When is the right time to consider a speakers bureau? Any of the circumstances below can make this an advantageous arrangement for event/meeting planners and organizers: 

• You lack the time or staff resources to source professional speakers and don’t want to be interrupted by dozens of follow-ups from these speakers for months.
• You’ve been asked for a niche topic where you don’t know experts.
• You know AI isn’t the only answer:
  • AI can’t:
    -Negotiate the nuances of your engagement as skillfully as an experienced human agent/broker: price negotiations, how to deal with your senior execs – particularly demanding/difficult ones, the nature of your audience’s sensitivities.
    -Go beyond the speaker’s published materials/web citations to determine a quality fit.
    -Smooth out a potential conflict over contract terms, onsite role, other unexpected crises or requests based on strong relationships with talent and/or client, real-life experience. What if your speaker gets sick or injured right before your event? What if their flight is cancelled?
    -Show up in-person to a sensitive or high visibility engagement to support it and meet you.
    -Find emerging talent before they are discovered by many other entities.
    -Identify a large portion of talent that falls under the radar of AI searches.
    -Provide ancillary time-saving services like issuing 1099 tax forms to speakers annually.
    -Keep your correspondence and key details truly confidential – every day more comes out how all this content goes into AI training models and who knows what other databases.
    
    Most Importantly:
    -Care about the outcome of a booking and building/maintaining a long-term relationship with your organization. And be held accountable.
• Your internal speakers aren’t well known or good enough presenters to draw attendees and sponsors.
• You need to build engagement whether you have guest keynoters or just internal/industry speakers: Graphic Recorders, Visual Storytellers and Visual Note-Takers
• You have a complex event or booking needs where a trusted advisor can help.
• Your featured speaker dropped out on short notice.
• You value virtual event experience.
• The nature of your event or content needs changed on short notice.
• Your event runs outside the US and needs local, multilingual or culturally sensitive presenters.
• You need a third-party to objectively evaluate speaker sales pitches to your management.
• You need emerging stars or more diverse presenters.
• You want to know what’s working for other event organizers in your industry.
• You’re unsure how to approach celebrity talent and whether they are worth the investment and extra effort.
• You’re a smaller organization that needs to leverage the buying power of a bureau.
• Your non-professional speakers have below-average presentation skills and you’re concerned that will hurt your event: How to Elevate the Presentation Skills of Your Non-Professional Speakers
• Find Bureaus you like and stay with them. By building relationships instead of placing orders, you give the Bureaus incentive to constantly be working for you throughout the year.
• You want to negotiate the best overall booking terms possible – not just price, but customization, value-added services, non-speaking onsite roles, etc. 
• You’re considering an ex-politician/pundit, sports figure, “influencer”, media professional, actor/actress whose public views and/or conduct may be a reputational risk for your organization and event. 

Watch this video: