Have you ever wondered what event planners look for before they pick up the phone and book a speaker?

You and everybody else who gets paid to speak has the same question in mind. If you simply take a step back and consider the implications of hiring a speaker from an event planners perspective, then you will have a better idea of what they look for. Let’s examine this from their perspective. 

Four areas event planners consider: Audience, Time, Money and Approach.

Audience

This is the highest priority for planners. Since their job is to create a successful event, they need to know their audience. Of course the target audience is set ahead of time. For example, is the event is called Youth Leadership Conference, then more than likely the audience is going to be youth age students that are interested in becoming stronger leaders. So planners are not going to want someone to bring a message about dropping out of high school.

Time

Planners have to determine the amount of time for an event. If it’s a one day event, then planners would have to book more than one speaker or consider using a speaker more than one time. For example, some schools like to have a career day at the end of the school year and end up booking several speakers in one day. It’s best to make it easy for them during this time to get you on the schedule; they’ll appreciate your efforts.

If the event is less than a week away the planner needs to get a commitment quick from the speaker he/she is inquiring about and doesn’t have a lot of time to be returning messages and faxing contracts back and forth. Some speakers need to be prepared to give a commitment over the phone. This however is not the best practice, it’s best to get everything in writing. The good planners know to do it the right way.

Money

Oh yes, don’t forget that event planners have budgets. A planner has a budget and depending on how good they are with budgeting, they often do not leave much room for a high fee. Some are fantastic about giving speakers what they are asking; others look to negotiate until the last penny. Some planners would rather spend more money on a communicator than on anything else. Some would spend most of the money on tangible items to give to students, like t-shirts and pens.

If you are bringing value to an event, then money isn’t going to be an issue because planners will pay. If you talk about school bullying and a school has a problem with bullying on campus, you better believe that event planner at that school is going to pay your fee to help eliminate bullying at their school.

Approach Matters

So as you write up your speaker bio and sales pitch on your website, remember to stay away from talking about yourself, but write about problems in which you speak about. Low test scores, low graduation rates, school bullying, drug abuse, gang activity, fighting, teen pregnancy, etc. These are all topics that you can mention as to why an event planner should book you and how your service can help reduce these problems with teenage students.

This is not always the case but speakers on average get booked by women between 35 and 55 years of age. Something to consider when writing content and uploading videos to your site. You should also know the audience of planners coming to your website.