Phase 3 · Preparing the Speaker and Program
The Pre-Conference Speaker Call and Audience Brief
The pre-conference call is the conversation where the speaker hears directly from your team about the audience and the organization. It builds rapport with leadership and gives the speaker the context to tailor the keynote. Ideally, the contracts for the speaker's appearance already establish the program's broad direction; the call can work out details that were intentionally left open.
Plan on one content-focused call. Routine scheduling, slide deadlines and other production logistics can usually be handled by email, leaving this conversation for the things the speaker needs to hear from your team.
Who should join the call?
The speaker may talk with your CEO, CMO, another senior leader or the event planner. Include the people who can speak to the audience and what leadership wants from the keynote. Give the Mollie Plotkin Group reasonable lead time to coordinate their availability with the speaker's schedule.
When a pre-conference call is part of the engagement, the formal event questionnaire helps secure at least one guaranteed conversation. There is usually no need to bring everyone working on the event into the call; production details can follow separately.
What should you tell the speaker?
A useful audience brief covers:
- The audience and organization: Who will be in the room and what should the speaker understand about your company?
- Current challenges: What is the company or audience working through?
- Achievements: What does leadership want to recognize or celebrate?
- Sensitive subjects: Is there anything the speaker should avoid or handle carefully?
Layoffs or restructuring, for example, may affect how the speaker talks about an otherwise familiar theme. Raising a sensitive issue privately gives the speaker context before walking onstage. How much of that context appears in the keynote depends on the speaker and the agreed program.
How does the call shape the presentation?
Sometimes the agreement names two or more topics and leaves the final mix for the call. In other cases, the topic itself is intentionally open until the speaker talks with your team. The conversation helps settle that direction, and detailed tailoring can follow once the speaker understands the audience.
Different speakers use an audience brief differently. An inspirational speaker may keep the central story and connect part of it to your organization's situation. A more analytical speaker may examine the company as a case study. What Keynote Customization Actually Means explains those differences and when a request becomes a different program or service.
If you want more customization after the call, tell the Mollie Plotkin Group. We can discuss it with the speaker and explain what they are willing or able to do.
When is a second call useful?
What we recommend
A second conversation may help if the event is unusually complicated or the first call took place more than three months before the keynote. In the latter case, the Mollie Plotkin Group prefers to reconnect approximately one month before the event to confirm or refresh what was discussed.
You do not need a second call for every engagement. If we recommend one, we can work with you and the speaker to find a time that makes sense.