choosing motivational speaker goals

Choosing a Motivational Speaker: Goals, Schedule, Audience

For anyone who has experienced a great motivational speaker in a business setting before, you know how impactful this experience can be. A great keynote speaker can inspire the audience while also providing storytelling and education, plus knows how to make their speech memorable for everyone who attended.

At Gostick and Elton, we’re proud to house two of the top motivational speakers in the business world: Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, both of whom have decades of experience providing motivational speaking for businesses, at conferences and in numerous related settings. They can build custom presentations based on your needs, plus in ways that will help your audience learn and grow.

Whether you’re choosing between our specialists or looking for different motivational speaking needs, what are some important qualities you should be prioritizing in your speaker? This two-part blog series will go over several.

Clear Speaker Goals

As the company or individual hiring a motivational speaker, you want to have clear, straightforward goals you wish to accomplish. Do you want the speaker to inspire your audience members? Take people on a journey of discovery through their bodies and minds? Or is it simply an educational session tailored to your employees, with the goal of inspiring them in various ways? Different speakers will have different primary value in these areas.

Logistics and Schedule

Like any need you’re hiring out for, it’s vital to keep basic logistics and scheduling in mind. If you’re planning to record your speaker’s speech, it could be wise to hire someone who is willing to commit to being recorded. Plus, if you have certain time constraints during the day, this may also affect your decisions on who will be best for your business or conference setting.

Audience and Desired Outcomes

It also pays to understand the audience your speaker will be working with. What is their age range? Are they more formal, or relaxed? Do you want them to feel some sense of inspiration (or departure) by the end of the keynote speech? Will they need to be armed with new ideas and skills before heading back to work, or are they just looking for entertainment value in their motivational speaker choice?

These are just some of the questions you should ask yourself, which should also relate to specific business goals or benchmarks you’re trying to reach.

Define Success

What will qualify as success? What specific business outcomes do you hope to achieve with your motivational speaker choice? There are different ways this can be phrased, but the most important part is to define what you want to gain from a keynote speaker’s appearance. It could be general words of wisdom and inspiration, a fun experience for an audience or getting people fired up about a new product or service.

For more on choosing the ideal motivational speaker for your business or any other entity, or to learn about our speaking, coaching and additional services, contact us.