How do you thank a guest speaker?

Delivering a meaningful thank you after your speaker’s presentation is a valuable way to reinforce the key takeaways from the presentation, and make the speaker feel adequately appreciated for their time.

Three key elements of a good thank you speech include making it genuine, specific, and personalised.

This is the most important part of the thank you. Guest speakers often show great vulnerability and courage. Beginning your thank you by acknowledging these characteristics will go a long way in making them feel genuinely appreciated. Instead of using a cliché like ‘thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule’, make the impact of the speaker’s presentation known. How did you feel after the speech? Use adjectives like motivational, insightful and powerful.

Your thank you speech is also your chance to highlight the impact of specific themes or points from their presentation. Incorporating these into your thank you will not only solidify the key takeaways for the audience, but also make the speaker feel like they were listened to. However, make sure not to just repeat parts of their speech, make it specific to your audience and similar to your introduction, keep it short and to the point.

Your research that you completed in order to properly introduce your speaker will also help you thank them. Have they recently received an award or honour of some other kind? Tie that into your takeaways and congratulate them. Are they visiting from far away or making a return home? Help make them feel that their presentation was both worth their time, and well received. Although not a requirement given that you have most likely paid for their time, a personalised gift can also be a nice way to display your gratitude.

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To get started, book one of our popular guest speakers today or contact us if you have any questions - we’re here to help.

Read our informative blogs on how to find guest speakers, how to invite speakers to an event, how much a guest speaker charges, how to introduce a guest speaker, how long a guest speaker talks for, and our top guest speakers of 2022.