Message Speakers
Speakers fall into two broad categories.
In the first category, clients ask for recommendations for a speaker who can deliver a result. Someone who has a certain expertise or who is knowledgeable about a specific subject. Typical examples are “We want someone who can speak on leadership” or “We need an adventurer who can talk about resilience or overcoming adversity”.
Sometimes people ask for a speaker who can get a certain result. This person needs to know something special or be an expert in something. For example, “We want someone who can speak on leadership” or “We need an adventurer who can talk about resilience or overcoming adversity”.
Typically, these enquiries end up at bureaus like Speakers Associates. This is because the bureaus have a lot of different speakers. People can pick the speaker that is best for them based on how much money they have, what their event needs and who the speakers are.
We refer to these speakers as Message speakers, as they convey distinct messages that are frequently influenced by the work of others. Some popular topics include Bill Smith and Motorola’s Six Sigma from the 1980s, as well as Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” and Brene Brown’s “The Power of Vulnerability”.
Messenger Speakers
In the second category, people want a speaker they know for their keynote. They might have read the speaker’s book, seen them in a TED talk, follow them on social media, or heard about them from someone else. They only want that one speaker for their event.
We call these Messenger speakers. They haven’t repackaged other people’s messages. They own the original message.
It is better to be a Messenger speaker than a Message speaker. Being a Messenger speaker pays better. People usually ask for famous people, successful business owners, and experts when looking for speakers.
Second, it is more efficient. When someone wants a speaker for an event, the bureau will give them a few choices. The number of choices may be 3 to 12. If the bureau gives good choices, they have a better chance of winning the job.
As a Message speaker, you will usually only get 1 out of 5-8 enquiries. But if someone asks for you by name, then that enquiry is yours and you can choose to accept or reject it.
