What Should Your Event's Keynote Speaker Focus On This Year?

Hiring a keynote speaker for your event is a great way to make it memorable. What should your keynote speaker talk about at the event though? Many event planners struggle with this question. You must ensure that the keynote speaker presents a topic that is engaging and interesting to your audience. Here are ways to help the speaker choose topics relevant to your organization. 

Start a Dialogue

An experienced speaker will ask questions about your organization to get familiar with your organizational goals. They may collect some historical information about your organization. You can move the process along by preparing bullet points that are relatable to your audience for the speaker. Make suggestions for topics. Collaborate with your keynote speaker to help them create a compelling presentation. 

Get a Feel about What Other Organizations are Doing

According to the AAE, event organizers listed equity, inclusion, and diversity as their talking points they would like a speaker to address (58.1%), motivation and leadership (57%), mental health matters (47%), and what the future of work looks like (32.8%). You can borrow from these ideas and ask the keynote speaker to prepare something for one of these topics to present. 

Ultimately, what topic you choose or collaboratively choose with the speaker depends on what is most relevant this year for your organization. Are there plans for inclusion or diversity? Is HR reporting that more people are burnt out and struggling with mental health? Are there going to be big changes in the industry that will change future work? Considering these questions can help focus on active, relevant topics to your associates. 

Talk About Past Speakers

You should discuss past speakers your organization has had as well. You can go over the points you were happy with and the ones that could have been more enjoyable for the audience. For example, the speaker had a compelling message, but they were not animated enough to deliver it. The message may have been wrong for your organization. The message may have been too specific and was alienating to certain groups. In any case, it's important to talk about past presentations.

If there are any organizational “taboo” topics, you should let the speaker know. A good keynote speaker will take into account your organization's culture. Hire a speaker committed to delivering compelling information on a topic relevant to your group.