Article - How To Get the Best Health Speaker for your Conference/Special Event:

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5 Steps to Getting the BEST Health Speaker for Your Event

By Mark Bunn - Professional Health Speaker – http://www.aussieguestspeaker.com.au

Are you planning a conference, business function or some other event requiring a health speaker
and don’t know where to start?

Want a standout health speaker who will knock everyone’s socks off?

Like to know how to get quality health speaker even though you don’t have a big budget?

Step 1.       Know EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT

The clearer you are about what you want, the quicker you can find the right speaker.

Answer these questions first of all.

1) What is the exact topic/content we want covered - staff engagement, sales, motivation?

2) What style of speaker do we want? A talk high in take-home information, high in inspiration, high in entertainment…or a combination of each?

3) Are we happy with a ‘one-off talk’? This is an important one. While most groups go for a ‘one-off’ talk, results show that getting a health speaker who provides some form of ‘ongoing support/follow-up program’ – even if it’s just regular email reminders, will get you much better value for money/long-term results.

* Tip: If you are not sure what you want, try asking a Professional health speaker you are NOT going to book (so they are unbiased), or a health speaker’s Bureau(if your budget is over $3,000), to help give to some ideas.

Step 2.       Decide on Your Preferred PRESENTER TYPE

Do you want an expert, an entertainer or a celebrity? If you want ‘high interest’, or to get people ‘in the door’, go for the entertainer or celebrity. If you want practical take-home value, go for the expert – you will get twice the information for half the cost.

Regardless of health speaker type, choosing a health speaker who is at least reasonably engaging/entertaining/humorous, is good, as it will maximise your audience’s interest & thus learning/compliance.

Step 3.       Determine your BUDGET – Before You Start Looking!

Knowing your budget (at least approximately) is critical, as it will save you loads of time & hassle looking in all the wrong places. Don’t worry, there are plenty of health speakers for all budgets and I’ll tell you the best places to find good health speakers for each budget.

For now determine your ‘ballpark’ budget (ask the final decision-maker if you need to).

i)                    Under $3000

ii)                  $3,000 - $5000

iii)                $5,000 - $10,000+

* When budgeting, factor in whether the health speaker will simply do a ‘one-off’ talk – never to be seen again - or provide some sort of follow-up/ongoing assistance.

Step 4.       Go For A PROFESSIONAL, EXPERIENCED speaker

It sounds obvious, but like any profession, you have professionals you can bank on and others who can wreck your whole event. Use the following checklist to ensure your health speaker is a professional you can have ‘peace of mind’ with.

i)                    Quickly check how long a health speaker has been speaking. Nothing beats experience.

ii)                  Are they accredited? Accreditation is not common in Australia, so certainly don’t discount a health speaker who isn’t accredited. If they are though, see it as a big mark of confidence. It usually ensures a high level of both proficiency and professionalism.

iii)                Check that the health speaker has experience presenting to your specific audience.

A great health speaker for groups of 50 year old male bankers are very different may not be suitable for an all female group of 30 year old sales assistants.

iv)                Dig Deeper Than TESTIMONIALS. Checking testimonials is a good general way to see how others have found a speaker. However, everyone’s testimonials sound good, don’t they – otherwise they wouldn’t show them. Have you ever seen a testimonial say, “health speaker X really sucked, they were half sloshed &.”

Try asking the health speaker if you can speak directly to one or two of their previous clients. Just gauging their response will be good feedback. If they hesitate or give excuses, they might be hiding something. If they are happy for you to do so, you probably don’t even need to proceed.

* If you are the event organiser, ask to see testimonials not just from participants, but from previous function/conference organisers. Ideally, you not only want a good health speaker but someone who is accommodating, flexible & can help your overall event.       

Step 5.       Start Contacting

Okay, good work. You know exactly the type of health speaker you are looking for and how much you want to spend. Now let’s show you the best places to go for the health speaker you want.

1.         You want ‘The Best’: Your Budget is $5,000 +

Okay, easy one. Go straight to a speakers Bureau. See ‘Contacts’ below.

At this price, most health speakers get booked through a bureau anyway, so go straight there. You don’t pay anything for the service (they take a fee from the health speaker) and you get the best possible speaker suggestions. As the top health speakers are with all the leading bureaus, there is no promoting their ‘own’ health speaker, so it’s unbiased.

Tips when using Bureau’s:

i)                    Ask to receive some ‘1 sheets’ (bureau talk) on 3, 4 or 5 health speakers, not just 1 or 2. Then ‘you’ can choose, rather than just going on their suggestion.

ii)                  If you have questions/need help with your general event/conference 

                organisation etc, just ask them. They can be a great all-round resource.

2.         You want a Quality health speaker: Your Budget is $3000 - $5000

At this level, health speaker’s bureaus are still a good (low hassle) option, but I think it can work really well to also try contacting some health speakers direct – especially if you want extra value for your money. You see, it’s pretty competitive at this budget range, by contacting some health speakers directly, they are more likely to add in some extras (books, videos, consultations, prizes, some follow-up, free e-zines etc etc) to give you much more pluck for your buck. They may still want you to book them through a bureau (which is fine), but you’ve got yourself some handy extras.

Where Else Do I Find $3,000 - $5,000 health speakers?

