Did you know that North American audiences today are over 50 % female? Should you hire a female keynote speaker to address them? Does it matter to the audience?
Always hire a keynote speaker because they have the kind of message, style and enthusiasm that you need to skyrocket your event forward. I often get calls from meeting planners saying they have to hire a female keynote speaker.
Apparently, women are underrepresented on the platform, and people are starting to notice. The audience is demanding a more fair representation of women on the stage.
Are you hiring a speaker to be fair and correct, or are you hiring them to make a difference? Don't get me wrong; I'm a female keynote speaker. I think you should hire us if we have the message your audience needs.
Women are unique. This is something we should celebrate, not accommodate. I don't think we need any special treatment or category. Were as amazing as it comes. And so are men.
Planning a meeting can be very complicated when you have to make sure everyone is equally represented. I would much rather celebrate our diversity and uniqueness than put us in piles of good or better because of our gender.
If your audience is primarily female, you may find a women keynote speaker is a natural best fit. I know many great female keynote speakers. They are dynamic, inspirational, and can relate well to all audiences.
A great event brings people together.
We don't need to separate people; we need to listen to them. All voices matter and are important. Often events are designed around certain topics that in the industry have become a concern. But only uplifting topics uplift people.
The longer you focus on a problem, the harder it will be to move forward when planning anything. It's best to focus on what you want. Usually, this takes you in the direction of solutions. It reimagines your future.
If you have an exhausted, overwhelmed audience, you want inspiration, hope, optimism and humour. Hire a keynote speaker who drives this message in a meaningful way to your audience.
Today our world focuses way too heavily on what's wrong instead of what's right. People need to be inspired; events are the ideal place to do this. I get we need to deal with industry issues, but mostly we need to move forward.
I am passionate about the event industry. A great event has the potential to build a strong solid positive momentum in peoples lives. I've seen it hundreds of times. Great events build anticipation and enthusiasm before it even starts. If it's a female keynote speaker who gets people excited about attending, that's great. Suppose their message is really inspiring that's even better.
Studies show men and women are very different in the way we communicate
However, I don’t think the research says it’s a hard-fast rule.
Women tend to be more emotional; we talk about feelings more easily and openly. However, in a catered, planned keynote speech, we may not. And I've met many male keynote speakers who masterfully carve a heartfelt story.
When you are planning a meeting, you likely look at past event delegate evaluations. Just like a keynote speaker does, we tend to take critical comments most seriously. We need to fix them , so we spend a lot of time figuring out the problem. I've found it's far better to focus on the vision of a great event than problems of past events.
Otherwise, instead of focusing on all the great things that happened in this inspiring event, we torcher ourselves with everything that went wrong.
Also, event planners, because you care so much about your work, can be very hard on yourself.
Truth is so much was discovered learned, and a lot of great inspiration came from the event. Please don't beat yourself up because people complained because they didn't see enough women keynote speaker on the platform. I see this as an opportunity, not a problem.
There is great potential to invigorate next years program with female keynote speakers.
The fact that we have audiences that are almost equally men and women means we have come so far! We have strength and diversity in our workplaces.
When I was young, I watched commercials where the biggest concern on a women’s mind was what kind of deodorant she wears or how long she boils the chicken. Gosh, we’ve come so far! I am so proud to have worked with vivacious female CEOs who are trailblazers. Not because they are women but because they care and want to make a difference.
We can always look at our industry and pinpoint problems, underrepresentation, stress, worry, doubt. But these messages won’t help people move forward. We can look at the same industry and see a lot of great things like opportunities and potential. I’d rather focus on this.
When to Hire a Female Keynote Speaker?
- If she inspires you
- If you think she would inspire your audience
- If she has a background speaking in your industry
- If she has a message of hope and inspiration
- If she has experience or specific skill in your industry
- If she has a message and delivery style you think will move your audience forward
- What does your audience need? ( to laugh, to be inspired, specific content?)
- If she has a timely message that helps create clarity in confusion
- If someone you know saw her speak and was inspired
- If her website and videos inspire you
When hiring a keynote speaker, look at their promotional materials for messaging and words beyond what the speaker thinks about themselves. Look beyond glowing testimonials and search for meaning in the message.
If you read through website content and videos, you can hopefully find a consistent message that is meaningful to the speaker. If it's meaningful to them, it will hopefully come through to the audience.
