Book an After Dinner Speaker
JLA was founded in 1990 and is now the biggest specialist agency in the country – described by the Financial Times as “The UK’s leading speaker bureau.” We provide conference, motivational and after dinner speakers, presenters, awards hosts and performers for over 2000 corporate and public sector events each year, across Britain and continental Europe.
After dinner speakers are often the highlight of an event, when PowerPoint gives way to insights and tales from the outside world. The purpose of all after dinner speakers should be to entertain guests – even if they’re talking about the state of the economy, customer service or a future shaped by self-driving cars. But what marks out the best after dinner speakers is their ability to let you in on secrets, revealing something new about someone or something very familiar.
Celebrities sometimes have a part to play in attracting guests, but it’s worth noting that many of the most respected after dinner speakers are unknown outside the circuit and command considerably more modest fees. Like any talent agency or speaker bureau, JLA won’t turn away gargantuan budgets – but with acres of feedback on all kinds of after dinner speakers we also like to prove that you don’t need to pay ‘AA’ fees to ensure that people will laugh. So long as the speaker knows how to relate to the audience, there’s no automatic correlation between his or her profile and their appreciation. Guests enjoy making a discovery.
The same rule applies to stand-ups, who are a viable alternative to after dinner speakers for many clients. Every September 850 organisers and producers come to JLA’s much talked about Real Variety Show to preview up-and-coming comics suitable for corporate audiences.
Of course presenters can play as central a role as after dinner speakers in increasing the impact of events. The right talent will energise the room and ensure your key messages come across. And when it comes to recognising achievement, a well-chosen professional lends both authority and entertainment value to awards ceremonies. (We provide hosts for more than 250 awards events each year.)
As we hope you’ll discover, there are many things that make JLA distinct. We exclusively represent numerous leading figures – including after dinner speakers; we host breakfast showcases to introduce the latest conference speakers; and we publish Europe’s only speaker / talent directory for the live event industry. But most importantly JLA has the biggest, brightest and best team of agents to help you make your audiences stand up and applaud.
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