Good question. It’s a little tricky, but for this range I would start with Search Engines (more details at bottom). Search for whatever type of health speaker(s) you are after – conference health speaker, keynote health speaker, sales health speaker, female guest health speaker etc.

If a health speaker is listed high on a search engine or advertises, and when you go to their site, it is predominantly a ‘health speaker’ site (i.e. not a consultant or someone who just speaks ‘on the side’), then you can be pretty sure you’re dealing with a ‘professional’ health speaker…and therefore in this fee range (or higher).

Some health speakers list their fees on their site, most don’t. Contact the ones you like the sound of and ask not only what their fees are, but ALSO, what you get for that fee. There is no obligation and never any harm in asking.

The National health speakers Association (NSAA) can also be good. On their site (below), you can look up health speakers under different states & topics. If they have an ASM, APS or CSP accreditation (CSP being the highest), they will be good quality health speakers you can depend on.

3.                  You would like a ‘quality’ health speaker but your Budget is Less than $3,000

* May apply if you are a non-profit, educational or ‘small’ business type group.

Step 1 – Don’t despair!! While, in Australia, professional health speakers generally start at around the $3,000 mark, don’t think you have to go and ask the janitor to speak just yet. Understand that not all health speakers are just about making money. There are some creative ways you can still get a top health speaker.

Step 2: Get some creative strategies.

Strategy 1:

If you are involved with a charity, a community type group, some other ‘good cause’ group or even just a ‘small’ budget corporate group, I would still approach the top health speakers. i.e. as a special request. Obviously, if the health speaker feels it is a worthy cause, or you can offer some other incentive (see below), some will do it to help out.

We personally have a set program, where we offer a Reduced Fee Talk for ‘special groups’ once a month. It can be great, because it’s often your type of groups that are the most rewarding to work with (& appreciative), and I know other professional health speakers that feel the same way. So again, just ask (put your case), if they say no, you’ve lost nothing.

Strategy 2 – Give Alternative Incentives:

This is where you want to target the health speakers that are good (their set fee is $3000+), but are not yet fully booked or booked regularly with bureaus.

* Unless you genuinely have a restricted/low budget, it’s better not to ask for a reduced fee, as it’s not fair (unless you are a ‘special case’), for health speakers to give a talk at one price for one group and another price for another.

If you are genuine though, you basically find the speaker(s) you most like (from Search engines, checking out their website etc) and offer them alternative incentives.

As these health speakers are in the process of ‘building their businesses, offer them things that can help that and you’ll get a much better response.

Suggestions can include, offering to

1) Write them a (good) testimonial (if you genuinely like/value their talk).

2) Refer them on to others group you know - particularly larger/corporate groups you have contacts with etc.

3) Let them sell their products if they have them – books, tapes, coaching sessions etc.

4) Guarantee ‘multiple talks’ – i.e. with other divisions of your group, or book a talk every 3 months for a year etc. This way although the fee per talk is less, they benefit from guaranteed future talks.

5) Have their talk ‘professionally videotaped’ or have professional photos taken.

* This one can work really well. For professional health speakers, having quality photos / a video of them presenting is ‘promotional gold’. However, many just don’t seem to get around to it, don’t have time etc.

By offering to do it for them, (it will only cost you a few hundred dollars and a bit of organisation time), and you could get a top health speaker for peanuts.

* Note: I would advise NOT contacting bureaus at this level. There are in business to promote their paid health speakers. It’s not really fair on them (or up to them) to consider special rate talks. It’s best to approach speakers directly at this level.

* JUST NEW (April 2006):

There is a new site which long-time Australian Industry Speaking leaders, Susie Christie and Ian Harvey have just been launched for speakers Under $2000.

It’s at http://www.almostfamous.com.au

This is the only service I know of exclusively for speakers at this price. Check it out.

Contacts / Where to Look

health speakers Bureaus:

I won’t recommend individual bureaus. All are good and work much the same.

i)              Look in Yellow Pages under ‘speakers’.

ii)            Search for ‘health speakers Bureaus’ in search engines.

* Most bureau websites are good places to visit as you can see a range of health speakers in the topic you are after. Some even give a fee range for each health speaker, allowing you to compare who you like with what fits your budget.

Search Engines:

Good for contacting individual health speakers. Be as ‘specific’ as possible.

E.g. ‘motivational’ keynote health speaker not just keynote health speaker, ‘brisbane’ sales health speaker, ‘female’ keynote health speaker if you want a female etc.

Professional Speaking Associations:

National health speaker’s Association:

This gives a good list of professional health speakers, topic by topic. Also lists an

Accreditation level – ASM, APS, CSP – so you can see how

experienced a certain health speaker is. See http://www.nationalspeakers.asn.au

Last Straw – You Still Can’t Find Someone Suitable?

If you’re still unable to find a suitable health speaker, I am happy for you to contact me. Simply let me know what type of health speaker you are after, budget etc and if I can, I will be happy to give you some suggestions/recommendations based on health speakers I know / have seen etc.

If easier, send details via http://www.australiahealth speakers.com.au

Good luck. I hope your event is a spectacular success.

Mark Bunn

_______________________________________________________________

* For any questions or health speaker recommendations etc, feel free to contact Mark anytime.

Ph: Australia: 1300 55 80 32

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