The term keynote speaker often gets thrown around loosely and many people have different ideas about what the word actually refers to. When they hear the word keynote speaker, some people think of a motivational speaker, business  speaker,  industry expert, or a closing speaker. If you’re a business executive or an event planner, what you might actually hear, when you hear the word keynote speaker, is that you need to hire someone who can talk to our audience for about 45 minutes and they will probably cost a lot of money.

In actuality, a keynote speaker could speak on any of the above listed subjects, but what defines a keynote speaker is their ability to capture the essence of your meeting and to highlight it to your audience in a short period of time. In order to capture this essence, the keynote speaker should be willing to spend the time researching your industry, your issues, and your audience.

Once the keynote speaker completes his/her research about your organization, the speaker can then mold the presentation into a unique and distinctive presentation just for your audience. The keynote speaker may incorporate humor, audience participation, or show funny clips to add an extra bit of fun and entertainment to their talk. No matter, what shtick the speaker employs, their job is to weave your keynote message into their program in a fun and memorable way.

This is why choosing the right keynote speaker, who aligns with the message of your organization and the event, is crucial not only to the success of the event but also to how affective and engaging the keynote will be to your audience.