The last few years have brought multigenerational audiences, shorter attention spans and higher expectations for speakers. That’s because speakers can bring tremendous value to events. But those recent changes have also brought an influx of speakers onto the market. So how can planners tell who’s legitimate or who’s all talk? How should they determine what their audience is looking for and measure their return on investment? And what resources can help with booking?
Here’s what three experts had to say about booking better speakers for 2026 and beyond.
What Audiences Want
The expectations attendees have for speakers are evolving. Once, a strong motivational speaker might have ticked all the boxes, but today, audiences are looking for something that’s more tailored and genuine.
“Today’s audiences want relevance and authenticity, and they can read a speaker within the first five minutes,” said Gina Davilla, owner and principal at The Keynote Shop. “They don’t want to be lectured to. The speakers who get the greatest reviews are the ones that are inspirational and do motivate the audiences, but they move those audiences to action.”
In addition to having a call to action, audiences are seeking keynote speakers who can customize their content and tailor it to them. One trending format is to replace a traditional talk with a “fireside chat” or even a moderated Q&A session that gives attendees plenty of interaction and ensures the content is relevant to them.
“More and more clients are saying ‘Can you customize it for us?’” said Bronwyn Hesketh, speaker agent at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau. “Speakers who are very agile and busy and in-demand are going to be adopting a format of a Q&A because that allows them to deep dive into an industry and give them that customization.”
With the addition of Gen Z into the workforce, conference and event audiences now span four generations. That means speakers must now be able to hold the attention of a diverse audience.
“Up to 42% of attendees now are 40 years old and younger, so now we have multiple generations sitting in conferences,” said Betty Garrett, owner of Betty Garrett Executive Coaching and former president and CEO of Garrett Speakers International. “And that is more of a stretch for the speaker because each generation tends to learn differently, so the speaker has to take that into consideration and design their remarks to still deliver results.”
That often means making adjustments to the length of a presentation; it’s rare now to see a keynote or presentation last an hour. But the results that event organizers are looking for include everything from having an engaged audience to having a measurable impact on their audience’s behavior. Event organizers are willing to spend a lot on the right speaker — but for that speaker to be right, they must demonstrate tangible return on investment, or in this case, return on engagement.
“Speakers are having to prove that they can measure the results and a change in human behavior,” Garrett said. “Because with budgets being tighter, nobody simply wants a talking head anymore.”
Vetting Speakers
Planners have more information to sift through than ever before when it comes to selecting the right speaker.
“One of the biggest shifts in booking speakers is the volume,” Davilla said. “The number of speakers that have emerged since COVID is enormous. What that means is planners have more access to speakers than ever before, but a lot less clarity in terms of being able to vet them fully and know who’s who.”
The emergence of AI has further blurred lines between speakers with good branding and speakers with good results.
“The real challenge for planners is to distinguish between who’s just smoke and mirrors and has great websites and good AI helping them with social media marketing and messaging, and who’s really a great speaker,” Hesketh said.
To successfully vet speakers, planners and event organizers should be meeting with the speakers first and asking the right questions.
“I think it’s very important for meeting planners to meet prospective speakers even before they book them,” Davilla said. “They should insist on it because that’s having the conversation and allowing the speaker to gather information and then share thoughts is extremely important.”
Davilla added that short clips of a speaker aren’t sufficient to gauge how effective they are in front of a live audience. Even if the speaker makes a good impression, to determine if they’re the real deal, it’s important to ask for references from past events.
“Get about three references and call them,” Garrett said. “Here are three questions I would ask: Number one, what was the speaker’s strength? Did they give you the results that you were expecting? The second question I would ask is what was their number one weakness? And the third one would be if you had it to do all over again, would you hire the same speaker? Now, if they’re hesitant in that answer, then you know you’ve got a problem.”
Other indicators on a speaker’s expertise upfront can include the length of time they’ve been speaking and whether they’re published authors in their fields.
Tips for Booking
While word of mouth or organic research can be a great tool for finding speakers, another great tool is speaker bureaus and speaker agencies. However, these are very different agencies, used for different things.
“A speaker agency works for the speaker in helping them book business for themselves and managing their speaking engagements,” Davilla said. “At a bureau, our job is to be both a filter and a guide. We are there to help planners or organizers cut through the noise and nail down the options that are the right fit.”
So, if a planner or event organizer has a particular speaker in mind, they can approach the speaker’s agent, but if they don’t have a particular preference on the speaker yet, they should approach a bureau to find the right fit.
“Find a bureau that you love working with, that you trust, and give them as detailed a brief as you can and ask them for their advice,” Hesketh said. “That third-party recommendation and that third-party endorsement from somebody who is unbiased, I think it’s always been the value of a bureau, and it always will be.”
Another trend to consider in 2026 and beyond is shortened lead times. With event lead times shrinking dramatically, bureaus can assist with finding the right speaker within the right time frame. Shorter lead times can lead to less ability for speakers to customize their presentations to an audience, so for better presentations with more collaboration, planners should book as far out in advance.
Budget is also important to consider and clarify up front. As expectations of speakers have risen, so has the cost of speakers. It’s necessary for planners to be up front about their budget and to get detailed quotes from any speaker bureaus to make sure they can both cover the cost of the speaker and any commissions or fees the bureau takes.
“Be up front and frank with your budget and what you’re expecting, and that way, your objectives and expectations can be met,” Garrett said.
