Okay, to be honest, while I am a speaker myself, I have never hired one. HOWEVER, I worked for many years as an impresario, hiring musicians and putting on all sort of musical events. As is so often the case, the general rules of hiring a performer apply here as much as anywhere else. So, a few guidelines that I used again and again to great effect:
1) People love to perform. Most musicians and most speakers are either filling their day with teaching, doing work they’re sick of, or just sitting around. Everything is negotiable. Everyone would rather make something than nothing. This is does not mean you should Presbyterian everyone down on their price, or squeeze every ounce of blood from every turnip, but it does mean that if your best and most sincere efforts have given you a certain budget limit, don’t be afraid to make your offer. The word is “haggle.” If the event is next Tuesday, if it’s less than 20 miles away, and a speaker is doing nothing else that day, and they can sell books after, they would rather make a few bucks than no bucks. I could tell you stories . . .
2) in most cases, marketing aside, in terms of content, a good generic is just as good as a name brand. Sometimes better.
3) there is a lot of junk out there, i.e., people who delude themselves and just want to have the glamour, but after a while you learn to tell the difference almost immediately.
4) Ask around. The best people to ask about who to hire if you can’t afford a big name is the big names themselves. “Promoting a protege” is an underlying hobby of many people who have hit the top in their profession; mentoring a protege is the only way they can get back to the sense of struggle and pioneering. Now please note, they will have 2 types of protege: 1) a true star in the making, and 2) a minion who works cheap in hopes of future glory that will never arrive. Again, after a while, easy to spot,
5) Don’t expect people to be objective about themselves. I think I’m a great speaker, but you should not take my word for it. My rule of thumb is to get at least 3 independent references/ recommendations. If three clarinet players each give me three recommendations, I look for the one name that overlaps all three. That’s the one I hire. I never audition, and I have never once missed with this method. It’s a simple use of statistics.
6) No matter how good a performer is, all they know is what they know. They cannot read your mind. They do not have the same perspective or perception that you have. If you want something special (and I always did), you have to sit them down and discuss this new approach with them. When clients do this to me, far from being annoyed, I am thrilled to discover a new untapped vein of customer need which I can turn around and sell elsewhere. (I just developed a custom show for a healthcare innovation client, and now that the time and effort that has been invested, as well having as unique access to their perspective on problems, this has evolved into a whole new program that I offer.)
In sum, speakers are presented and look like deified icons in the distant ether, but in reality they’re people just like you and me. Don’t be afraid to call up and ask questions. Talking to someone does not obligate you to hire them. Be honest and you might get 20 minutes worth of a $20,000 presentation for free, exclusively for you. Hey, they have nothing else to do, they only work 15 hours a year.
© Justin Locke
