The 5 E's of a Successful Speaker Management Process

On last week's webinar, "How To Build The Ideal Speaker Management Process" , our hosts Leslie Bailey and Andrew Asaro discussed what it takes to overcome the challenges you face when you're tasked with managing speakers, session, and their content for your event.

You can find the full webinar recording below:

To follow up with the webinar, our esteemed host Leslie Bailey wanted to share with you a better understanding of her "5 E's" that guide her speaker management process.

Check out her guiding principles below ⬇️

Time is valuable and of the essence, especially when we’re creating content, researching speakers, managing speakers, and performing duties onsite. When planning and producing events, having an efficient and strong speaker management process in place is a must.

While there are many elements to factor into your design, these 5 are a solid foundation.

1. Expectations

Set expectations early that include items such as time commitment, audience profiles, and event goals. A clear understanding of the full commitment to be made is imperative for not only the speaker, but the planner and organization, equally.

2. Experience

Strive to create a smooth and simple experience for speakers. Feelings of confidence and frustration alike, stick with us. Creating an effortless process for speakers to follow and at the same time leave room for creativity and knowledge sharing is key to an excellent experience.

3. Education

Create time and space for education on the whys” and “how’s” of your speaker management process. If a speaker is aware of the overall process, not just the deliverables and due dates, they’re more likely to take the initiative to participate in all aspects of the process with minimal questions.

4. Engagement

Collaborate with speakers on content and engagement ideas for an impactful session. While a majority of speakers can present with the best of them, they may not have a grasp on interactive elements to engage the audience even more. Maximize your collaboration efforts by assisting with the content development from an attendee perspective.

5. Evaluation

Gain insights on your process and platform by using evaluations to refine and improve, per event. Craft pointed questions that will elicit useful feedback and in turn, complete your own evaluation of your experience with a speaker to consider for future event engagements.

Conclusion

It’s easy to feel the pain points or inefficiencies of a process in the moment with the inevitable anticipation and stress in the air but forget them the minute the session concludes. I’m not one to recommend hanging on to unpleasant memories, but in this instance, I am. Taking stock of pain points aids in improving a speaker management process and makes you more conscience of not only your successes but your potential to perfect your process, freeing up time for all parties involved.‍

With more engagement and activity coming into play regarding content and delivery, including the right platform for your organization and speakers should also be part of your process. Take time to research technology platforms that can act as a resource for your team. A tool that can collect content such as speaker biographies, headshots, session visuals and handouts, while acting as a communication tool at the same time is an asset to you and your speaker.

If you have speaker management process challenges or questions that you need help with connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at lesliewingler@gmail.com for more information on my expertise with speaker and content management.

About Sessionboard

Sessionboard is a next generation speaker & content management platforms that simplifies the complex workflows and disjointed communications that exist around speaker and content management. From call for papers, abstract evaluation, awards, applications, agenda building, speaker onboarding and communication, Sessionboard helps event organizers work smarter, move faster, and improve their ROI.

The results? A faster-growing event, more productive staff, seamless collaboration with speakers and more time back to do what you do best—building epic experiences.

Sessionboard integrates with platforms like: ExpoPlatform, SwapCard, Gleanin, Snoball, Fuzion and many others.

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