Inviting a Speaker

The Kellogg Corporate Engagement team offers resources and best practices for speaker and sponsor engagement. We provide industry connection and strategic support to create a consistent, professional experience and elevate the Kellogg brand.

Please review the below best practices and processes for sourcing, inviting and hosting an external guest to speak at your event:

1. Sourcing a Speaker:

• Conduct initial research to identify companies and/or Kellogg alumni that are of interest to you for your event and that may be compelled to accept an invitation for your Kellogg club..
• Use LinkedIn to identify Kellogg alumni with specific job titles or who are employed at your target companies.
• Look through Crain’s Chicago Business to find local business leaders.
• Utilize your networks.

2. Inviting a Speaker:

Plan in Advance

• Notify Corporate Engagement before inviting speakers who have a strong connection to the university, and when planning for an event with an intended audience of 100+.
• Invite speakers 2-3 months in advance, whenever possible.
• Utilize Corporate Engagement Speaker Templates and resources located in the Related Resources box.
• Corporate Engagement can help strategize outreach including leveraging senior leader support, providing contact information, content considerations, and enhancing invitation with other on campus engagements.

3. Hosting a Speaker:

Coordinate Schedule & Content

• Prior to confirming the date and time with the speaker, review the Kellogg Campus Groups calendar. This will minimize the likelihood of  conflicts, which can negatively affect your attendance. Please be aware that Wednesdays from 12-1:30 are reserved for administrative events and no club programming can be scheduled at this time.
• Partner with other clubs to maximize reach and increase audience size for a high-level speaker.
• Work with your team to develop informed and relevant content, program format, and create a speaker briefing. Please check out the Related Resources box for helpful templates.
• Once confirmed, create an event page on Campus Groups, where you will be prompted to upload speaker information using this form. You may also submit speaker information directly via our web form.

Actualize your Event

• Two weeks prior to event, host a prep call with speaker(s) to review content, format, logistics, visit schedule, travel, or any other special needs.
• One week in advance, review host checklist and prepare any day-of materials. This includes:
• For in-person speaker: Retrieve parking voucher and speaker gift (Office of Student Life), submit/confirm catering order, prepare post-event survey
• Promote your event to all relevant clubs, cohorts, and programs via newsletters, emails and appropriate slack channels (not general channel) to ensure your programming is accessible to as many students as possible.
• Monitor your registration numbers and plan for attrition (typically 20-30%).  If needed, move to a smaller room (if available).  It is better to have a smaller room packed than a larger room half empty.  
  

Speaker Gifts

• Godiva chocolate boxes are available for pick-up in the Office of Student Life.  
• We can also facilitate a thank you note to your guest on behalf of Kellogg. If you would like this option, please submit the details of your event here.
• For virtual speakers, we recommend you mail a hand-written thank you note.
  

Student Conferences

Student conferences are approved on an annual basis via a conference proposal as it enables us to plan the calendar, manage space requests and ensure proper allocation of resources. Conference resources for inviting speakers can be found here. Conference resources for soliciting sponsorships can be found here.

Student Training Materials

• Student Training PowerPoint Deck
• Key Dates Document

Administrative Contacts