Pulling staff from their duties at any time is a tough call, much less in a challenging economy as we have today.However, many executives are finding it an important tool in building strong workplace communication.  They are providing a brief intermission from the hectic day to day for their employees by providing speech presentations on a wide array of topics related and unrelated to their job.

 

Many speakers are available to provide presentations that will inspire and encourage your employees to commit to strong communication in the workplace.  It is not critical to find a speaker that will talk directly about your line of work.  Many speakers speak on subjects that can enhance your function.Employees can grow creatively and sales will be positively affected upon hearing new ideas that can be applied to their everyday jobs. 

 

Here is a checklist of things to discuss with a potential speaker:

 

1.Nuts and Bolts. 

 

Communicate the exact date, time, and location up front when talking with potential speakers.Equally important is the length of the presentation they will be giving.  This may all sound simplistic, but so often a manager gets well into the planning only to find out that the speaker is not available when needed, or can’t stay as long as required. 

 

  It will also help if you can give the speaker an estimate of attendees and details about the group they will be talking to.  This will help them to target their presentation to the audience and give them a better and more meaningful experience. 

 

2.Event Promotion.

 

Ask the speaker for a summary of their presentation in advance so that you can start building excitement among your employees.Flyers, enticing emails describing the event and other promotion all works well.  Make it fun to attend by offering snacks. In any event, make sure your staff sees the event as a bonus for them rather than something they have to attend. 

 

3.         Compensation. 

 

If you have a budget available to pay a speaker you will be working with a larger selection.Most will charge a different rate for local or non-local gigs.If out of their area, many may request travel compensation as well, and if you want an extra long presentation they may charge more. 

 

Don’t worry if cost is a factor.  Speaking rates vary greatly and are typically negotiable if you are able to provide other forms of compensation.For most, their ultimate objective lies in potential sales of the speaker’s services and products rather than to earn a speaking fee. 

 

Two typical forms of payment on a low budget are promoting the speaker’s products to the audience, or, even better, buying a copy of their book or product for each attendee. 

 

 

There are other ways to compensate a speaker on a low budget.  Open the event up to others in your industry or building to make a larger group.If you can provide name and contact information for the speaker they are often happy to use that information for future promotion of their own.Many speakers are grateful to receive a great testimonial and entre to similar groups that you know through your personal referral. 

 

It takes some effort and time to set up a speaker session your employees will enjoy and get value from, but it is a great way to build positive energy and increase commitment among your staff.It is all important to always stress the benefit of the experience on the employee, and that you as their manager are committed to their growth as a person.The effect on the company’s profitability will be your reward.     

 

Marty Dickinson moved beyond his techno-fear of the Internet more than 14 years ago and has since launched more than 100 of his own websites while helping more than 300 clients to use the Internet to grow their businesses. Internet Marketing Speaker, business owner, and co-author of “Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies” (Wiley 2009), he enjoys inspiring other techno-phobic business owners, authors and speakers to move beyond their fear of the Internet to embrace its full potential.