Our daily conversations with bureaus and direct clients, alongside the enquiry and booking data we track on our CRM, provides us with a useful view of the global speaker market. Below is a snapshot of what we are currently seeing. But, as you will know, the market moves quickly: what’s in demand today won’t necessarily stay that way!
AI: the brief is changing
AI remains high on the agenda, but the parameters of what clients are looking for are changing. Eighteen months ago, many companies wanted an introduction: what is AI, and what should we do about it? Today, the questions are far more specific, spanning its inevitable impact on the workplace, security, democracy and society, alongside the commercial opportunities and risks ahead.
If AI intersects naturally with your existing material, let us know how you’re incorporating it. That doesn’t mean repositioning yourself as an AI speaker, it means drawing on your expertise to address the questions and answers clients are actively raising. However, don’t force the connection simply because demand is there.
The data also shows that over the past 12 months we are seeing fewer enquiries, overall but a higher proportion converting into bookings. Bureaus we speak to are reporting a similar pattern.
Our reading is that clients are doing more research before contacting a bureau or approaching you directly. This means fewer speculative enquiries and more considered approaches. So, if you’ve noticed fewer enquiries on your dashboard, don’t assume demand has dropped, the conversion rate matters too and is the most important.
Leadership, change and turnaround are back
The last quarter has seen a significant increase in bookings for leadership, change and turnaround speakers, following a quieter period over the previous 18 months.
AI and macro disruption are driving this shift. As organisations move beyond the initial headlines and high-level strategy, leadership teams face the operational reality of implementation. They need proven frameworks to align teams, and drive real transformation while the operating environment continues to shift beneath them
DEI remains a tougher market
As some of you will have noticed, enquiries and bookings for DE&I speakers have fallen significantly, particularly over the past 18 months. Bureau bookers in the United States tell us demand has almost disappeared due to Trump’s second term. Unfortunately, Europe has followed suit, albeit not to the same extreme. This is reflected in fewer bookings around International Women’s Day and Black History Month.
While it’s a challenging picture for the DE&I space, the market is cyclical, and we remain hopeful that demand will recover, although we can’t assume it will return to the levels seen in previous years.