The Four Types of Speakers and Why Event Organizers Hire Them

How do event planners choose their keynote speakers?

It’s a fair question… especially when you consider how it affects your speaking career.

Are they looking for specific types of content… a certain type of performance… or is it your fame and notoriety that actually punches your ticket?? When you can better understand what influences the hiring decision, you’ll be in a stronger position to win more gigs.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the mindset of a very important person… your meeting planner.

A Chat With Carol, the Meeting Planner

Years ago, when Michael Port and I were writing our book The Referable Speaker, we decided to contact event organizer Carol Walden.

“When I program an event, I’m really looking for three anchor speakers.? Speakers I can build the entire event around,” she told us.? “I need one at the beginning, one at the end, and one somewhere in the middle.”?

As the former senior vice president of event content and design at Winsight's Media & Events division, Carol has been producing events for more than two decades. She works on the largest of the company’s fifty events each year, with sizes ranging from 60 to 65,000 attendees.

Over her career, Carol’s booked more than a thousand speakers to headline the most influential conferences around the world.

All that to say… she knows what she’s talking about!

And, for Carol, there are four main types of speakers event organizers seek out.? Michael and I have taken her starting four and teased out some nuance into when and how these types of speakers win the keynotes.??

Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts

First, the big fish… actors, athletes, and astronauts.

These are the speakers you hire to fill seats. The message they share might not be totally relevant or impactful for a given audience, but their name alone is enough to draw people in.

And that’s actually really important to note right from the start…

?? We speakers often consider what effect we can have once we’ve stepped onto the stage. However, event organizers think about what effect you can have on their event weeks in advance. They hope your name and speech topic will give marketing power to attract more attendees.        

For this first category of speakers, not all of them are literally “actors, athletes, or astronauts,” but they all have that same level of exceptional name recognition.

Examples include speakers like Shaquille O’Neal, Dennis Miller, Adam Savage, Madeleine Albright, Magic Johnson, Arianna Huffington, Scott and Mark Kelly, Condoleeza Rice, Michelle and Barack Obama, or Mayim Bialik.

Phew… talk about some star power!

When event organizers choose these (very expensive) speakers, they are essentially using their names as a marketing vehicle.??

People see that Mayim Bialik – star of TV’s The Big Bang Theory, former host of Jeopardy, and honest-to-goodness neuroscientist – will be speaking.? That alone is often enough to get them excited to attend.

In fact, the event organizer hires them first because of who they are, then because of what they’re going to talk about, and finally because of their speech. The speech is the least important part of the equation.

?A-List Alternates

If you aren’t personally an Actor, Athlete, or Astronaut… (it’s okay.? most of us aren’t)... then perhaps you’d fall into this next category.

An A-List Alternate is someone who Carol described like this:?

“If their names aren’t immediately recognizable, then the next four to six words better damned well be.”

?? Examples of this type of speaker include names like Amy Purdy, Ken Jennings, Yancey Strickler, or Danny Cahill, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III. These folks don’t have immediate name recognition until you add the next four to six words behind their name.        

Let me introduce these same folks again…

• Amy Purdy – the double amputee from Dancing With the Stars.??
• Ken Jennings – the winningest guy on Jeopardy (who now hosts the show).??
• Yancey Strickler – the cofounder of Kickstarter.??
• Danny Cahill – the guy who lost 239 pounds on the Biggest Loser.??
• “Sully” Sullenberger III – the guy who landed a plane in the Hudson River.

Ahh… yes.? Now those names feel more important.

A-List Alternates often get booked because they represent big, household brands like Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Google, or Starbucks.? Who wouldn’t love to hear from the big brains behind Tesla or Google?

(Btw… we’ve written before about how former A-List Alternates can preserve their speaking career once their association with the big brands is over.)

?? Pitfall Warning: ?Some speakers I’ve met think they fit into this category – maybe because they were a Navy SEAL in Desert Storm, or did something else very noteworthy. But you are only an A-List Alternate if some people in the audience will actually associate your name with a very specific event.        

In other words – while all Navy SEALs are incredibly impressive – a Navy SEAL isn’t an A-List Alternate, while the Navy SEAL who did this one specific thing people will remember is.? See the difference?

Industry Icons

Okay.? Maybe you’re not an Actor, Athlete, or Astronaut.? And you’re not an A-List Alternate either. Our next category of speakers is called Industry Icons.

?? These are the folks who are very well known just within a specific industry. For example, if you’re in the restaurant industry, you might know that Richard Allison Jr. is the CEO of Domino’s Pizza, one of the most successful fast-food brands in the world.        

Or, if you work in the convenience store industry, you surely know about Emily Sheetz – the head of strategy for one of the most successful and innovative brands of convenience stories in the country.

Industry Icons are like the Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts of a very specific niche.? They are the big fish in very small ponds.? That’s why event organizers love booking them for industry events.

What Type of Speaker Are You?

For some speakers, it’s clear which category best suits them. But for others, things become a bit more complicated.

?? The type of speaker you are can actually depend more on your event organizer and their event than on you. That’s because you fill a specific need for them, given their audience and event theme.        

For instance, imagine you are the head of a major coffee brand and you’re at a cafe and restaurant industry event.? Here, you’re filling the role of an “industry icon.”? People know you well in that niche and see you as a mini-celebrity.

But perhaps you’re later at a much bigger event with people from many industries.? Here, the audience gets excited about you because you're the head of a major coffee brand.? It’s those six words after your name that matter most.? In that case you’re filling the role of an “a-list alternate.”? The event organizer couldn’t get a big name celebrity, but they’re happy to have you as a backup.

Or, weirder yet, you’re still the head of a major coffee brand, but now you’re in Singapore.? Here, no one has ever heard of your coffee, but the event organizer hired you because they heard you had a fantastic speech.???

In this case, you’d fit into our fourth category of speaker…?

Which is…

[drumroll]

… something we’re going to dive into deep tomorrow!

If you’re a Premium Member, check out the second part of this article and we’ll look closely at the final type of speaker category you likely fit into.

Part two of this article covers:

• A full description of the fourth category of speakers to which 90% of all speakers belong,
• Why you are a valuable investment for the event organizer even though you don’t bring a lot of name recognition,
• A little story about that time I spoke after Magic Johnson,
• And my #1 piece of advice for dealing with event organizers… so you can avoid getting on their bad side right from the start!

Not a Premium Member?

Remember, the advice that got you here won’t get you there. It’s time for a massive move.

It’s time for a Monumental Shift.??

Thanks for reading!

Andrew