5 Ways to Bless Your Retreat Speaker
Are you bringing in a guest speaker? Honorariums are necessary and important. That cost should be an non-negotiable item on your event budget. Many speakers depend on them for their livelihood. But today I want to consider additional ways that you can show your appreciation and bless your speaker, over and above any cash payment:
- Communicate with your guest speaker so that there are as few as possible “surprises” awaiting her. She should know as much as you can tell her about the event theme, the schedule for the event and time frame for her speaking, suggested dress for the event, available technology, who will meet her and get her to the venue and any overnight accommodations. If she has hand-outs, get them ahead of time so that they are copied and ready for her.
- Have a welcome basket in the speaker’s room awaiting her arrival. This welcome basket could include: bottles of water or her special drink, healthy snacks, mints, throat lozenges, small plaque with theme verse and even a small gift. (Keep in mind that if the speaker is traveling by airplane, any gifts should be small and transportable.)
- Assign a “hostess” to the speaker who will sit by her and be available to her during the entire event to help with anything she may need. This could range from working with the hotel if her room is not satisfactory, to bringing her water, or a sweater or anything else she might find herself needing.
- Different speakers will have different levels of expertise with microphones and other technology. As much as possible, make sure that your speaker is comfortable with the set up prior to your event. Do the microphone test prior to the start of the event and make sure she is comfortable with it and any other technology she may want to use (overheads, timer, etc.).
- Provide cards (even index cards) that your women may use to write a “thank you” note expressing how the speaker’s ministry has blessed them. These can be put in a basket or collected at the end of the retreat and included with the speaker’s honorarium.
Can you add to this list?? How have you blessed your guest speaker?
