At the ripe age of 23, Tomi Lahren is quickly making a name for herself. She is the youngest political talk show host in history; her one-hour show, "Tomi," airs frequently on TheBlaze TV. On top of that show, she hosts an additional commentary segment called “Final Thoughts with Tomi Lahren” which is also featured on TheBlaze.com. With her sharp mind and witty sense of humor, she has quickly drawn a massive audience including many who would not ordinarily be considered the typical conservative audience.

No matter how many years a public lecture series has been active, there comes a time when the same guest speakers talking about the same topics grow a little stale. It’s not that the messages don’t have merit or the speakers have suddenly lost their ability to captivate an audience. Sometimes, decision makers just have to sit back and take a “big picture” look at the effectiveness of a public lecture series without bias, and then make any changes that are necessary to keep it fresh and exciting for the people in attendance.

Out with the old, and in with the new. It’s a brave new year for all of us, and it’s important that we start as we mean to finish. Start this first quarter strong with a professional speaker to motivate you and your employees and remind them of what success really means.

Planning any event is stressful. From organizing the guest list to finding the best motivational speakers, you can’t relax until long after the last guest has left and you’ve received the last thank you email or card. Whether it’s the first or just the most recent in a long string of events you’ve set up, you always need to bring your A-game. To help you, we’ve drawn up this list of tips and tricks to up your game and ensure you create a memorable event with minimal stress.

We have all experienced great events and conferences that end on a somewhat disappointing note. The keynote speaker’s presentation may have been informative, electrifying and thought provoking, but if the question and answer session that follows falls flat, it can cast a shadow over what was an otherwise successful undertaking.

Online personas like bloggers, Twitter users and even specialized digital journalists have succeeded at building an audience and credibility completely within the digital realm, which gives them a level of influence on a variety of topics - influence that some would consider even greater than mass media. And while having the right industry or niche influencers at your event will inevitably get you some good attention and word-of-mouth marketing, how do you go about getting the attention of these key influencers?

It’s no secret that social media has revolutionized the way top motivational speakers connect to and interact with their audiences. The expectation around communication from public figures is greater than it used to be - fans really relish instant responses and engagement from speakers. After all, it’s not just about speaking at the event that matters, it’s also about connecting with audiences before and after the presentation has closed.

When planning a major event, making decisions based on the potential return on investment is a critical part of the process. Anybody who works in this industry knows a conference operates just like any business, especially large-scale events with substantial budgets, thousands of attendees, and many key stakeholders. Here are a few ways you can achieve a high ROI from your next event.

It’s not every day you hear about a 14-year-old entrepreneur. Founder of Braigo Labs Inc., a “humanely optimized” technology company, Shubham Banerjee is the youngest entrepreneur ever to receive venture capital funding. Not only is he considered Silicon Valley’s youngest entrepreneur, his success story has been recognized on both national and international fronts.  

From searching for the right speaker to nailing down the logistics of a speaker’s travel, planning a large-scale event is no easy feat. Often times event and meeting planners take on this task on their own, only to come to realize it was a much larger undertaking then they had planned for. As a professional services firm in the global lecture industry that has placed thousands of speakers all over the world, we house some of the most experienced event planners that continue to define our distinctive event planning process as world class. Here are some of the most common mistakes we see made during the DIY event planning process as it relates to speakers.