---
title: "How to Find Speakers for an Event: A B2B Sourcing Workflow"
description: "How to find speakers for a B2B event: define the slots, source customers and partners, score a longlist, send invites, and turn speakers into promoters."
canonical: "https://attendir.com/blog/how-to-find-speakers-for-an-event"
lang: "en"
updated: "Oct 29, 2026"
---

# How to Find Speakers for an Event: A B2B Sourcing Workflow

To find speakers for a B2B event, define each slot first, then build a longlist from people close to your buyers: customers nominated by customer success and sales, partner executives, practitioners already posting on your topic, and past attendees who share your events. Score the list with a rubric, invite in writing, and plan promotion from the yes.

Speaker bureaus and directories are the right answer if you need a paid keynote. For most of a company-hosted B2B agenda, though, the speaker to look for is a customer explaining what they changed, and that person is not on any bureau's roster. Every speaker also brings a network: a customer's operations lead posting "I'm speaking at" can reach peers who look like your buyers, so the speaker list doubles as a distribution list.

This guide covers a six-step workflow from slot planning to promotion, with a scoring rubric, paste-ready invitations, and how to run the promotion step with or without Attendir.

## What You Need Before You Start

**Inputs.** The event date, format and audience description; the agenda shape (how many sessions, how long, which tracks); your speaker budget, including whether you cover travel; and the date the agenda goes public.

**Owners.** One program owner who makes the final call on every slot, plus named helpers: a customer success or customer marketing contact, the partner manager, and a sales leader who can nominate accounts.

**Timeline.** A starting point, adjust to your event: begin sourcing invited speakers at the same time as any open call, and aim to have every invited speaker confirmed before the agenda is announced. Customer speakers who need employer approval can take the longest, so ask them first.

**A tracker.** One sheet with a row per candidate and columns for slot, source, who nominated them, rubric scores, status, approvals needed, and assets received (bio, headshot, session title).

## Step 1: Define the Slots and What Each Needs

"We need speakers" is not a brief. Write down every slot on the agenda and what a good speaker for it looks like.

| Slot | What it has to do | Best sources | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening keynote | Frame the problem, draw registrations | Your CEO or product leader, a respected outside voice, a paid keynote via a bureau | A big name with a generic talk |
| Customer story | Prove the approach works, with specifics | CS and AE nominations, customer advocacy program, CFP submissions | Customer legal or PR sign-off |
| Practitioner panel | Show several ways to do the job | Community, LinkedIn search, past attendees who share | Panelists who all say the same thing |
| Partner session | Cover the integration or service angle | Partner managers | Turns into a sales pitch |
| Product or roadmap session | Show what is coming | Internal product leaders | Too much feature detail, too little "why" |
| Analyst or outside expert | Add a neutral market view | Your analyst relations owner, industry associations | Policies and contracts on the analyst's side |

For each slot, also write the one sentence an attendee should be able to repeat afterward. That sentence becomes your invitation pitch in Step 4.

## Step 2: Build the Longlist by Source

Aim for several candidates per slot so a decline or a blocked approval does not leave a gap. Work these sources in roughly this order, because the first ones are closest to your buyers.

**Customer success and sales nominations.** Send CSMs and account executives a short form: customer name, contact, what they achieved, and whether the relationship is healthy enough to ask. A customer mid-renewal or mid-escalation is the wrong person to put on stage, and the account team is best placed to know. Ask for the story, not the logo: "they cut onboarding time" is a talk; "they're a big brand" is not.

**Your customer advocacy program.** If you run reference calls, case studies or a customer advisory board, those people have already agreed to talk about you in public. Check with the owner of your [customer advocacy program](https://attendir.com/blog/customer-advocacy-marketing) before contacting anyone, so a customer is not asked for three favors in one month.

**Partner managers.** Ask each partner manager for one executive and one hands-on practitioner who could speak. The practitioner can be the better session. Set the rule up front that partner sessions need a joint customer or a concrete implementation story.

**People already posting on the topic.** Search LinkedIn for the problem your event is about, not for "speaker." Look for practitioners who post specific, first-hand detail and get substantive comments from peers. A careful post about how someone rebuilt a process is half a talk already.

**Past attendees and past advocates.** People who keep coming back and telling their networks about your event care about it, and some have a practitioner story. If you have run earlier events on Attendir, open **Audience** in the sidebar. It lists everyone who has shared one of your events on LinkedIn through Attendir, with shares, events, landing page views and event page clicks per person, and a badge: New (one event), Returning (two or three) or Champion (four or more). Filter to last year's event and sort by Most views to see whose posts drew the most visits; each name links to the person's LinkedIn profile, where you check for a practitioner story worth a slot. The page shows no job titles or companies, so that check stays manual.

