Finding the right speakers, and speakers of quality, is one of the most important aspects of creating a successful event. With the right speaker and the right topic, your attendees will be excited to hear what they have to say and will walk away with a meaningful experience.

Many events will have a “Call for Papers” where individuals from the industry or community are invited to submit a topic to be considered. This method can be effective to find great speakers for your event however, you might find that you see the same people and topics being submitted time after time. To help you in your search for interesting and relevant speakers, we’ve put together some other ideas you can use to find the perfect speaker at your next event.

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is a new way to search for speakers or session ideas for your event. Crowdsourcing solicits ideas directly from your attendees who offer their ideas and then vote on which topics they find most appealing. Ideally, crowdsourcing would allow your attendees to pick the topics and speakers they want to see at your event eliminating the legwork from the event organizer. While crowdsourcing ideas can work well to find speakers, this can prove difficult since you are relying on your attendees to provide good, quality suggestions. If you choose to use crowdsourcing, consider creating a panel or committee that will review the suggestions submitted and make the final decision.

Experience

One great way to find speakers for your event is to look for experience. Start by looking for individuals that have been a speaker at other events in your industry or have given presentations on topics you want at your event. LinkedIn’s Slideshare is an easy way to find presentations and papers that are relevant to your industry. Slideshare is a slide hosting service that allows users to upload slide decks or other files that can be shared with other users. Event organizers can use this platform to view presentations online, see how many times they have been viewed to gauge their popularity and get an idea of the quality of the person’s presentation and slide design. Once you have found a speaker you might be interested in, you can search for a video of their presentation online to see how they present and deliver their message.

Industry Blogs

Another place to look when searching for interesting speakers for your event is to check out industry blogs. Start by searching for blog articles on topics you want discussed at your event and reach out to the author of articles that you think may be a good choice as a speaker. You can also look at industry blogs to see which authors are most popular or which articles are getting the most attention to find possible speakers for your event.

Influential Attendees

You don’t always have to go far to find a speaker for your event. Look at attendee lists from previous years for individuals that attendee every year. These attendees, based on their history at your events, are generally well-informed on industry topics and may make a great speaker. Outside of your attendee list, look for industry influencers on social media. Online tools like Klout and BlueNodare great ways to find people that are making an impact on social media that could also make an impact as a speaker at your event.

These examples are just a few ways to source speakers for your event. Using these methods will help you find a variety of quality speakers that your attendees will be excited to hear from and will help ensure the success of your next event.