Motivational Speaker Needed? ~ Choose Wisely

1. Why Choosing a Professional Motivational Speaker is so Necessary

Find a professional, motivational speaker with a proven ability to motivate and you can be assured your meeting will have the success all of your hard work will rightly deserve.

A professional motivational speaker can turn ‘average’ event evaluation scores into superlatives such as, ‘brilliant, fantastic and superb’.

Correctly motivate your delegates and you will receive credit for helping to instil in them an internal energy that determines all aspects of their future behaviour. This is why hiring a professional, motivational speaker is so important.

2. Watch out for the ‘Pretend’ Motivational Speaker

It is essential you understand that any Tom, Dick or Harry can legally call himself or herself a motivational speaker. So simply finding someone listed as such on a website, or in a business directory, is no guarantee as to his or her ability to motivate an audience.

Would-be motivational speakers are inventing themselves on a daily basis. They see the perceived success, and other associated privileges that a top international, professional, motivational speaker appears to have, and think along the lines ‘I could do that – easy money, travel to exotic places, fast cars, top hotels etc’. Ask a top motivational speaker if that is fair reflection of their lifestyle and he or she is likely to reply ‘If only’. So what do you need to look out for in your search for a motivational speaker?

3. Sourcing a Top Motivational Speaker

Type motivational speaker into a search engine and you can expect many million hits. This, of course, only partially helps you in your quest for the perfect motivational speaker for your event! How many days have you set aside for this task? If you are thinking in hours, rather than weeks, then you are advised to read on:

Choosing a short list of potential motivational speaker candidates from the first two or three pages of a search engine listing seems, and is to some extent, a logical way to proceed. However, there are further issues that are worthy of your consideration:

4. Do I Directly Contact a Motivational Speaker or go via an Agent or Bureau?

Motivational speaker agents and bureaus represent the majority of the best, professional motivational speakers.

Agents are only interested in someone who is already established as a top motivational speaker. They proactively promote the motivational speaker, putting a speaker’s name forward to conference organisers and the like. They charge a fee to the motivational speaker for this service, usually based on a percentage of the motivational speaker’s fee for the occasion. For effective ‘numbers’ management reasons, the choice of motivational speaker found through an agent, can be limiting.

Bureaus tend to be dedicated to providing conference organisers, corporations, associations, and educational institutions with a large selection of professional motivational speakers from which to choose. Too much choice can be their biggest disadvantage.

A so-called Motivational Speaker, good or bad, experienced or amateur, will also often represent their own interests, and so it may be useful if I now provide a few tips on how to identify an established, professional motivational speaker of quality from a large pool of the Johnny-come-lately brigade.

5. With a Quality Motivational Speaker Talent Will Shine Through

Top position for a motivational speaker on search engines usually fluctuates from one day to the next, so compose a short-list from the first two or three pages, and you are ready to begin.

It is worth of bearing in mind that sponsored links for a motivational speaker are there because someone is prepared to pay, sometimes-large amounts, to jump to the front of the queue of motivational speakers. Whereas this is an admirable indication that they are prepared to invest in advertising, it does not necessarily follow that you will receive the best value for your money. Here is an easy way to narrow down your short list:

6. Establish the Experience of the Motivational Speaker

Retype that which you originally searched for, into the search engine, and add one of the names you have recorded in your short list e.g. Motivational Speaker + His or Her Name.

Now you can better determine whether that particular motivational speaker has the expertise you require. You will also have an indication as whether or not an agent or bureau represents them as a motivational speaker.

7. Carefully Research the Motivational Speaker Testimonials

Any motivational speaker, worthy of consideration, will have a selection of testimonials from previous clients available for you to view on his or her website.

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