**An open call.** A call for speakers fills practitioner slots at scale and surfaces people you did not know; our guide to [running a call for speakers](https://attendir.com/blog/call-for-speakers) has the page copy, form fields and its own rubric. Use the open call for the many and direct invitation for keynotes, customer stories and partner sessions.

**Speaker bureaus and directories.** Use them for a paid keynote, where you want a known name and are prepared to pay a fee. Ask for the fee and what it includes (travel, a pre-event call, recording rights) before you shortlist.

## Step 3: Score the Longlist

A rubric stops the loudest internal voice from choosing the agenda. Score each candidate 1 to 5 on each criterion, multiply by the weight, and rank. The weights below are a starting point, not a standard; adjust them to your event.

| Criterion | Weight | 5 looks like | 1 looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Topic fit** | 25% | Has done the exact thing the slot is about | Adjacent topic, would need to stretch |
| **Audience fit** | 20% | Same role and company type as your attendees | Different industry or seniority |
| **Credibility with buyers** | 20% | A peer buyers would call for advice; no product to sell them | Seen as a vendor or commentator |
| **Delivery evidence** | 15% | A recording, a webinar, or a colleague who has seen them present | No evidence either way |
| **Relevant reach and willingness to post** | 10% | Network full of your buyers; says yes to sharing the session | Large but irrelevant following, or won't post |
| **Approvals risk (reverse scored)** | 10% | Can confirm alone, company named freely | Needs legal, PR and executive sign-off; may withdraw late |

Three rules on top of the scores:

- **Reach is a tiebreaker, not a qualifier.** A practitioner with a small network of exactly your buyers beats a commentator with a large general one.
- **No delivery evidence is not a no.** For a strong first-time customer speaker, offer a prep call and a rehearsal instead of dropping them. Score them on the other criteria.
- **Approvals risk sets the ask order.** Invite high-scoring, high-risk candidates first, so their approval runs in parallel with everyone else's.

## Step 4: Send the Invitations

Invite in writing, even after a call, so the details can be forwarded to whoever approves. Each template states the slot, audience, time commitment, what you provide and a reply-by date; replace the bracketed placeholders.

**Customer speaker (sent by or with the account owner)**

> Subject: Would you tell the [Your Event] audience how you [result]?
>
> Hi [First name],
>
> [CSM name] told me about how your team [specific project and outcome]. That is exactly the story our attendees, mostly [audience description], want to hear, and we'd love you to share it as a [length]-minute session at [Your Event] on [date] in [city / online].
>
> What it involves: one prep call with our team, a rehearsal in the week before, and the session itself. We'll help shape the talk, and you approve every slide. We cover [pass / travel / hotel].
>
> If you need sign-off from your legal or communications team to speak or to name [Their Company], let me know and I'll send them a one-page summary of what we'd say and where.
>
> Could you let me know by [date]?
>
> [Your name]

**Partner executive**

> Subject: Joint session at [Your Event]: [topic]
>
> Hi [First name],
>
> We're building the agenda for [Your Event] on [date] and want a session on [topic] that shows how [Your Company] and [Partner] customers [outcome]. We'd like you to lead it, ideally with [joint customer or your implementation lead] alongside you.
>
> The audience is [audience description]. Format is a [length]-minute session; we ask that it centers on a real implementation rather than a product overview.
>
> [Partner manager name] can coordinate details. Could you confirm interest by [date]?
>
> [Your name]

**External practitioner (email or LinkedIn message)**

> Hi [First name], I read your post on [specific topic] and the part about [specific detail] is exactly what our attendees are working through. I'm putting together the agenda for [Your Event], [one-line description], on [date]. Would you consider a [length]-minute session or a seat on our [panel topic] panel? We cover [pass / travel] and help with prep. Happy to share more if it's interesting.

**Follow-up (5 to 7 business days later, a starting point)**

> Hi [First name], following up on [Your Event]. The commitment is [prep call + rehearsal + session] on [date], and if a full session is too much, a seat on our [panel topic] panel is lighter. If it's a no this year, no problem; I'd love to keep you in mind for [next event or webinar].

Send one follow-up, then move to the next candidate on the longlist.

## Step 5: Hand Off From Yes to Logistics

The day someone says yes, send a confirmation that lists everything you need and by when, so missing assets do not stall promotion later.

- **Bio and headshot.** Ask for the bio in parts so you can cut the agenda, session-page and read-aloud versions yourself; our [speaker bio examples](https://attendir.com/blog/speaker-bio-examples) include a collection form you can copy.
- **Session title and a one-line hook.** The hook becomes their first promotional post.
- **AV and format.** Slides or no slides, mic preference, demo needs, remote or on stage, recording consent.
- **Approvals.** For customer speakers: written confirmation that they can name their company, use their logo and, if you plan to, publish the recording. Get it before you announce, not after.
- **Travel and dates.** Who books, what you cover, arrival time, rehearsal slot.
- **Promotion ask.** Tell them you will send a ready-made post and share image on announcement day, and ask whether they will post.

