5 Tips for Designing a Comprehensive Speaker Program in Support of Your Marketing Efforts

Designing a comprehensive speaker program in the EdTech industry can set you apart. It can help you to not only establish your company as a thought leader in the space, but also elevate your relationships and the value you provide to your current customer base.

In this article, I will share five tips for designing a comprehensive speaker program to support your sales and marketing channel in the EdTech industry.

Tip #1: Create a speaker bank/database

Developing a list that includes industry thought leaders, customers, and internal experts is the first step. It may sound simple, but I have found that many companies tend to rely on the same handful of experts to deliver content. It can be challenging to diversify the speakers you rely on, and it can be even more difficult to establish relationships with industry thought leaders as you are ramping up your programming.

The format does not need to be fancy – excel works great – but it should include some key data points, such as areas of expertise or speaking topics, prior engagements and associated engagement dates, and any other helpful notes about coordination or speaker preferences. This is not a one-and-done exercise, but rather it requires care and feeding regularly. It is a cross-functional collaborative effort to both identify folks to add to the database and then establish relationships so that when the right engagement comes along you are well-equipped to reach out to those on the list

Tip #2: Set goals for your content

When identifying speaking opportunities or engagements, you should always set goals for what you are trying to accomplish. It’s easy to say, “Let’s host a webinar. Who can we ask to speak?” but if you don’t set clear goals, you might end up working backward based on the speaker’s preferences, area of expertise, or other limitations based on who is selected.

If you start with why, you can then look to your database to identify someone or multiple people within your network who are aligned with what you’re trying to accomplish. If your presentation is part of a larger event or agenda, be sure you do this for the event as a whole, and then be clear about how each session ties into the overarching event experience you are trying to create for your customers/prospects.

Tip #3: Outline your process

To ensure you are tracking to meet your goals, it is important to have a process for working with presenters from kickoff to the day of the event (or even post-event). That begins with being clear about who is responsible for meeting expectations for the educational outcomes of the session. In my opinion, this should not be left to each presenter. That’s a lot of responsibility, and they already are shouldering the load of creating content that is on point. I recommend you establish a project leader to own the process and help provide guardrails and feedback during the process. In my experience, this could be a product marketing leader, a content marketing leader, an event leader, or a sales training/enablement expert – depending on the content – but ultimately, this person should be responsible for the overall attendee experience so they have that perspective in mind when they are managing the process.

This person should be clear about expectations for the presenter(s) so there are no surprises along the way.

Tip #4: Check in with your speakers along the way

The best speaker programs have milestones to check in with speakers along the way. While these milestones might differ depending on the presentation or business needs, I recommend three major milestones: 1.) kickoff conversation, 2.) outline/rough drafts and 3.) dress rehearsals.

1. Kickoff conversation: During the kickoff conversation, your project leader should be clear about what the goal for the presentation is – for the customer’s experience – and should provide any helpful context about the full agenda or related sessions. Additionally, this is an opportunity to give perspective or feedback on the logistics or format of the presentation. For example, what is the session length, what audio-visual supports will be available, and consideration for session format and/or room set up to support the best learning experience.

2. Outline/Rough drafts: During this check-in, your project leader should review an outline of the session agenda and content with the presenter. The main focus during this check-in is to ensure the content supports the overall goals set during the kickoff conversation. Additionally, you can check in on presentation logistics and any pre-work or supporting materials that may be necessary to support the learnings in the session. The project leader can also share how related sessions, if applicable, may be tied in to their session. This is helpful, because they can connect the dots for attendees, which ultimately enhances their experience and overall comprehension.

3. Dress rehearsals: Dress rehearsals are exactly what they sound like. This should be an opportunity to present the content as you would on game day. This allows the project leader to review session timing and work through any support the presenter would like on game day (timing requests, presenter arrival time, clicker needs, etc.)

Tip #5: Expect the unexpected

Life happens. Deadlines are important to the success of live events, but when you are working with speakers you must understand that priorities are continually shifting and there are some things you cannot plan for. If possible, consider adopting contingency plans so you are not flat on your feet if something unexpected happens. For example, are there other internal experts who may be able to deliver the presentation in case of an emergency? And how might you work with them to prepare them accordingly if needed? This tip may sound unneeded; however, you will thank yourself when the time comes that you need to act on these contingency plans.

Take your speaker program and thought leadership to the next level by implementing these tips for a comprehensive speaker program. Do you have any other tips you would share?

#speakers #presentations #marketingstrategy #eventstrategy #contentmarketing