How Does a Guest Speaker Benefit You

Why Hire a Guest Speaker or a Safety Speaker? What is the benefit of having Hawk Vagg  as a guest speaker at your toolbox talk or workplace

I'm Breaking My Neck to Speak at your Company

What Should You Look For In a Guest Speaker

Someone to:

• Educate
• Motivate
• Shift Behaviour
• Raise Awareness
• Initiate a Change Effort
• Promote your Safety Message
• Entertainment

What Should You Look For In a Guest Speaker

Someone who..

• Can connect with your people
• Your people can relate to
• Has been impacted greatly by a workplace incident
• Has a firm belief and commitment to safety – at work and at home
• Understands the consequences of bad habits, complacency, fatigue, time pressure..

At the end of this post is a list of What you get when you hire Hawk Vagg as your Guest Safety Speaker.

Imagine a Traveling Safety Speaking Circuit

Imagine travelling around mining companies and businesses and presenting a safety series based on a workplace accident and the results thereof…Mmmm food for thought… think about it  – knowing that at a particular time of the month, your employees would be privy  to a pre-scheduled session designed to prick their safety consciousness…

That was the purpose of the circuit back in the 1860’s – to share knowledge, popularize ideas and teach others about particular topics.

That is the still the point of having a Guest Speaker today! To share experiences, popularize safety ideas,change culture, shift attitudes and tech others to look out for each other and stay safe.

The History of Speaking

Back in 1820, when a man names Josiah Holbrook developed the idea of a lecture series called Lyceum.  Named after the Greek theater where Aristotle lectured his students (for free).    Everyone wanted to hear and learn, so it was amazingly popular, and so they began to travel.

In 1867, some groups joined together to form the Associated Literary Society and thus began a “circuit” of speaking tours.. where speakers were booked to travel a prescribed route – presenting from city to city.   (this is our ideal scenario) ..

It's Never About Money – or is it?

The fee is for the value I provide to whoever hires me.

"How much would it be worth to have a guest speaker make your staff a little wiser, more motivated or safer when returning to work?"

There is definitely some economic value to what a good relevant guest speaker, can do for your people.

It depends on how valuable the people in the room are to whoever is footing the bill.. or the amount of savings that could come from hearing your message from someone else.

So in the grand scheme of things, the cost of hiring a safety guest speaker is minimal.

Initially in the 1800’s  there was little money for speakers, it was more a public service.  However over time, as guest speakers became more popular, bringing in larger crowds, and the knowledge shared was useful, speakers began to charge for their knowledge.

Free lectures continued, they always will.

With the advent of video, radio, telephones, internet and air travel and everything else we take for granted these days – the idea of guest speaker safety circuit seems irrelevant.  Or is it?

There are many experts in the safety field, all knowledgable – there are many safety conferences, corporate events and training days scheduled within companies every week.  Yet how do you get the safety message across to Joe Ordinary – the worker – so that it comes across as more than “just another safety guy talking”.

There is a high demand for guest speakers – through speaker bureaus, talent agencies and such. WHY?

Guest Speakers are the middle man or woman. sharing and reinforcing your message, based on their own experiences.

If you want Bill Clinton, Madonna or Stephen King to be guest speakers at your tool box talk – there are speaker bureaus representing each of them and they would love to make a deal with you.    See the table below for their fees.

No doubt they are knowledgeable in their field,  and could tell a good tale about some of their near miss accidents or the risks they encounter in their daily work…  but if this seems a little out of your range.. perhaps it puts my fee in perspective.

The fee is for the value I provide to whoever hires me…

“How much would it be worth to have a guest speaker make your staff a little wiser, more motivated or safer when returning to work?”

Maybe its not worth $30,000 or even $5,000 but there is definitely some economic value to what a good relevant guest speaker, can do for your people.

It depends on how valuable the people in the room are to whoever is footing the bill.. or the amount of savings that could come from hearing your message from someone else.

So in the grand scheme of things, the cost of hiring a safety guest speaker is minimal.

Even if its just for entertainment, or for reminding the audience of important things they’ve forgotten, a good guest speaker is worth something..  Think of the last boring tool box talk you were at,  would you have paid a few bucks to make the speaker suck less.. or the information more “real”.. I bet you would.

Speaking at Your Business is a Little Different

Guest Speakers are generally paid for their ability to draw people to an event, there is no guarantee that they will be interesting or relevant to what you are seeking.   It is purely a raw economic value proposition.

As a rule the bigger the name the more prestigious their backgrounds, the more experienced they are, the more interesting their presentation, the more you need to be willing to pay…

However in the safety arena.. its not about ability to draw a crowd, its about having a specialist speaker share their first hand experience to influence your people to connect with your safety message and remember to be safe.

The challenge is finding someone who is going to get your message out there.

Finding a Guest Speaker  who is

• Credible for a safety topic
• Good at speaking or
• Passionate about Safety Matters and
• Available

The compensation also covers all the things that people tend to forget that I have done or do in order to be capable of speaking to your group.

A speaking presentation takes a good hour to deliver.   Each time you share your story you are giving part of yourself away.. by opening up about your life – you are giving people an insight into you… and it can be stressful and intense,  reliving an event or events that affected your life in a major way.    Hence why most people just go to their day job and do the same thing day in and day out…

In order to deliver a relevant speech, it takes time to research and collate your speech.. granted part of it is my story.. however  to give you the best bang for your buck.. and to make it ultra relevant to your staff – it is best to prepare..

Then consider, my trip to the venue.   Not as easy for me as for you..   remember I am in a wheelchair.. and when you hear my partner speak, she can tell you all about not taking shortcuts..    What may take you 15 mins generally will take us anywhere from an hour to hour and half…

And yes, we choose to do this, because we believe that my story will save lives or change attitudes, – we are not complaining…  however, it is worth thinking about as you consider the cost of hiring a safety guest speaker.

There are many unspoken risks associated with developing a safety speaking circuit –   We run the risk of having no salary, no superannuations. Our speaking career could come to an unfortunate end – and we would be left unemployed.

Many people can do this, I agree, but Im not being paid simply to talk , Im paid for the knowledge and experience I have gained through my suffering and that of those close to me..

The thing is how do you know if a safety guest speaker has been effective… afterall – its like having a roo bar… if you don’t see a roo – you can’t tell if it works…   if you aren’t having accidents and you have a guest speaker and you continue to not have accidents – is that because you hired a guest speaker or not…  I guess you may never know.

One thing is for sure, if you don’t hire us… there is a chance you will continue to have minor incidents and accidents.

What do you get when you hire Hawk Vagg as a guest speaker

• Highly skilled, highly motivated, seasoned and experienced speaker
• Honest, direct, no holes barred open discussion
• Passionate about create safety awareness and culture shifts
• Easy-going, who listens to others and shares his ideas without reservation
• Hands on – for real – experience of a workplace accident and its impact

How will you benefit from hiring Hawk Vagg as your guest speaker

• His presentation leaves a lasting impression…
• Your workforce will stay focused on safety
• Workers will look out for each others safety
• Your safety culture will be reinforced
• Increased safety awareness
• Staff will be motivated to improve safety.

So if you are looking for a guest speaker to light the fire of Hope and Possibility of a safer workpalce, of zero harm – contact us today to discuss having us as a Guest Speaker and what we can do for you.

**These fees were compiled from public listings on various speaker bureau websites. Most sites note that these fees are variable and may change at any time. See http://www.keyspeakers.com or http:// www.prosportspeaker.com