From a speaker perspective - which is where I obviously sit - this matters a lot. Relevance to the audience is now the number one factor organisers say they value when selecting a speaker. It ranked three times more important than name recognition. Big names can fill seats. But relevance is what fills the feedback forms and earns the return invitation.
From my experience the speakers who make their content relevant and practical get the highest ratings and get repeat booked time and time again vs a big name that doesn’t tailor their content and provide clear takeaways.
Content used to be the main reason people came to events. Now content is everywhere - podcasts, webinars, AI-generated summaries tailored to your exact role. Anyone can learn almost anything, from anywhere, at any time.
So, the question for events has really shifted. It's no longer 'is the content good?' It's 'why does this need to happen in a room?'
What audiences are actually asking for isn't more information. Its usefulness. Context. Access to the thinking behind the ideas - not just the ideas themselves. The ability to ask a question specific to their situation. The conversation that starts when the session ends, creating conditions that allow for people to make sense of information together - screens cannot replicate this interaction, design opportunities that require people to be together in a room! Speakers who can facilitate discussion and lean in and out of the flow of their presentation to take questions for instance will be at an advantage. I recently witnessed a perfect example of this; Dr Lucy Hone was asked to do a facilitated q and a session – at the last minute it was switched to an interactive presentation where she had open dialogue with the audience and there were points throughout where people could ask questions. It felt like one of those books you had as a kid where you picked which way the story went and design the content you are most interested in. It felt completely personalised, and the feeling in the room was electric and moving – this could not be replicated in any other format other than being in the room together and it was one of the most moving and relevant presentations I have ever been part of.
The data is pretty direct about what's not working: irrelevant content is the number one attendee complaint, cited by nearly one in four respondents. 55% of people say attendees expect practical actionable takeaways as the number one expectation vs 8% stronger production values – that message is loud and clear people want useful info not fancier events.
The research puts it simply: will people leave with something they can actually use when they're back at work? That's the test. And it applies to programme design and speaker selection in equal measure, which happens to be exactly where we can help. It is key to match the right speaker to the right audience with the right message.
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