ASK AN INTERNAL MEETING SPEAKER: WHY ARE FUTURIST KEYNOTES ON THE RISE?

Given our services as internal meetings speakers, we’ve noticed that in-house programs are on the rise and growing in popularity with event planners. There are a few likely reasons why such get-togethers are becoming more popular in organizations:

• Increased remote/hybrid work – Like internal meetings speakers have observed, with more employees working remotely, meetings are often the only way to connect teams and foster collaboration. More meetings help keep alignment.
• Flatter organizational structures – Fewer levels of management means more direct communication is needed to keep everyone on the same page.
• Agile methodologies – Methods like Scrum and Kanban rely on frequent standup meetings to sync up teams and track progress.
• Changing workstyles – As internal meetings speakers often point out, younger employees also tend to prefer interactive meetings over memos or emails. Meetings provide connection.
• More data and metrics – There is an increasing focus on data, analytics and OKRs. More meetings help review metrics and performance.
• Distributed teams – Globalization has led to more distributed teams who need regular virtual meetings to stay coordinated. Frequently, internal meetings speakers step in to also help add a sense of excitement and motivation to any educational session or program.
• Focus on transparency – Organizations aim for more transparency and want to eliminate silos via open communication.
• Benefits of collaboration – Meetings enable real-time problem solving, brainstorming and knowledge sharing. Again – top-notch internal meetings speakers add another level of input and advice here, as well as an external perspective to views circulating amongst internal teams.
• Changing leadership styles – More participatory, conversational leadership styles drive an increase in updates and dialog.
• Technology improvements – Video conferencing, screen sharing and online collaboration make meetings easier than ever.

If you were to chat with many internal meetings speakers, you’d get the clear and compelling sense that as the nature of work evolves, meetings provide a way to align distributed teams, drive faster responses, encourage participation and increase transparency across organizations. Which, of course, no doubt contributes to their growing prominence and popularity amongst corporate audiences, association executives and non-profit leadership teams alike.