Hiring the right keynote speaker for your corporate event or conference isn’t getting any easier. There seems to be more speakers than ever, on just about any topic. If you Google the term “keynote speaker,” there are over 19.2 million results. So what are some tips that will help you find the best possible speakers for your events? I asked a few of my colleagues at Speakers’ Spotlight who are dedicated to helping our clients do just this. Each of…
Author: Martin Perelmuter
Martin is an unapologetic idealist. He’s passionate about people and ideas, and after 20 years in the speaking industry believes more than ever that a great speech can provide the impetus for action and be a catalyst for change. Prior to co-founding Speakers’ Spotlight, Martin was a corporate lawyer at a prestigious international law firm. While he realized early on in his career that he needed to do something more entrepreneurial, he learned some incredibly valuable best practices that have shaped his approach to client service and business management. Martin’s views on the speaking industry have been reported in various television and print media, and have been published in over 60 countries. He’s been a guest lecturer at several colleges and universities, and was a keynote speaker at the Public Words Speaker Forum at The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School in Cambridge. Martin is a graduate of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Western Ontario, and the Faculty of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He lives in Toronto with his wife and business partner Farah, and their children Jade and Cole. He is an avid reader and music lover.
Articles by Martin Perelmuter
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The three essential elements that make for a great speech
Over the past 17 years, I’ve probably seen well over a thousand speakers and speeches. Some were good, some bad, some memorable, and some unforgettable. Though I sometimes joke that I’ve seen more speakers that anyone should be humanly subjected to in their lifetime, I actually consider myself lucky, as these experiences have provided me with a continuing education and perspective that most people don’t have access to.
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Beyond boundaries: Speaking across cultural differences
Recently I was listening to a presentation made by a Canadian speaker at a conference in California. The audience was entirely American, and after being introduced as a Canadian, the speaker said, “There is one very big difference between speaking to a Canadian audience and speaking to an American audience.” He then began the substantive part of his speech. Almost immediately, he was interrupted by an audience member who abruptly yelled out, “Hey! What’s the difference?” The speaker responded, “That’s the difference!”
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Why event planners should ‘start with why’
The concept is simply this – it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it. Citing examples ranging from Apple and Harley Davidson to Martin Luther King, Simon convincingly argues that the one thing these and other successful organizations and leaders have in common is that they answer the why questions before the who, what, when, where and how questions. This basic distinction permeates everything they do. For their companies and organizations, this can be seen in everything from their corporate culture to their marketing, and their overall strategic direction, vision and purpose.
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How the role of speakers’ bureaus and agencies has changed for meeting professional
When we started Speakers’ Spotlight in 1995, the world was a much different place. The Internet was in its infancy, nobody I knew had an e-mail address, and “social media” were two words rarely used in the same sentence. The role of speakers’ bureaus and agencies was very much that of a gatekeeper. They had rolodexes with speakers’ telephone numbers, and if a meeting professional or conference organizer wanted to book a particular speaker, unless they happened to know them personally, they pretty much had to go through an agency.
