My own voice came back into my ear a beat after it had left my mouth.
It was the opening keynote of a major conference, in front of 4,000 people. The technicians had checked everything twice at sound check. Then, in my first sentence, the headset started feeding my words back to me on a delay, layered over whatever I was about to say next.
I found my breath. I stayed with material I know so well it lives below conscious thought, and I kept going.
Afterwards, several people told me it was the best keynote they’d ever seen. None of them knew about the headset.
I’m telling you this because every organiser I know carries the same quiet worry into event day. Something will go wrong. The tech, the timing, the running order, the speaker.
Something usually does.
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What you’re really booking.
When you book a speaker, you’re booking a story and some content. You’re also booking the person who’ll be holding your room when the unexpected happens.
An audience takes its cue from whoever is at the front. If that person stays steady, the room stays with them. If they rattle, the whole room feels it before a word is said.
Mike Blomfield, Chief Client Officer at Cuscal, put it this way after their conference: “Pauline played an important part in setting the tone and standard for our conference.”
Sherry Hill, a Senior Payments Leader at Cuscal, noticed the craft underneath it: “I was most taken with her use of tone, pitch, space, silence, and repetition.”
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The questions I’d ask before booking anyone
If I were the one booking, these are the questions I’d ask. Me included.
Have they spoken to a room like yours, and can someone from that event tell you what happened afterwards?
Will they shape the talk to your brief and your theme, or give the same hour they gave last month?
What will your people be able to use the next morning?
What do they need from your team on the day, and what do they do if the tech fails?
How did they treat the AV crew and the organisers last time? Ask the last event.
A good speaker will be glad you asked.
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If you’d like to be booked
Some of you reading this sit on the other side of the table. You’ve got something to say, and you’d like more rooms to say it in.
I’ve learned to make the organiser’s job easier. Learn what their audience needs before you pitch your story. Answer their brief in your first paragraph. Send your showreel, your one-sheet and 2 referees before they ask. And on the day, be the steadiest person in the building.
Organisers remember the speakers who made their day easier. In my experience, those are the speakers they book again and recommend to their friends.
· · ·
This week
If you book speakers, take the list above into your next briefing call.
If you want to be booked, send one organiser a pitch that answers their brief before it mentions your story.
And if you’re planning 2027, this is the season. Most conference organisers and speaker bureaus are building next year’s program now, and International Women’s Day in March tends to fill early.
My keynotes are What the Red Lantern Knew, The Warchest of a Modern Leader and Evolving Leadership, each one shaped to your audience and your brief. Message me and I’ll send you my speaker one-sheet.
With Love, Pauline
This first appeared in The Conscious Leader, my weekly LinkedIn newsletter. Subscribe on LinkedIn.
