It is best to book speakers who you can see on either, YouTube or another video channel.
In addition when choosing a professional speaker you should see him/her in action before you decide on booking them for an event. It’s your own personal responsibility for the success of your event, function, or conference.
By watching a video this will allow you to not only evaluate the competence and possible impact of a speaker upon your audience but will also enable judgment as to the suitability of the speaker to the event.
Many speakers, even those of poor quality, feature a show reel on their own website. Therefore you can quickly exclude speakers that are not up to standard.
Example is the audience engaged? If they are out of shot, it could therefore be staged?
All professional speakers will have many performances at live events and should have no reason to have “can laughter”.
Also study what are the normal subject areas that are being addressed in the video by the speaker? Their videos should give a good indication of their ability.
Don’t expect them to move away too much from their areas of expertise.
In addition it’s best not to book celebrities for business events. Many celebrity speeches go down like lead balloons at business conferences and events. Many will turn up to the event under the influence of alcohol; due to being nervous or enjoying hospitality, or just part of a wider problem.
The consumption of drinking alcohol can affect the speakers’ performance and the audience enjoyment.
Some celebrity speakers are noticeably good; a lot of them are not. By hiring a celebrity speaker you may be paying through the roof; that is just ridiculous for the initial excitement of the audience as their name is announced before the typically crashing disappointment that follows when they begin to speak.
It is best to employ a professional speaker with a proven track record.