What makes a keynote speaker good

Posted: 8/18/2010
Author: Michael Benattar
keynote speaker - professional speakers - pen tablet

What is the first thing conference attendees do what they look at the program of the events? Without going into details who is presenting what in the regular sessions, they go straight into keynotes and start building expectations. Like it or lump it, the atmosphere of the event you are organizing, be in to business, academia or your community, is largely determined by who the special guests and main speakers are. With their long, global presentations and their big names, they generate quite a sense of anticipation and set the tone for the whole thing. Booking your keynotes wrong can result in much harm, while booking them right can lift an even otherwise mediocre event up. Here is what to look for in a candidate.


Unfortunately, just being recognizable is no guarantee for being a great talker. Hiring a household name works perfectly fine as long as they are known having enough ideas to share. A good keynote speech is all about sharing ideas, talking about concepts, getting notions across. People expect to walk away from a lecture hall with a sense of knowing more than when they came in and being able to apply their new knowledge.


Talking about ideas requires great communication skills, especially the ability to deconstruct complex notions into chunks digestible by a group of listeners who can differ in background or experience. Sometimes, it is wrongly equated with having to dumb the message down to meet everybody's needs, but the fact is that it is more communicative as well as intellectual refinement that are in order.


The audience is usually very well motivated during keynotes and have a big benefit of a doubt to give out to the speaker, but whoever runs the show has to know how to attract and direct the attention of listeners wherever he or she wants it to go. Preferably, this should be done by creative, peaceful means rather than by dipping into school-like methods. If somebody cannot keep people focused and interested for an hour, while delivering a presentation, they are no good candidate for a keynote speaker.


There is more in a keynote than information. Other presentations may be expected to deliver insights on single projects, specific research, one product or any other fragmentary knowledge, but the role of the keynote speech is to take a global, many-sided, complete view of things that is both well-documented with detail and all-embracing. If it is on a pen tablet or some other gadget, it has to look beyond the specifics into a large-picture analysis, which can give people some broad guidance.


Conferences and seminars are typically quite serious events and a presentation is not expected to be very funny. It can be, but standards of professionalism force people to keep it to a reasonable minimum. It is different with the keynote speech, which – on top of being informative and inspirations – is usually hoped to be entertaining, delivered in outstanding style, for extraordinary effect. In other words, it takes a bit of a showman in a speaker to please the audience.



Latest News See All

How To Tell if You Have Whiplash

2/18/2016 - by Marcin Ladowski


Whiplash is a catch­-all term for the types of stress injuries that are caused when your neck is rapidly swung forward and back by sudden deceleration.


Keeping Medical Marketing Ethical

2/17/2016 - by Marcin Ladowski

 

Marketing for clients that offer medical products or services is a balancing act for marketers, since we're not health professionals, but are still expected to fluently write about these topics. 


Powerful, yet easy to use CMS

cms
9/1/2014 - by Marcin Ladowski

Miami Web Design gives you the tools to update and maintain your own website effortlessly.


Ecommerce, Is it for you?

mercader
8/25/2014 - by Marcin Ladowski

Customers who shop online love the convenience it offers.


The Importance of Mobile Technology

mobile
7/16/2014 - by Marcin Ladowski

Mobile technology has skyrocketed. Has your business realized the potential of this amazing new technology?


Digital Marketing for 2014

4/7/2014 - by Marcin Ladowski

2014 is here and we are excited to reveal what we have in store for you in terms of Digital Marketing.


New Advances in SEO

seo
3/29/2014 - by Dawid Ladowski

SEO never seems to stand still. Google is constantly updating its algorithm.


Online stores are helping business

Online Stores
3/15/2014 - by Marcin Ladowski

We have far left behind the days when buying something meant going to the store.