You’ve identified a speaker you’re excited about. The demo reel is compelling. The bio checks out. The fee is within range. Before you send the contract, there are ten questions you should ask — either directly to the speaker or to their bureau.

These questions aren’t just due diligence. They’re signal. A speaker who answers them thoughtfully, specifically, and without hesitation is a speaker who has done this work at a high level for a long time. A speaker who hedges, pivots, or gives you a polished non-answer is giving you information too.

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1. What does your customization process look like?

This is the most important question on the list. A speaker with a truly customized approach will describe a specific pre-event discovery process — a call with the event organizer, an audience survey, a review of your event theme and recent organizational context, or some combination of these. They should be able to tell you exactly what they do to make the content feel like it was written specifically for your audience, because the best ones actually do write it that way.

Red flag: a speaker who describes their process as “I review the event brief and adapt my talk.” That’s not customization — it’s awareness.

2. Can you share footage from a recent event similar to ours?

Demo reels are curated highlight packages. What you actually want to see is a full keynote — or at minimum, a 20–30 minute unedited clip — from an event similar to yours in format, audience size, and industry. A speaker who can command a 500-person healthcare conference is a different animal from one who thrives in a 50-person leadership retreat. Ask for footage that matches your context.

3. What’s your cancellation and backup policy?

Life happens. Speakers get sick, flights get canceled, family emergencies occur. Before you finalize the contract, understand what happens if the speaker can’t make it. Does the bureau have a backup speaker they can deploy? What are the financial terms for a cancellation that originates with the speaker? Ideally, your contract includes a provision requiring the speaker to make reasonable efforts to find an equally qualified substitute at no additional cost to you.

4. Have you spoken to our industry or audience type before?

Industry-specific experience matters more than most event planners realize. A speaker who has presented to healthcare audiences understands the emotional weight of that room in a way that a generalist simply doesn’t. Ask for specific examples: Which organizations in your industry have they spoken to? What were the events? What were the outcomes? A speaker who has deep experience with your audience type can hit the ground running in a way that a newcomer to your space cannot.

5. What do you need from us to deliver your best work?

Great speakers are partners, not performers. The best ones have specific requirements that, when met, dramatically improve the quality of the experience: a pre-event call with leadership, a detailed event brief, a specific A/V setup, a backstage moment to center themselves before going on. Asking this question tells you two things: what you need to provide, and whether this speaker is invested enough in outcomes to know what they need.

6. Can you provide three references from recent events?

Ask for references and actually call them. Three questions matter most: Did the speaker customize their content meaningfully? How did the audience respond in the room? Would you book them again — and if not, why? The answers to those three questions will tell you more than any amount of testimonials on a website.

A good bureau will provide references proactively. If they don’t when you ask, that’s worth noting.

7. What is and isn’t included in the speaking fee?

Be explicit about what the fee covers. Most speaking fees cover the keynote itself — travel, hotel, and ground transportation are typically billed separately. Some speakers charge for prep calls beyond a certain duration, for VIP meet-and-greet time, for book signings, or for usage rights to record and distribute the keynote. Others include all of this freely. Get clarity before the contract is signed to avoid surprises in the reconciliation.

8. What is your A/V and technical rider?

Every professional speaker has technical requirements. Some are simple: a wireless lavalier mic, a confidence monitor, a specific clicker. Others are more complex: a specific sound system configuration, particular lighting, a virtual background for hybrid components. Get the technical rider early and confirm with your venue that it can be accommodated. A keynote that falls flat because of a mic problem or a slide display issue is painful for everyone — and almost always preventable with 30 minutes of advance planning.

9. Are you available for any pre-event or post-event engagement?

Many speakers are willing to extend their engagement beyond the keynote itself: a VIP breakfast or dinner with sponsors, a pre-conference workshop, a book signing, a post-event Q&A, or social media content tied to the event. Some include these at no additional cost; others price them as add-ons. Asking the question opens the door to a richer event experience and gives your audience more access to the person they’re there to see.

10. What do you want your audience to feel when they leave the room?

This is the question most event planners never think to ask — and the answer is remarkably revealing. A speaker who answers it with a clear, specific emotional outcome (“I want them to feel equipped rather than inspired — like they have tools, not just energy”) is a speaker who has thought deeply about impact. A speaker who answers with a vague aspiration (“I want them to feel motivated and ready to take on challenges”) may be telling you something about the depth of their thinking about outcomes.

The best speakers are obsessive about impact. They don’t just want to deliver a good keynote — they want to know it changed something. That orientation is detectable in how they answer this question.

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A Note on Working Through a Bureau

When you work with a bureau like Amplify Speakers, many of these questions get answered before you ever pick up the phone. We vet our speakers on these dimensions continuously. We know which ones customize thoroughly and which ones don’t. We know their technical riders, their reference contacts, their backup plans, and their true strengths by audience type. We ask these questions on your behalf so you can move faster and with more confidence.

But even when working through a bureau, it’s worth asking these questions directly during your discovery call. The way a speaker engages with these questions — the specificity, the curiosity, the focus on your outcome rather than their performance — tells you a lot about the kind of partner they’ll be on the day of your event.

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Related reading: How to Choose a Keynote Speaker for Your Event | Keynote Speaker Fees & Pricing Guide | Virtual Keynote Speakers