Whats in a "Name" when booking a keynote speaker for an event

Sometimes it helps and sometimes it hurts, depending on the keynote speakers "name." I am not talking about the difference of easy to spell names, or hard to pronounce names. When it comes to a "name" I am not even talking about common names versus unique names being a difference maker. I am talking about famous & well known names versus unknown names. Sometimes being a "name" can make all the difference in the world for your event because you need the speaker to be able to help sell tickets and get more people in the seats for an event. It could also be a credibility issue for an event as a reason for the need for a "name." Having a famous or well known name will potentially do both of those things for you. The positives of booking a "name" are the obvious things mentioned above, but what are the potential risks or issues with booking a "name?" Here is a quick list of the some concerns to check out before booking a famous keynote speaker. 1. The most obvious drawback you will find in booking a "name" will be the premium in budget you will face. The pure fact that "YOU" have heard of them means everyone else has as well and they are in demand. A speakers fee can jump 5-10 times if lets say a major motion picture is made about their lives. Many of the people whose lives are captured in movies were speaking prior to their movie release, but saw a major jump in their fees with a major decrease in availability. 2. Along with the usual fees, you can also expect travel expenses covered to be much higher. Most famous people will not typically just fly coach unrestricted. You can plan on booking first class seats or even private jets. 3. Communication could also potentially be more of a challenge as celebrity speakers will not as readily be willing to do a conference call to go over material as others. You may have to be ready to book a celebrity speaker without talking with them prior. 4. Not all celebrity speakers are created equal. Some famous speakers are asked to speak based on their celebrity status or personal accomplishments. They may have a compelling story, but not all of them are trained public speakers. Some celebrity speakers will only be able to give you a 20 minute canned presentation and take Q&A. Some famous speakers, of course, are fabulous, and one of our jobs is to help you get what you are looking for in a keynote speaker.   These are just some of the issues to be aware of when you get into the planning process and want a "name." Famous celebrity speakers can absolutely do things that others without a "name" can not. If you must pre-sell tickets to an event and get registration up then sometimes a name is MANDATORY. People will not show up to see somebody they do not recognize unless they already were planning to attend the event. But on that same line of thought keep in mind that some speakers that do not have a "name" yet do provide some unique challenges and benefits which I will talk about in part two.

How can you REMEMBER THAT!

Today we heard from Memory Champ Bob Gray! Who knew remembering things would get you in the GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS. Bob is a keynote speaker with Five Star Speakers & Trainers who came out to speak for our monthly networking event. On the surface a memory topic might seem at best a nice thing to have or worst a nice parlor trick. In reality memory and being able to remember names/faces is an important function of business. The more you can remember the more you can connect and we do not always have our CRM's attached with us 24/7.

Bob taught some simple methods that anybody can implement to help improve memory. We may not all turn out to be world champions of memory but maybe to be able to recall the name of an acquaintance would be helpful.

Fringe Benefits & Perks of the Job

Many jobs come with "fringe benefits" such as health insurance, 401k, and paid time off. Other jobs have "extras" like access to health clubs, flexible spending accounts, or similar things. Then there is what I like to call "industry specialty benefits" such as free movies if you work at a theatre or chocolate if you work at Hershey's. While working in the speaking industry I have found that the industry has its own "industry special benefits. The one fringe benefit I have found to be most interesting is the opportunity to talk with, meet, and work with a variety of interesting athletes, celebrities, authors, and other all-around incredible people. Most recently I had two great experiences simply because of working in this industry. The first experience I had was when I was able to go to a major league baseball game and watch the game in a suite with entertaining corporate comic and author Jeff Havens. We had an event scheduled to take place during the day at the ball park and they offered us tickets to the game after the event. It was fun learning more about Jeff and how he came into the industry and it's always fun to watch a baseball game with a natural comedian! The second great experience I had came only three days later, and was with Bill Rancic, who won season one of "Apprentice" with Donald Trump and now has a reality show called Giuliana & Bill on the E! channel. He took our entire office out to NARA Sushi for the evening. It was a lot of fun getting personal encouragement from Bill and to hear stories that would not be shared except on a first hand basis. Mr. Rancic told us a unique story of how he helped three children in Haiti during a time of crisis, which showed he is much more then a businessman - he is also a humanitarian! Being associated with people like the ones mentioned above and getting access to special events are some of my personal favorite "persk" of being in the professional speaking industry. We are able to partner with people that very few people have access to and many wish they did. I cannot wait to see who I will meet in the near future and what stories I will hear next!