10 things your Professional Speaker should do
Hiring a professional speaker can be expensive, however if you do your research beforehand it could prove to be a great investment for your event. Here we look at the attitudes and actions which professional speakers should exhibit.
Guest Speakers - What should you consider before booking one?
One of the most important questions to ask before you book a guest speaker for your event is What message do you want the speaker to convey to your audience?
Top 5 Tips for finding the right venue for your event
Finding the right venue for your next event need not be a major headache if you follow our 5 Top Tips ....
It will never happen to me! Event Insurance - do I really need it?
How many people in our industry consider Event Insurance? Specialist insurer Hiscox stated that there was a predictable rise in claims for event insurance earlier this year. Despite this, most events were not insured for bad weather at all. Read on for our Top 10 insurance tips ...
The Disability Discrimination Act - Profiting from compliance
As an Event organiser, you know it is the right thing to do, you know you have to do it and you know it makes commercial sense..
10 Commercial reasons to address DDA (Disability Discrimination Act)
7 Top Tips for finding an accessible venue
10 Essential Budget Planning Tips for your Event
Preparing a definitive budget for an event is a challenging task with so many factors to consider, however with the help of our 10 Essential Budget Planning Tips, we hope that the next budget you prepare will be easier to create and pleases the purse holders!
7 Top Tips for a successful Site Inspection visit
Site inspections, or showrounds, serve only one purpose - to ascertain whether a venue is the most suitable venue for your particular event. Below we identify our 7 Top Tips for a successful Site inspection visit:
6 Top Tips for Hosting a Successful Corporate Golf Day
How to use the "Credit Crunch" to your advantage
How can Red Dragon Events help you benefit from the Credit Crunch? More than ever venues need to retain as much exisiting business as possible whilst continuing to attract new business. There are a number of ways in which this can be used to your advantage:
The Spying Game - How Safe is your conference?
"Eureka" moment at 10.04pm
10.04pm "Eureka" moment may spell the end of the early nights! - 4.33pm is the least creative time of the day; - The shower is found to be the most inspiring space; - Women are better at retaining their creative ideas
Conference Food and its effect on your delegates
Conference food - how does the food you serve effect your delegates?
Referral Incentive Scheme
New - Referral Incentive Scheme! Earn a minimum of £50 Bonus Bond vouchers for every successful referral you provide us over a certain booking value! Plus another £50 worth of bonus bond vouchers to the person you referred us to!
Crash Course in organising a Christmas Party 2008
Christmas parties are often the highlight of the year for many companies. Below we have listed some helpful tips to make sure you have a great time!
Early-Eager or PM Professional
A new report shows tapping into a delegate's natural human rhythms can aid productivity, concentration and retention. The Meeting Minds report by Dr Lawrence Smith, senior lecturer at the Institue of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, applies psychological theory regarding human rhythms, sleep and work scheduling to the meetings industry.
Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement - incorporating new technology
Crash Course in Audio Visual
Using the latest technology can be an important tool in getting the message across at your next event. We have identified below some key points to consider when creating the maximum effect from your AV.
Top Tips for Welcoming Guests to your event
Read our Top Tips for Welcoming Guests to your event!
Top Tips for Hosting a Memorable Corporate Golf Day
Golf is considered one of the most important tools in Corporate Entertaining.
10 Top Tips for Holding Greener Meetings
1. Save Paper. Using new media and electronic technology can cut down your paper use.
One of the most important questions to ask before you book a guest speaker for your event is What message do you want the speaker to convey to your audience? Using a speaker can add value in communicating your key message and get more people to actually take notice. Your message might be influenced by a number of factors, mainly the target audience - their age, experience, position within your organisation, etc. Usually there is a motivational message of sorts to be delivered, but choosing who best to deliver it is another matter altogether. Once you have identified your message, you then have to try and find the most suitable speaker to deliver the message to your audience. This itself can be a very difficult task, so where do you start?
First of all, talk to colleagues and people you trust to see if they can recommend somebody from personal experience. You could also contact two or three specialist speaker bureaus and discuss with them your requirements. Broadly speaking there are three types of speaker:
The Entertaining speaker - typically they will be motivational, amusing and make the audience feel good. The Celebrity speaker - somebody with a recognisable name for something which they have achieved in their life. Entertaining and Celebrity speakers can often be seen at award dinners, charity days, hospitality functions - where people have specifically paid to attend the event and hear them speak about their experiences. The Specialist speaker - this is somebody who has actual useful information to share with the audience. They will have specialist knowledge or experience that people can learn from and will make them more interesting to the audience. Specialist speakers tend to speak at business or industry events to a more targeted audience. Some speakers fall into two of the above categories as they are able to adapt to clients needs.
Once you have identified some potential speakers there are some additional important questions to ask before making your decision: What specific experience do they have working within your sector and being able to deliver your message? How prepared is the speaker to customise their presentation to meet your requirements? How interactive and entertaining is the message? What is their fee and what does this actually include? Finally, don't forget to check if they are available on the date you require! If you are looking for a speaker to present at your next event, we have worked with a number of very successful business entrepreneurs and gurus, professional speakers specialising in marketing, online business strategies, dealing with the media, negotiation techniques, networking, presentation techniques, customer service and many more topics, plus we have connections with the speaker bureaus themselves. Follow some of these simple guidelines and booking a guest speaker could be the best investment you make for your event!
