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Hi ala,
I've been doing a monthly series for a group of executive women. This week was the 5th session. While I was preparing for the session, I thought back to the first time I was the person selecting the speakers. It was for a sales kickoff event for the large software company I worked for in the 90s.
For years, I had been on the other side of the table, placing executives at conferences and events. But this time I was in the driver's seat.
I started by contacting the speaker bureaus I knew and asking for their recommendations and their catalogs. This was before "The Web" so big packages started arriving in the mail. Each package was filled with glossy magazines and tear sheets on their suggested speakers.
I had my favorites, made my recommendations but in the end the decision was really made by my boss and the CEO. This pattern was repeated for other events, and other speakers, until I stopped calling the speaker bureaus and started compiling my own suggestions. They were interesting people from the industry, with their own ideas, that I thought would be good fits for our events.
They weren’t always polished “professional speakers.” Many were industry insiders with real stories and hard-won lessons. I particularly liked the journalists.
And here’s what I noticed: Those "embedded" folks, the ones who were involved, often sparked conversations that lasted for weeks.
Speaker selection isn’t always about being a big name. It’s about fit. Timing. What the theme is. What happened last year. Sometimes you’re not chosen because you just weren’t right for the moment. Not because you weren’t good.
Bobbie and the entire Innovation Women team
P.S. Bonus points awarded if you know who the picture is without looking him up. Yes, my first speaker was long enough ago that the available pictures are mostly black and white. (Photo credit Jeff McNeill and Wikipedia)
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