If you are looking for a speaker to help your company improve teamwork, productivity, and morale, you are probably looking for a motivational speaker. If you want someone to speak at your fundraising event or dinner, a public speaker is probably more appropriate. How would you differentiate between the two types of speakers?

A motivational speaker will take an interest in your business, learn more about what it does and how it operates. This will allow them to create the right type of presentation that is designed to be unique to you. There is unlikely to be a “one size fits all” presentation as all companies are different.

The motivational speaker will find out in advance what you need to accomplish from the session and incorporate it into the session. You may want to increase productivity, boost morale, or improve communication within the organization.

A motivational speaker will have the skills and experience to help you achieve these goals. Drawing on experience and skills, the speaker may use analogies and situations outside of the workplace to convey the message.

A good motivational speaker will follow up after the event to see how you have progressed. This will allow them to see how processes, procedures, and perhaps even work practices have changed for the better. If things haven’t changed, they can offer ideas and advice on how you can achieve your goals.

A motivational speaker won’t necessarily be a household name. However, they will be leaders in their field, or they will have the experience of being in similar circumstances or recognizing scenarios, and they will know how to improve the current situation.

A motivational speaker will inspire and motivate staff to improve morale and productivity. This can be by making staff feel more valued, helping to change processes or procedures, improving communication, making better use of existing staff skills, and more.

A public speaker is likely to be a celebrity or well-known person. For example, they could be experts in your field or a radio or television personality. They may have a “poverty to riches” story, rather than a story about restructuring troubled companies or increasing turnover.

A public speaker will likely talk about their experiences and how they were affected by them, and how their experiences have changed them, rather than relating them to a business environment.

A public speaker is likely to give the same speech to all audiences, as it is not designed for a particular company or industry sector.

Public speakers are great for functions like fundraising dinners and are a great way to encourage people to attend an event. Imagine a world famous celebrity performing and speaking at your event!

While the public speaker can be funny, entertaining, and frank, their story is likely not relevant in the workplace. It’s not likely that it can take much to make you more productive or improve morale.