We spend so much time and energy securing wonderful event speakers, but our job’s just beginning once the event speakers are booked. If you have the bandwidth, I recommend assigning someone on your team to be a fully dedicated speaker host. If you don’t have this person, consider hiring someone very responsible to serve this role.
The speaker host will be the one waiting for the sedans to arrive, taking the call from the limo company when the client has been picked up from the airport, greeting the speakers upon arrival with a gracious smile, showing guests to the greenroom or their hotel room, providing agendas and basically assisting your special guest with any requests.
What to give your fabulous speaker host:
– A list of all speakers and their speaking times/rehearsal times on one sheet
– Arrival/departure times with flight numbers and confirmation codes
– Speaker cell phone numbers and assistant’s numbers
– Your cell phone numbers
– Copies of the agenda and maps of the hotel
– An introduction to the hotel management
The speaker host can check your guests into the hotel rooms ahead of time and therefore hand a key to the speaker upon arrival and avoid sending the speaker to the hotel desk (who wouldn’t like skipping this step?). Your speaker host can also check the hotel rooms before your VIPs arrive – you wouldn’t believe the things we’ve found in the suites reserved for our keynotes.
Your speaker host will ensure the transportation company is enroute to pick up your guest at the end of the event, confirm their flight is ontime and show them to the car with a bottle of water. Your speakers will remember your hospitality, and feel very taken care of. That will certainly ensure they will be more than excited to participate in your next event if called upon.