The Four Types of Speakers and Why Event Organizers Hire Them

Increase Your Chance of Winning Gigs by Understanding the 4 Types of Speakers

How do event planners choose their keynote speakers?

It’s a fair question… especially when you consider how it affects your speaking career.

Are they looking for specific types of content… a certain type of performance… or is it your fame and notoriety that actually punches your ticket?  When you can better understand what influences the hiring decision, you’ll be in a stronger position to win more gigs.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the mindset of a very important person… your meeting planner.

A Chat With Carol, the Meeting Planner

Years ago, when Michael Port and I were writing our book The Referable Speaker, we decided to contact event organizer Carol Walden.

“When I program an event, I’m really looking for three anchor speakers.  Speakers I can build the entire event around,” she told us.  “I need one at the beginning, one at the end, and one somewhere in the middle.” 

As the former senior vice president of event content and design at Winsight's Media & Events division, Carol has been producing events for more than two decades. She works on the largest of the company’s fifty events each year, with sizes ranging from 60 to 65,000 attendees.

Over her career, Carol’s booked more than a thousand speakers to headline the most influential conferences around the world.

All that to say… she knows what she’s talking about!

And, for Carol, there are four main types of speakers event organizers seek out.  Michael and I have taken her starting four and teased out some nuance into when and how these types of speakers win the keynotes.