7 Signs of Good Keynote Speaker

Finding a good keynote speaker for a conference is essential to encouraging engagement with and among participants in the same field of study and work.

As the number of conferences and events held is on the rise, you may find it easy to find a good speaker, but there are thousands of keynote speakers and many of them have nothing interesting to attract the audience.

Who is a Keynote Speaker?

The keynote is the most crucial part that establishes the framework of a programme, event, convention agenda or some other specific happenings involving talking.

The success of an event relies mostly on encouraging audiences to attend and engage in the event through effective speeches made by keynotes. The last thing you need is someone standing on the platform talking, like a statue that just repeats words and does nothing attractive for encouraging audience interaction.

To judge a keynote speaker, look at the qualities that inspire, educate, and entertain your audience, which considerably narrows down your options.

Features of a Great Keynote Speaker

What makes a great keynote speaker? A keynote speech sets the central theme of a conference. Many audiences consider the choice of keynote speakers to attend a special conference. They believe the speakers create a framework for the main event and lend direction to the goals and purpose of the conference.

A keynote speaker sets the tone and summarizes the core theme of an event. Therefore, if you want a speaker who will inspire, educate and entertain the audience, choose someone who exhibits these important characteristics:

1. Leadership

A good keynote speaker is the leader of an event where he/she presents and delivers a speech. To lead the event in the right direction, the keynote speaker should resort to his/her leadership skills giving life to the event’s theme, inspiring and unifying the audience.

2. Humour

Humour is the key to keep an event away from being boring. Professional keynotes add humour as a spice to their presentation to encourage the audience to engage throughout the speech and the conference’s mood lively. A serious mood inherently surrounds any conference, but this doesn’t mean that they have to be boring. Humour can keep the audience awake and make them laugh, which in turn will deliver oxygen to the brain and release endorphins. It will help the audience engage in the event more.

3. Authenticity

A great keynote speaker must have his/her own unique speaking style.

4. Confidence

Successful people are confident public speakers! The audience attaches great importance to the confident speakers who appear credible, accurate, intelligent, believable and likeable. Confidence requires ample experience speaking in public, high knowledge of the topic, deep interest in subject matter, and the goal of the conference.

5. Storytelling

Any audience or participant in an event needs engaging and memorable content to be presented by keynote speakers. A good speaker is a good storyteller to enable the audience to learn lessons and relate these lessons in their lives. An experienced and professional keynote speaker develops dynamic presentation styles to help the audience activate their senses and long-term memory.

6. Brevity

A good keynote speaker avoids overloading the audience with an excess of information. In order to deal with the audience’s limited attention span, the speaker gets to the essence of his/her speech and delivers it confidently, clearly, and authentically.

7. Charisma

According to Webster's dictionary, charisma is the "special spiritual power or personal quality that gives an individual influence or authority over large numbers of people." Therefore, it is essential for a keynote speaker to possess this quality. Charismatic speakers are known for their self-confidence, honesty, good manners, likability, and ability to leave a lasting impression on their audience. Their charisma has the power to draw people back for more and create a sense of connection with the event, leaving attendees feeling happy and uplifted.