The Microsoft Speakers Bureau

How we systematically make the expertise of our employees more visible

The fact that the work of communicators should no longer be limited to writing press releases or blog posts can be regarded as a truism. Contemporary corporate communication plays on the entire keyboard of Owned, Owned, Shared and Paid Media. In this context, employees as corporate influencers are becoming an increasingly important tool in the so-called Communites of Experts (CoE) to participate in and  influence debates. . But that only works if they can act as experts on an eye-level.  For this purpose, employees must be enabled and, above all, empowered to participate in public discourse. For the field of social media we at Microsoft use very successfully our "in-house product" LinkedIn Elevate, as well as the personal conversation and coaching by the Microsoft PR team. But how can we systematically use events, congresses, conferences, conferences during trade fairs to make the expertise of Microsoft employees visible while advancing our strategic topics? Our answer is the Microsoft Speakers Bureau, which we have launched as one of three pillars of our Strategic Engagement Program (along with Community Management and Government Affairs). I would like to share some first insights.

One can quite rightly ask why Microsoft is setting up its Speakers Bureau right now, when   most physical events have been cancelled or postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Admittedly, it was not planned like this. But it proves to be an advantage for two reasons to set up such a service with sufficient time: First, events are increasingly being relocated to the virtual space. So there is a permanent need and at the same time new challenges arise. Secondly, the effort for such a project is slightly underestimated. The complexity of the project is illustrated in the figure. It summarizes the tasks and strategic topics of the Speaker's Bureau at Microsoft.  

A decision in advance: Make or buy

Before you start designing a Speakers Bureau, you have to decide: Do you buy the service externally or do everything yourself? We opted for a hybrid approach because, on the one hand, the development of internal resources, i.e. additional staff, was not an option, and on the other hand, it was imperative to include a great deal of internal knowledge, which would be lost in a completely outsourced model. The obvious option was to take advantage of the existing relationship with our long-standing PR agency Factor 3 and anchor the Speakers Bureau there.

To focus limits the effort and increases the benefits

The next step is, to define the content bandwidth that the Speakers Bureau is supposed to cover.  It is neither strategically sensible nor, from the point of view of efficient use of resources, possible to serve all topics with which the company has points of contact.

Because communication goals are always derived from business goals, the Microsoft Speakers Bureau focuses on strategically relevant topics that either promise special business opportunities or those where blockers need to be removed to take advantage of these opportunities. This automatically sorts out everything "that could be done otherwise ". This may be perceived as painful at some point, but it underlines the strategic approach of the project..

Microsoft naturally focuses on topics such as Digital Sovereignty, Trust & Responsibility, Artificial Intelligence and Innovation, or The New World of Work.. In addition, there is a second focus on selected industries and the associated public and media resonance spaces.. If you put both filters on top of each other, a good decision is already made, which events will be prioritized in the future. .

Specifically, the decision for or against a particular event is made in a process involving both the thematic communication managers – we call them content captains and the events team assigned to Marketing, coordinated and bundled by the Speakers Bureau.

Incoming enquiries are structured and (avoiding numerous loops) processed quickly. In order to make our topic and industry priorities transparent to  organizers and to facilitate the contact, a dedicated  microsite for the Speakers Bureau has been set up in the Microsoft Newscenter. The "fly-snow" thus created for external requests is a win from the start. Previously,   inquiries were received somewhere in the organization, were forwarded several times and are often sanded. To the displeasure of the organizers and to the detriment of Microsoft, because interesting events may not have been served. Und who once communicated in a "black hole", does not start another attempt.

Create and prioritize transparency about the event landscape

Dealing with e-mail requests professionally is one thing, but that alone does not ensure that Microsoft is represented at the relevant events with the right topics.  

Keeping an overview of the ever-changing landscape of congresses, conferences, corporate  events, especially in the Corona era, is unthinkable without the creation of a corresponding database. It is filled on the basis of the content expertise of the Speaker's Bureau, on the basis of targeted research and by integrating the experiences of the speakers and the event experts at Microsoft. This allows you to create a "target image" that outlines the desired presence and is included as a key performance indicator (KPI) in the success measurement (more on that later). An important task of the Speaker's Bureau at Microsoft is to proactively place topics and speakers at the identified events – a consistent matchmaking process. 

Speakers need freedom for the task

A Speakers Bureau without a "Speaker" is worth nothing. For this reason, the identification of speakers is also a core task of the Speakers Bureau. The   management and other management functions with strong external visibility, such as Chief Technology, Chief Learning Officer, as well as the Industry Executives, with high competence in their respective industries are placed. In a technology company like Microsoft there are also numerous other experts who could be in high demand especially at professional events. Until now, they have lacked visibility to the outside world and the empowerment of management.