## Step 6: Turn Confirmed Speakers Into Promoters

A speaker announcing their own session can reach people your brand page does not: in general, individual LinkedIn posts earn 8x the engagement of brand-page posts. For the full post copy and reminder sequence, see our guide to [speaker-led event promotion](https://attendir.com/blog/speaker-led-event-promotion). In Attendir, the setup looks like this:

1. **Create a campaign under the event and pick the Speaker Promotion template.** It fills the Audience field with "Speakers" and the Landing Page Label with "Speaking at," which visitors see above the speaker's name on the landing page.
2. **Edit the Default Sharing Text.** The template pre-fills speaker copy (with a `{link}` placeholder if the event has a registration URL); rewrite it in your event's voice and keep `{link}`, which is replaced with each speaker's own tracked link. The share card personalizes the speaker's LinkedIn photo and name on your artwork, and nothing else, so the session title and time belong in the text.
3. **Invite speakers in bulk.** On the campaign page, click **Send Invites** and paste the confirmed speakers' emails, one per line or comma-separated. Each speaker gets an email linking to the share page; failed invites can be retried.
4. **Speakers post in one click.** On the share page, a speaker signs in with LinkedIn, sees their personalized card, edits the suggested text if they want, and publishes the post and image to LinkedIn in one click.

Send the invites on announcement day, not before: a speaker who posts before the agenda is public sends people to an event page that does not list them yet.

## Doing It Without Attendir

The same workflow runs on tools you already have:

- **A speaker kit** per speaker: two or three pre-written posts using their hook, a share image with their photo and name added in a design tool, and the registration link.
- **A per-speaker UTM link** on your own registration URL, for example `utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=speaker&utm_campaign=[event]&utm_content=[speaker-name]`, so registrations by speaker can be counted if your registration platform captures UTM parameters.
- **A shared tracker sheet**, the same one from your longlist, with columns for "kit sent," "posted," post URL and a reminder date. Someone checks LinkedIn by hand.

The cost is assembly time per speaker and chasing: you only know who posted if you look.

## How to Measure It

**Sourcing.** In your tracker: candidates per source, acceptance rate per source, and which sources produced your best-rated sessions in the post-event survey. That tells you where to start next year.

**Promotion, in Attendir.** The campaign page lists each speaker who posted on LinkedIn, with the landing page views and click-throughs to your registration page from their link, plus campaign totals for shares, views and clicks. That tells you who posted and whose posts drove visits.

**Registrations, in your registration platform.** Attendir does not count completed registrations. Use your platform's source fields or UTMs to see registrations by source.

## Limits and Gotchas

- **The Audience page only shows past LinkedIn sharers.** People who attended but never shared on LinkedIn through Attendir are not in it, so it complements your attendee list rather than replacing it.
- **Tracked links do not add UTMs.** The landing page button sends visitors to the event's registration URL unchanged, so any UTM on that URL applies to everyone in every campaign under the event. For registrations by speaker, use per-speaker UTM links in your own platform as described above.
- **Plan quotas apply.** Lite includes 50 invites and 50 shares a month, so a large speaker roster plus attendee invites in the same month can hit the cap; Unlimited has no caps. The 7-day trial includes no invites.
- **Only LinkedIn is posted natively.** X, WhatsApp, email and copy-link shares are tracked, but the speaker posts those themselves.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do you find speakers for an event for free?

Start with people who have a reason to speak other than a fee: customers with a result they are proud of, partners who want visibility with your audience, practitioners building their reputation, and internal product leaders. Offer what costs you little but matters to them, such as a pass, prep help, a session recording and promotion of their session.

### Should you pay speakers at a B2B company event?

For customer, partner and practitioner speakers, you can decide not to offer a speaking fee, but covering the cost of attending is a fair starting point: a full pass, plus travel and hotel for non-local speakers where the budget allows. A paid keynote booked through a bureau is a separate negotiation.

### How far in advance should you book speakers?

Work back from the date the agenda goes public, since every speaker should be confirmed before then. Customer speakers who need legal or communications approval can take the longest, so invite them first; practitioner panelists and internal speakers may need fewer sign-offs. For a paid keynote, contact the bureau as soon as the date is fixed.

## Find Speakers Who Fill the Room Twice

The right B2B speaker earns a seat with buyers once on stage and again in their feed. See how [Attendir supports B2B conferences](https://attendir.com/use-cases/b2b-conferences) with personalized speaker share cards, one-click LinkedIn posting and per-speaker tracked links.

## Related Articles

- [How to Moderate a Panel Discussion: A B2B Playbook](https://attendir.com/blog/how-to-moderate-a-panel-discussion)
- [Webinar Best Practices: How to Run a Session People Finish](https://attendir.com/blog/webinar-best-practices)
- [Webinar Lead Generation: From Registration to Pipeline](https://attendir.com/blog/webinar-lead-generation)