With traditional in-person events becoming less and less popular, virtual motivational keynote events are now commonplace in most industries. If you’re organising a motivational virtual event, you’re probably wondering about what traits you should be looking for in a virtual keynote speaker before you take the plunge and hire. While each speaker will bring a different personality and level of expertise to the table – there are several traits you should always seek out when looking for someone to deliver your speech – check them out below!
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1. Tech-literate & studio-ready
It may seem obvious, but the top trait of a powerful virtual keynote speaker is that they come readily equipped and know how to use it. When looking for a speaker to hire, ensure they provide only the best audio and video quality possible. If you’re not sure, check out their previous engagements or ask for a trial presentation to check that their performance is lag-free and set a contingency backup plan – just in case the power goes out!
2. Exuberant Confidence
Naturally, your virtual keynote event needs a confident speaker who can command and communicate with your audience in a meaningful way using only a computer and studio setup. While public speaking is already stressful in itself, virtual speaking events require an even fiercer and elevated level of confidence to translate their message through video-call software.
3. Eloquence
If eloquence is “fluent, forcible, elegant or persuasive speaking. It is primarily the power of expressing strong emotions in striking and appropriate language, thereby producing conviction or persuasion.” Then you should always seek out certified speaking professionals, a designation held by only 1.5% of speakers worldwide to ensure you hire the most articulate speaker possible.
4. Experience
Your potential keynote speaker needs to be experienced; why would anyone take the chance with an amateur speaker? The best way to determine your potential speaker’s experience is to check their past audience sizes, the number of speaking engagements they’ve provided and the number of countries or localities they’ve performed in.
5. A sense of humor
We’re not talking about hiring a circus or a clown, but rather someone relaxed and light-hearted who can keep audiences from finding long or difficult talks dry, dull and monotonous. If your potential virtual keynote speaker can’t make you chuckle once or twice with just their promotional materials, keep moving.
6. A captivating storyteller
Study after study shows that people are more receptive to stories than almost any other type of communication. Our brains are designed not only to crave stories but to remember them and pass on meaningful ones to others. That’s why if you want to keep your audience on the edge of their seats and make their experience memorable, you need to find a virtual keynote speaker who is a captivating storyteller.
7. Credible & Trustworthy
Anyone can say inspirational things (think, “live, laugh, love”), but it takes a credible character to influence your audience to be motivated and take action, whether in their personal or professional lives. The fact is, your audience wants someone to look up to, to aspire to be like or have what they have – so ensure your potential virtual keynote speaker has a long list of accomplishments and professional relationships you can certify.
8. Highly relatable
If your potential keynote speaker can’t connect with your audience on an emotional level, they’ll struggle to continue to engage them throughout. What’s more, audiences only connect with people they know, like and trust; that’s why they need to know in some way that the speaker has experienced similar challenges as them.
9. Visibly passionate
The best virtual keynote speakers are skilled communicators that have an abundance of passion for their subject of expertise. When you’re excited about a topic, you articulate your knowledge well, exude sincerity and emotionally connect with the audience. Without passion, speeches become dull and meaningless.
10. Clearly articulates actionable takeaways
It’s often one of the biggest downfalls of virtual keynote speakers – they energise you, pump you up and get you motivated, only to not provide the tools you need to continue feeling this good. That’s why all great keynote speakers prepare actionable takeaways that are clearly articulated to your audience. Before hiring, ensure your potential speaker can provide the same resources that your audience will receive to determine whether they will arrive prepared.
Hire Certified Professional Speaker Tom Abbott
Hire Tom Abbott to raise your virtual audience to new heights, engage them virtually in ways very few speakers can and have them leaving inspired to make the next year even better than the last.
Whether you’re looking for a leadership speaker, motivational speaker, or sales speaker, have Tom deliver one of his signature keynotes or have us customise a talk to suit the specific needs of your event, whether it’s live, virtual or blended.
What makes Tom Abbott a leading virtual keynote speaker?
Tom has delivered 100s of virtual speeches in 2020 and 2021 alone, is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), has delivered keynotes on almost every kind of platform and type of event. To top it all off, he has the ultimate high-tech home setup complete with 1000 Mbps (yes thousand, not hundred) internet speed, multiple cameras, a switcher to seamlessly incorporate slides, and options of studio setup.
Tom Abbott’s signature fun, high energy, and motivating talks move the audience to become future-ready, embrace change and stay motivated. Leaving your team inspired with the confidence and grit to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.