Guest speaker

What is a guest speaker?

A guest speaker is someone invited by the organizers because of their expertise or interest in a subject. This person is not part of the team that created the event but will present in it. Their main purpose is to communicate with the other speakers and the event hosts and bring a fresh perspective to the discussion.

What makes a great guest speaker?

A successful guest speaker will prepare as much as possible in advance for an event. Body language is important in a webinar, and the guest speaker should note how they sit or stand. Since they can’t make “real” eye contact, they need to look into the camera to mimic the effect.

The webinar team should always do a test run before the webinar. This helps guest speakers become familiar with the webinar platform they will be using. It can also be a good way to break the ice and smooth over any nerves that may be present before a presentation.

How should you choose your guest speaker?

Guest speakers must bring value to the webinar. Their skills should complement the expertise of the other speakers. Instead of choosing multiple speakers with the same niche competence, it is more beneficial to diversify the speakers.

Guest speakers can be team members, community organizers, influencers, or simply a person with many years of practice in a certain field. Customers can be used as guest speakers to legitimize a brand for new prospects.

Some questions to ask yourself when choosing a guest speaker are:

• Do they add value?
• Do they complement the other speakers?
• Do they provide a fresh perspective?

What are the benefits of having a good guest speaker?

To sum it up, there are 5 benefits of a good guest speaker:

1. Boosts number of registrants
2. Increases engagement
3. Adds authority
4. Improves credibility
5. Gives unique prespectives

Adding guest speakers to a webinar will cause the number of registrants to rise. This is because a guest speaker can promote the webinar to their customers and network.

Finally, guest speakers lighten the load for hosts and other speakers. Mixing in a new perspective will keep the webinar feeling unique. And every presenter will benefit from the additional ideas.

What can guest speakers do?

Guest speakers usually do not have access to the dashboard for the webinar. They also usually do not control when a webinar begins or ends, as this is most often handled by the host. Guest speakers may enter the webinar room before the webinar starts, share their camera and screen. They can also answer to questions asked by participants and discuss with participants in the chat.