Choose the Right Motivational Speaker for Your Event

It’s safe to say that if you’re looking to motivate a group of people, you want to choose the right motivational speaker who has the ability to inspire. But inspiration can come in all kinds of ways. Motivational keynote speakers have a variety of backgrounds, and their energies often reflect who they are and how they perform for a crowd. Different speakers have different expertise, so you need to find someone with the right background and the right approach. Determining your event’s intention and the demographic of your audience is a good way to narrow down which famous motivational speaker to book. Once you understand your desired outcome, it becomes easier to choose the right motivational speaker for your event.

Here are four major categories of motivational events and their style of inspiration to consider when you start the process to choose the right motivational speaker:

To Educate

If you’d like to bring a group of people together to talk about new advancements in a particular field, you’re looking to educate. Educational events engage and encourage creativity through knowledge. These talks can be beneficial for almost anyone. Maybe your group needs a spark to jump-start their own inventions or innovations. Or perhaps you’re looking to expand on existing expertise. Listening to someone who’s made phenomenal contributions in your field can be a wonderful motivator for future success. For this type of event, you’ll have a couple options when you go to choose the right motivational speaker.

Famous scientists, such as astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson and the legendary Bill Nye, are excellent choices for an educational event. For one, many scientists are also teachers, which means they’re very good at explaining things, so even if you have a non-scientific crowd, they won’t be confused. Scientists also possess a zest for discovery, and listening to their thought process and worldview can be as invigorating as it is informative.

You can also look to business titans who have changed an industry’s landscape. Think to hire motivational speakers with a thumb on corporate trends and longevity. Top CEOs understand the business better than anyone. Their superior insight can help a company’s infrastructure improve or marketing efforts become more profitable. Education comes from experience in this example. Take CEO celebrity speaker, Marissa Mayer, for example. Mayer’s career path to become one of the most powerful women in the world can educate on how to effectively maneuver within the business world, as well as how to successfully navigate a career. Some other incredibly successful and motivational business speakers for hire include Richard Branson, Randi Zuckerberg, Steve Wozniak, Adam Grant, Barbara Corcoran and many more.

To Provoke Action

If the purpose of your event is to instigate change, you’ll want to hire a speaker who can provoke people into action. Change can come in many ways, but the idea here is that your audience will leave informed and motivated to alter the world in some capacity. Maybe your talk has to do with wildlife, nature, or the environment in general. Or maybe your talk is about education reform, health matters, or improving the workplace. The goal of a talk like this can lead to philanthropy, donations, or an overall change in global or personal wellness.

For example, nutritional and fitness gurus have a great passion for life and their natural healthy adrenaline makes for an exciting talk to provoke action. Celebrity speakers like John Cena and celebrity chefs Rocco DiSpirito and Fabio Viviani can be especially enticing. If you’re looking for a more interactive talk, a celebrity chef can cook on stage, adding a theatrical element to your event. Showing good health, here, rather than just lecturing about it, stands for a greater influence.

If the focus is geared more towards the speaker’s worldview on a topic such as environmental change, an environment or industry expert like Al Gore could be a great choice. Not only can Gore speak to climate change, his experience as a technology expert and a former Vice President means he’s an engaging and informed political speaker as well. Multi-talented motivational speakers create a unique talk that is more apt to get your audience to integrate action in their day-to-day lives.

To Entertain 

We all love a great story. A good yarn unraveled by an accomplished raconteur is a timeless art. It’s why we love books and movies and plays. Stories take us out of our daily lives and into the beyond. It’s no mystery that celebrities are masters of this skill. Actors certainly make for great storytellers, but sometimes it hits a little harder to hear real stories about people who achieved the unachievable, which can be motivational in and of itself. When we hear real stories, it changes our attitude about what we believe is attainable. These are events for the dreamers, for people who want to ignite their creative and adventuresome sides. It’s a great option for uplifting and engaging employees.

Physical accomplishments can prove to be especially inspiring. Routine, regiment, lifestyle, and drive make athletes great sources of inspiration. Sports motivational speakers are incredibly popular for special events and corporate conferences. Perhaps your event calls for a high profile athlete like a Michael Strahan or Peyton Manning. Other times you’ll want an Olympian, such as Michael Phelps, or someone like Diana Nyad or Scott Jurek, whose story includes a transformation from mere mortal to ultra marathoner. Through incredible athletes, we can experience what it’s like to train and compete in high-intensity environments.

Other excellent entertainment speakers are people who have had an experience the audience wouldn’t be able to access. Like athletes, there’s an unattainable sense of adventure that inspires through sheer wonder. Book a celebrity speaker like astronaut Buzz Aldrin to offer a glimpse to the fantastical. Training, science, adventure, and fear, and the feeling of accomplishment introduces your audience to a new, exciting world.

To Overcome

If your event is targeted towards positivity, you may want to choose the right celebrity speaker who has achieved greatness in the face of great odds. The sort of talk with the goal of motivating a group to overcome a tough spot, or showing what a person can accomplish no matter the barriers, calls for a celebrity speaker who has had to persevere in impossible situations. These talks inspire through the speaker’s astounding willpower.

Some of the most powerful speakers who have overcome obstacles are those with physical ailments. Often, these individuals have had a lifetime of trauma, but their mindset has catapulted them to become a person far better than they would have been, had they never had the disabilities at all. These motivational speakers serve as terrific sources of inspiration.

You can look towards disabled athletes, war veterans, and authors who make a living showing people how to survive. These speakers had a life-changing trauma that would have made it easy to give up on life, but instead, they persevered. Take Paralympic athlete April Holmes, who lost her leg in an accident. She decided to turn her loss into gain, and her incredible drive and ambition led her to become a gold medal athlete. Or fellow female Paralympian Amy Purdy who lost both of her legs below the knee in a battle with bacterial meningitis in her teens. She has since gone on to become an accomplished Olympic Champion, model, Dancing with the Stars runner-up and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports.

Not everyone was born with an impressive physique. Many excellent motivational speakers were born with an ailment that they had to endure from childhood through adulthood. Author and professional speaker Lizzie Velasquez became a spunky, successful woman despite her rare weight condition. Her positive attitude was applauded by those around her, so she turned her misfortune into goodwill, and makes a living through her inspirational outlook on life.

The best motivational speakers are the ones who can engage their audience. Their stories, insight, and their ability to achieve, motivate tenfold. The key is finding a common ground between the audience and the celebrity. Our extensive roster at Celebrity Speakers Bureau gives you ample speaker options for every kind of event and theme.Contact a booking agent today via email at booking@celebrityspeakersbureau.com so we can match one of our accomplished celebrity speakers for hire with your event goals. Choose the right motivational speaker with Celebrity Speakers Bureau and we promise your audience will leave with a healthy dose of inspiration!