Start with a Shared Goal — Thinking — Feeling — Doing
What will the audience be thinking, feeling, or doing when they leave and how does this differ from when they arrive? Let that goal be the north star guiding every subsequent decision.
Too often, committees jump straight into names—“Who’s hot right now?”—before defining what success even looks like. This is how you end up with big names that fall flat, or niche experts who can’t resonate beyond a small subset of attendees.
Our Advice:
At the first committee meeting, make a point to NOT mention speakers by name. The goal is to define the objectives of the meeting and the outcomes you are hoping for. Discussing potential speakers is a distraction from the real work of getting everyone aligned on the event’s primary objective. Is it to foster industry collaboration? Spark innovative thinking? Inspire positive organizational change? Or something else? By agreeing on clear objectives, you can quickly dismiss speaker suggestions that don’t address them, without offending.
Understand Your Audience
You want the audience to leave thrilled they attended. The key is to understand the delta between what they were thinking – feeling – doing when they arrived versus when they left. What meaningful changes did the event bring about?
Our Advice:
Send out a pre-event survey asking what your attendees hope to get out of the event. And then a post-event survey that asks what they got out of the event. The answers will surprise you. And they should. These survey questions will also help make next year’s event even more successful.
Design the Agenda and the Topics
Before you start thinking about speakers, you want to have a firm grasp on what your program will look like. How will the event flow? How many speaker slots? What content will be provided when?
Our Advice:
One client writes out the conference program without any speaker names. They decide what they want the speaker to address, how it fits into the flow of the event, and what credentials they should have. With committee approval, they then go out and look for speakers who can address their needs. There is no shortage of people who want to make $10,000 an hour giving speeches. This approach reins in the committee and narrows down the speakers you need to review.
Speak the Language of Influence: Data, Impact, and ROI
Committees are often composed of people with different agendas: some love marquee names for the bragging rights, others want a safe choice to avoid risking audience dissatisfaction, and still others crave fresh, disruptive perspectives. To cut through the noise, present data-driven reasoning.
Our Advice:
Don’t just say, “This speaker is great.” Show them metrics—audience satisfaction scores from previous events, the tangible business outcomes past clients have seen, testimonials from industry leaders who have benefited from this speaker’s insights. When you back your recommendations with solid evidence, it’s easier for skeptics to get on board. They might not love your personal preference on style, but they’ll respect hard facts that align with the event’s stated goals.
Acknowledge Stakeholder Concerns—Then Address Them Head-On
Your committee members want to be heard, and rushing to dismiss their ideas creates friction. Maybe your CFO worries about cost, your CMO wants a speaker who generates buzz, and your HR rep wants an inclusion expert. Everyone has valid points, and when they don’t feel valued, they’ll dig in their heels. Also, the objectives that were defined in the first meeting may have changed. New information is available but not widely shared.
Our Advice:
Midway though the process, schedule a follow-up meeting on objectives. Ask for questions and observations in advance. Summarize what you’ve discovered, where there is common ground, where there needs clarification, and end with a united vision. Often, the sticking points are not as polarized as they seem. Once committee members feel their input has been truly listened to, they’re more open to compromising and trusting your guidance.
Narrow the Field with Curated Shortlists
One of the worst things you can do is present a sprawling list of speaker options that overwhelms the committee with choice. It sounds democratic, but too many options breeds indecision and conflict. What you will always get is a good speaker who is a compromise rather than a great speaker who is championed.
Our Advice:
Streamline. Curate a shortlist—no more than three to five carefully vetted speakers—each offering a distinct angle that still aligns with the event’s objectives. Accompany each choice with a one-page “value proposition” that clearly states how this speaker meets the agreed-upon goals. By making each option purpose-driven and easy to evaluate, you turn a messy debate into a structured comparison.
Ideally, you can define how they differ. For example, speaker A might have better content while speaker B is more dynamic.
Use Mock Scenarios to Foresee Real Outcomes
Even with a curated list, the committee might still argue over who’s best. Help them visualize the impact of each speaker with scenario planning. What will attendees learn from Speaker A? How will Speaker B’s talk translate into actionable strategies for the company? How might Speaker C’s reputation draw new participants or media interest?
Our Advice:
Paint a picture of what success looks like post-event. Show how the chosen speaker’s talk might look in your event’s marketing materials or share a mock agenda featuring their session. Imagining the event’s narrative and future impact helps people move beyond personal preferences and focus on practical outcomes.
Lean on Third-Party Expertise —The Shameless Plug
As an event planner, you know your organization inside and out. You need to work with people who know speakers as well as you know your organization. Your committee might collectively see 50 speakers live in a year and book three speakers. We book over 1500 speakers for over 1000 events and see hundreds of speakers live. We find speakers years before they become famous. Two speakers we signed in 2013 won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2024. We started signing speakers on AI in 2019. David Lavin has given two workshops at TED (not TEDx) and sees over 300 speakers annually.
As an agency, our job is to anticipate the zeitgeist. The internet will give you a list of last year’s stars. We can show you next year’s stars.
Our Advice:
Draw on your partnership with a reputable speaker’s bureau (hello from The Lavin Agency!) or other trusted consultants. These professionals can provide insights into what’s working in the broader industry, who’s poised to bring real value, and how similar organizations have benefited from certain speakers. This external validation often tips the balance, giving your recommendation extra credibility.
Have a Clear Decision-Making Framework
Your committee might be brimming with great intellect and passion, but without a clear process for making the final call, you risk endless debate. Establish who gets the final say or how votes will be weighted. If one leader holds the purse strings, and another handles marketing, define each person’s sphere of influence from the start.
Our Advice:
Create a simple, agreed-upon framework before any names are discussed. For instance, you might say: “We’ll evaluate each speaker on three criteria—mission alignment, audience engagement potential, and cost-effectiveness—and each criterion counts equally. If two speakers tie, our Head of Communications will break the tie.” It might sound rigid, but clarity prevents conflict.
Build a decision matrix
You’ve decided on objectives but now you must decide what traits to prioritize and how to choose the speaker. Budget is always an issue and compromises might have to be made. But where? A speaker delivers fame, content, style, inspiration, customization, and more. What are the most important traits for your event? For example, if the audience needs to be there then fame is less important than content. If you are tying to attract paid delegates for VIP clients, then fame is very important.
Our advice:
Decide in advance where you can compromise if you need to. Everyone wants a great speaker. But I’ve seen a great speaker inspire people to follow terrible leadership “secrets”. Who is the most dynamic speaker in The Godfather? Sonny —and he ends up dead in a tollbooth in New Jersey. Who are the most compelling speakers, the people you have to listen to because what they say is so important? The Don and Michael —quiet, smart, compelling.
Turning Internal Tension into Collective Triumph
Event-planning committees don’t have to be battlegrounds. With the right approach—clear goals, data-driven recommendations, empathetic listening, structured shortlists, scenario planning, expert input, and a transparent decision-making process—you can turn a room full of strong opinions into a united team focused on a single objective: making your event truly valuable.
At The Lavin Agency, we’ve seen firsthand how a well-managed selection process results in a stronger, more cohesive event. By taming your committee and ensuring your best ideas get heard, you’ll be far more likely to secure a speaker who not only wows the audience but genuinely furthers your event’s mission. After all, the best speakers don’t just show up—they show a path forward that everyone, from the CEO to the frontline staff, can rally behind.