The behind-the-scenes logistics to make an event successful are always too numerous to list, but some of the key success drivers are selecting the right venue and high profile motivational keynote/panelist speakers for achieving your organization’s goals.

Art Mollenhauer, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan, Chicago shared what he thought was a unique challenge. The marketplace in the Chicago area is saturated with Gala and Speaker events yet his Board and Donor network had lined up potentially 150 C-Level Executives if the right speaker could be selected to draw that VIP crowd. Mollenhauer shared with us “a key ingredient for success is the selection of the right Speakers Agency who will invest the time and innovation to make this work.” This particular event, the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in downtown Chicago was chosen, to provide easy access and an intimate setting for networking. A high-profile speaker known for speaking selectively was targeted to create implicit value – and Henry Paulson was featured for this year’s event. The result, a huge draw of a C-level audience attendees, a transfer of vast amounts of high level thought leadership from the Finance Speaker, tremendous networking opportunity for the guests, and an extremely high ROI for all participants made this event a huge success.

An event like the above is an example of a function that is viewed by many organizations to be the equivalent of their “Super Bowl,” investing a tremendous amount of time, energy and resources towards making a particular event a great triumph. Very important to remember that as a great strategic partner, the professional speaker agency can help you achieve perfect execution and the right strategy to achieve that high level of success. It sounds simple yet there are hundreds of small details that can often derail an event. We often say “Get the ‘Big Picture’ items right and the small details will more easily fall in-line.” That means getting the strategy, venue, date and speaker right are a solid beginning. But here’s something we’re hearing increasingly more often, it is often the “non-traditional sessions” that can also generate high return on investment. A prime example is a large, global financial group shared that the speaker we selected was perfect and yielded huge returns through the traditional audience event they did. But they shared the private (ten top customers) roundtable discussion we orchestrated was worth 3-5x what they paid for the speech. A top-notch agency is going to know how to create a “win-win” situation that keeps yielding results year-round. A professional Speaker Agency booking hundreds of worldwide events each year will just intuitively see these types of opportunities for their clients.

Often times a speaker of high notoriety will fill audience seats to capacity and an entertainer or celebrity can assist to fuel marketing and fundraising year-round. The right speaker can also lift the client’s brand and its awareness by associating that great speaker to your organization, institution or cause. There are many paths to consider when creating a successful event and no one path is going to work for all organizations. This is not the time to take unwanted chances, partnering with professionals who know the world of professional speaking can help to guide you to event success.