a clear and consistent communication channel with your entertainment and speakers, and provide them with all the necessary information and details about your event. You also need to listen to their feedback, suggestions, and concerns, and address them promptly and respectfully. You also need to collaborate with your entertainment and speakers to coordinate and integrate their performance or presentation with your event agenda, logistics, and technology. You also need to appreciate and acknowledge their contribution and value to your event.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?