From the very beginning, it was important for us that we do not rely solely on the (undoubtedly existing) enthusiasm of our speakers and expect them to serve the company on evenings and weekends. For this reason, speakers need the commitment of their management, on the one hand, to create the necessary space for performances and, on the other han,, to include the commitment in the so-called "core priorities", according to which all Microsoft employees are measured and paid at the end. The list of speakers for the Speakers Bureau currently includes about 80 people, and the number is increasing. With a digital profile (often including video snippets from past performances), organizers can quickly get an idea of whether the event and the speaker are a match.

Modular training program qualifies speaker

The Speakers Bureau will only be a success if the speakers can present their subject in an excellent way and convey their subject as visionary as possible – whether physically or virtually. Our surveys show that the experience, knowledge and skills of our speakers show a wide range.

That's why we have set up a modular training program with the help of Faktor 3 and experienced speaker coaches – also with regard to changed situations due to events during the Corona pandemic. This includes tips and tricks for the right technology set-up as well as the correct placement of laptop, light, microphone and the use of body language in online lectures.

A "refreshment training" in the group is aimed at experienced speakers who need a fine tuning of their skills or – which is especially important in times of Corona - are perhaps still inexperienced in virtual events. For example, a module is exactly what it is all about. Anyone who has ever had to look into the nostrils of a speaker from below knows that small things make a lot of difference at this point. The advanced module aims at the development of the individual speaker character and the training of concrete speaker situations. The training offers are very well received by the speakers and are already having an effect. The trainings take place personally (with the required distance), but also virtually in a kind of "TV studio" at Faktor 3, so that our colleagues can practice their presence in front of the camera and evaluate themselves and their performance directly. In individual trainings, we also work specifically on the depth of content or specially trained for an upcoming event. It is important to us that we continue to distinguish between speaker and media training in the future, as the requirements have to be considered in a differentiated way. 

Single-cast messages and slide decks

An appearance has to sit, but it only unfolds its full effect in the end if the desired messages are also transported. Even before the introduction of the Speakers Bureau, Executive Communications supported the management and, above all, the Microsoft Germany CEO, Sabine Bendiek, in their appearances. But the truth is that without this support, many speakers create their own slides and improvise more or less - both in terms of design and content.

We want to handle this better in the future, but we are still at the beginning. The aim is to create modular decks on key topics, which are compiled according to the audience and curated for the specific occasion. The endeavor sounds more complicated than it is (hopefully). For on the one hand we can fall back on a lot of material from Microsoft Corporation, on the other hand, true treasures of content have a shadowy existence on the OneDrives and Sharepoints of our colleagues - and we want to lift them now.

Using the speaker community's nutzen swarm intelligence

An essential aspect of the Microsoft Speakers Bureau is therefore also the networking of all speakers of the organization. For this purpose, we have set up a Microsoft Teams where speakers can exchange ideas, give practical tips and recommendations, and share materials, inshort, a channel on which swarm intelligence can unfold. . Community education is also supported by a regular newsletter that   reports condensed on new events, useful reading material or practical tips for the stage presence.

Smart Power BI Dashboard - but also accept limits of measurability

And how do we measure the success of this complex project? A legitimate question. The quantitatively pictureable targets are quickly mentioned. It is about increasing the number of relevant events at which Microsoft speakers are present, increasing the number of trained speakers, attracting more female experts to the stages and covering the topics and industries that are important to us. All this is shown in a digital Power-BI dashboard, which is automatically pulled from the database (currently still a good old Excel file )and which gives us an overview at all times, where we stand with the key figures. Here we can also see which topics Microsoft is particularly frequently asked on and on which topics is rarely requested.

It becomes more difficult when it comes to the question of whether we have changed perceptions, eliminated business roadblockers or promoted business opportunities with our debate contributions. We measure long-term changes in brand perception in regular target group surveys. However, they do not allow conclusions to be drawn as to causality, i.e. which measure contributed to this change.  As you know, success has many fathers and here we are reaching the limits of measurability.

Conclusion

The Microsoft Speakers Bureau is a delicate plant. However, it is already becoming apparent that the central coordination of incoming requests, the creation of speaker profiles and modular slide decks, as well as, last but not least, the trainings from the start have led to an improvement in quality. The real probation comes with the revival of the current event, congress and trade fair landscape. In the project I was very impressed by how much motivation, evenenthusiasm, colleagues were and continue to be. That makes one confident. We have never been better prepared.

Have you had similar experiences? I look forward to suggestions and exchanges in the comments!