How to Write Formal Letters to a Keynote Speaker

When the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast organization held its annual event in 2009, it did not send President Obama a formal invitation. As a result, the President did not attend. The group's founder said told Cybercast News Service that "It has been the group's practice to accommodate a president if he expresses interest in attending." But to ensure a prospective attendee makes it to your next big event, send a formal invitation. If you would like an attendee to consider being a keynote speaker, make sure you express your request clearly and send it ahead of time.

Instructions

1. Talk to the communications liaison in charge of the speaker's schedule. If the prospective speaker is a high-profile person, he or she may be managed by a speaker's bureau or a communications office. Before you write a letter, check with the communications liaison to get details on how to reply and what details to include in request letter. Some organizations require you to submit an online form, which is the case at NASA when requesting an astronaut speak at an outside event.

2. State your request clearly. If your prospective speaker is in high demand, then he or she likely is a very busy person. Make it easy for the person to get an overview of the request. State your specific request clearly and soon after the opening in the letter. One of Microsoft's speaker request template letters suggests: "We are having our annual conference in Basingstoke on June 17 to 19. The theme of this year's meeting is Community Resources for Senior Citizens. As you might guess, most of our discussions will focus on the important role that our members can play in community affairs. Would you be our keynote speaker for this conference?"

3. Recognize prospective speaker's achievements. "We are well acquainted with your excellent newspaper and magazine articles on the importance to older people of keeping involved. Your remarks as keynoter would set the tone perfectly for our conference," states the Microsoft template.

4. Give the speaker details about the audience and time limits. A 20-minute talk certainly takes less preparation than a 45-minute one, so help your prospective speaker prepare by giving him or her a time limit. Also, share a few details about the audience. What is the age range of the audience? Do they have a particular political or religious leaning? Why are they coming to this talk?

5. Give a specific deadline for replying and mail the request ahead of time. Some communication's offices need requests about two months ahead of time. Others may need your request months before that. The general rule is that earlier always is better. Mail your request by the suggested deadline. Also, make sure you let your prospective speaker of the date you need to confirm an acceptance and to whom and how he or she should reply.

References

• CNSNews.com: " 'More Than Happy' to Formally Invite Obama to National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, Founder Says"
• NASA Speaker Request Form
• Microsoft Office Template

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish