What do leaders need from keynote speakers?
When companies or industry associations grow large enough to hold events for their employees and stakeholders, they want a high-quality speaker to share a message that translates into things such as stronger teams and better performances throughout their ranks.
Scan the roster of just about any speaker’s bureau, and you’ll find no shortage of people who speak on business and leadership topics to business audiences. Very few of them, however, are current or former CEOs or corporate executives. If they lead a company, it’s typically one that promotes their speaking or consulting. But you don’t have to have experience running a Fortune 500 company to deliver what business audiences need to hear.
What do they need to hear?
In my experience, good keynote speakers deliver in at least one of three ways, and the best nail it in all three of these areas:
Inspiration
There are people in this world who have overcome significant obstacles and who can share their story in ways that inspire the rest of us to display resilience and persistence when times get tough in our lives.
In this category, I think of people like Bethany Hamilton, the professional surfer who survived a shark attack, or John O’Leary, who overcame severe burn injuries as a child.
Other inspirational speakers don’t have such a dramatic story, but they are charismatic storytellers – people like Tony Robbins or my friend Tommy Spaulding . They inspire with their ability to tell stories and connect emotionally with their audiences.
Insights
All speakers need to provide valuable insights, of course. But for some, that’s their primary gift. They have led in challenging situations, learned from their experiences, and can share those lessons with others in ways that offer practical models to follow.
I put executives (and retired executives) in this category, but this is also where I’d include famous athletes, coaches, and military leaders. Tom Brady, for instance, never ran a public company, but the former NFL quarterback clearly knows a thing or two about leading teams.
Academics and consultants also lean heavily on their insights. They’ve made a career of studying topics related to business and leadership, and they provide value by passing that along to others. This includes experts such as Amy Cuddy (a social psychologist), Brené Brown (a professor who studies courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy), Patrick Lencioni (an author and organizational consultant), and Seth Godin (the marketing entrepreneur turned author and speaker).
Entertainment
Sometimes the wow factor is the main factor.
It’s not unusual for a company or organization to bring in a celebrity as the headliner for their meeting. This is a stable of Walmart’s annual meeting, for instance. In 2024, the retailer’s annual gathering included appearances by Lizzo, the Backstreet Boys, Peyton Manning, Paris Hilton, and Robert Downey, Jr.
Comedians, mentalists, singers, and magicians can captivate audiences and leave them feeling valued if for no other reason than that their company gave them something they truly enjoyed and can talk about for years to come.
Again, the very best speakers deliver in all three areas, and several of those I listed as examples are inspiring, insightful, and entertaining.
CEOs and other executives, meanwhile, typically take their turn on the stage and stick to matters of business—they share where the organization has been, how it’s doing, and where it’s going. And, unfortunately, they often put people to sleep in the process.
Even if you aren’t delivering the keynote address, you have an opportunity, even an obligation as a leader, to be inspiring, insightful and entertaining. Because no matter who is delivering the message, that’s what the audience needs to hear.
When you find the perfect keynote speaker, they are setting the tone for your entire meeting. So whether it be inspiring them from the beginning of the day, or wrapping it all together, to closing out a full day of conferences, they really set the tone
— Mollie Plotkin , founder and principal of Mollie Plotkin Group, Keynote Speaker and Entertainment Booking Agency
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Finding and recruiting talent is an art. Mollie Plotkin founded her namesake keynote speaking and entertainment booking agency in Philadelphia in 2005 within a day of discovering a gap in the market. She cultivated that art into a successful business representing some of the biggest names in the sports, media, and entertainment industries. With innovative strategies for cultivating talent and using a team approach to connect speakers with the right audience, Mollie joins Off the Rak to chat about the art of connection, the power of storytelling, and the gift of impactful relationships.
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2 天å‰Walt, it was such a pleasure speaking with you and, as you've now experienced, I love talking about the keynote speaker & talent industry!