Video conferences, business networks, and community activities are becoming increasingly popular with each passing day. According to Global Market Insight, the video conferencing market reached USD 14 billion in 2019 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of more than 19 percent between 2020 and 2026. But as these meeting methods scale new heights, the process of selecting the speakers and sending invitations is becoming increasingly complex.
Furthermore, in such a jumble of speaker selection and invitation, it is not easy to maintain pace with the audience and keep them engaged while ensuring that they have a great experience at your event.
So, how can you be sure that you invite the right person to speak at your event? How about keeping the audience interested all the way through?
Check out this article for some helpful tips!
The future of speaker invitation and engagement process
As an event organizer, for weeks, you might have been scratching your head and pulling your hair out, trying to organize the best event possible. Do you want to start a new event? Are you having trouble lining up speakers for your annual user conference? Are you worried about their interest in your event, wondering how to keep them engaged after your tiring effort of selecting them? Below are some points that can come in handy for you.
Speaker Curation
Although reaching out to speakers who have been in the spotlight for a long time may be enticing, they may not be the best fit for your event. For example, a finance speaker may not be the right choice for your cultural event. In that case, you must find a speaker who aligns well with your event’s purpose, has a clear personal brand, and an established following. Since they play a vital role in promoting your brand, you can find someone who has a strong command of the subject discussed at your event and can capture the crowd’s attention with their presence.
Speaker Engagement
Speakers are often busy and find it challenging to make time to speak at events, but what motivates them to make time anyway? Is it the spectators or the money? Many speakers admit it is more about a crowded room than about money. Large crowds boost their enthusiasm and excitement. Being among the people prompts them to give the best speeches and elicit maximum reactions. As an event planner, you must recognize that people attend events based on their desires, identify these and meet them to build a good rapport with them. It will help you to build a bond with your speakers and reach the appropriate audience.
Speaker Presentation Alignment
Events are primarily about content and less about the discussion. Although this has remained a constant at all events, what has not is the structure and alignment of content presentations. Speakers are the highlight of an event. Their expertise in the topic of discussion, views, and presentation style will be what draws the crowd to your event. As an event planner/organizer, your job is to curate their presentation to benefit both the speaker and the audience. If executed well, you can keep your speakers happy and they more likely to make time for your next event as well, helping you to build a long-term relationship with them.
Speaker invitation process – what should you keep in mind?
When it comes to inviting speakers, various event promoters take different approaches. Some people use speakers associated with well-known companies (this is particularly true of large marketing conferences). Others prioritize storytelling and demand that their speakers be skilled storytellers. Others seek out long and meaty presentations, while few seek quick hits that keep the pace going. Here are three primary steps you must follow while approaching any speaker.
- Selection: Your first step will be to make sure that the speaker is right for your event. However, it is a bit tedious, but different event management software like Speaker Engage can come in handy.
- Invitation: Make your speaker invitation as simple as a standard mail or a phone call confirming the speaker’s availability. A lot rides on the success of the event and inviting the right people is key here. It is hard to verify all facets of the speaker, but there is nothing more intimidating than having the event fail. If you have over ten invitations, consider using the Speaker Engage speaker invite workflow to automate the entire process and get things done easier.
- Acceptance: As soon as the speaker accepts the invitation, send them a thank-you note, along with the event schedule and procedure, so that the speaker is aware of the event process and has enough time to prepare.
Speaker Engagement and Management
Nothing is more thrilling than getting your event in the limelight with a well-known speaker but finding the right speaker for your event, managing their requirements, and then keeping them involved in the event process is an onerous duty. Speaker Engage plays a vital role in reducing these burdens for you. Its various features will be of great help to you. Let us check out how these features are ingenious in speaker engagement and management.
Invitation
The invitation should be as simple as a formal mail or a phone call confirming the speaker’s availability. If the event is significant and more speakers are invited, manually doing it is tricky. You will have to search for the best emailing platform to ease your task in such a case. Well, not anymore. Speaker Engage, an all-in-one online event management software, can be your lifesaver. It helps you save your time in the creation and advance scheduling of your emails and provides you the option of sending a customized bulk message.
Profile Data Collection
Post speaker selection, it’s time to collect all important data about the speaker. With Speaker Engage, you can easily do this task; the tool offers an auto-generated application form, which you can send over to the speaker to fill. This way, the task of creating the form and filling data is off of your shoulder.
Content Management
Speaker Engage functions as a centralized content management tool, allowing you to store all related documents and files in one place. You can also request and save materials such as speaker profiles, abstracts, and presentations to each speaker and session profile. In addition, you can use the Resource Tracker to store resources such as contracts, analysis papers, and flyers so that all team members have access to them.
Speaker Readiness
With Speaker Engage software, you can provide speakers with all of the information they need to prepare for their content presentation. If you use this event management tool, you won’t have to worry about sending information individually because the software provides you with features like Bulk Notify, making sharing details more manageable.
Communication and Promotion
The Speaker Engage is helpful as an email marketing tool. It allows you to create email templates, which can then be used to fill out email forms. You can send emails individually or in bulk and can also schedule them in advance. The tool also assists you in creating personalized social media templates, which is critical for your event to reach your audience through different channels and aids you in acquiring more attendees.
Summing-up
Regardless of the type of event, almost every potential event will be held online, with speakers coming from everywhere globally. As a result, a powerful management tool would be your best bet to keep things sailing smoothly.
A futuristic tool that also serves to build communities. It engages both the speakers and the audience because engagement is a two-way street, ensuring a positive experience for all attending your event.
Speaker Engage is a suitable partner for all these tasks. It is not just an event listing platform but has multiple functionalities like speaker management, sponsor management, content management, and more. Underneath the creativity lies the future of innovation, and Speaker Engage is well ahead of its time.
Try a 30-day free trial package of Speaker Engage to feel the actual change of hosting and organizing a virtual event.
