As a business owner you may have the charge to hire a guest speaker for your employees. Having a guest come in to talk to your employees can be a great way to motivate, educate, and entertain. However, before you hire someone you need to make sure that you are asking the right questions to ensure that this speaker is the right choice for your function. Here are some things you need to consider.
1. Will The Speaker Meet The Audience's Needs?
Before you even start looking for a speaker you need to determine what your needs are for the function. Are you hosting this function to entertain your employees and have a good time? Are you trying to educate them on an important principle that you have been struggling with in the workplace? Are you trying to motivate them to be better employees and people? A good speaker is able to do multiple things. They can educate on a principle while entertaining the audience and motivating them to be better. However, you must be sure that the speaker is prepared to give you the result you want, so you need to decide what is most important to you, because that will determine who you hire.
2. Is The Speaker Clean and Appropriate?
If you are hiring a speaker for the workplace, the language that the speaker uses should be appropriate and clean. If you have a comedian come in for a company party, make sure they know what kind of topics and language are off limits. If they act out, you could have a potential problem on your hands with sexual harassment lawsuits, offended employees, and an overall bad experience for all.
3. Does The Speaker Have Verifiable References?
Next, before you hire any speaker, make sure that they have references that are verifiable. You should be able to call past audience members, companies and other people who can verify that the presentation is good and what you want. If they don't have references, it would be better to wait until they are tried and true before hiring them.
4. Does The Speaker Have a Program They Can Share With You Before Hand?
Lastly, make sure that the speaker has some sort of outline or program they can give you before hand. This will allow you to make any changes needed and to add stuff in that your audience may need.
By asking these questions you can be confident that you are choosing the right speaker for your function.
