After Dinner Speakers

After dinner speakers can combine insight, humour, ideas and inspiration. They might cover topics such as personal, or team success stories, business leadership, or a behind-the-scenes look at politics, media or sports. Whether sports figures and adventurers sharing tales of endurance and dedication or speakers discussing current affairs or industry trends, both weave these experiences with stories in a lighter tone.

You may feel a famous or recognisable name is essential, or it might be that the speaker’s content or delivery matters more. JLA’s knowledge and experience covering many speakers over hundreds of events can help guide you towards the right fit.

Most after dinner speeches typically last between 25 to 35 minutes, balancing engagement and entertainment.

Some after dinner speakers can adjust their speech to be shorter or longer to suit your needs (although longer may risk the audience’s attention drifting after drinks and a meal). Sometimes, it’s a good idea for the speaker to take questions from the audience, which you must factor into your time. Most speeches take place after or towards the end of the meal, but the content, style of the speaker, or the agenda for the evening may mean placing the speech during or before the meal.

To discuss these factors, please contact JLA. You can contact us here.

The two are often confused.

An after dinner speaker’s role doesn’t centre around telling jokes, but rather telling stories in a lighter tone, from their life and experience. These stories often reveal something unexpected about people or situations the audience is familiar with. Whatever sector they come from, whether politics, sport, media, or business, they combine an insight into those worlds with their storytelling and amusing anecdotes.

In contrast, a comedian’s sole aim is to entertain the audience with a crafted performance similar to that you would see in a comedy club or on TV. Though they will adjust their performances to the event and audience, they aim to perform their strongest, funniest routine. You can view our selection of comedian’s here.

After dinner, speakers carefully tailor their stories to the room and their interests. Where a comedian will view a room as a group of individuals to entertain, an after dinner speaker will view a room as an invited audience with a shared interest through their organisation or industry, balancing insights and stories based on that.

JLA saves you time, offers more options, and ensures a seamless process. We provide easy access to a wide range of talent and offer expert recommendations and insights tailored to your event’s goals and budget. We also manage all negotiations, contracts, briefing and logistics, minimising the risk of any issues. We are also one of the biggest procurers of talent globally, giving you unrivalled buying power, alongside a team that has accumulated over 200 years of combined experience.

JLA researches, shortlists and negotiates on your behalf. We take the guess-work out of knowing who might be right, how to contact them and what their fee might be, taking the risk out of knowing whether a speaker will work for your brief and audience. We provide expertise in handling talent, knowing what to expect, communicating important details, and taking the stress out of this crucial, highly visible element of your event.

It’s why 96% of our clients come back to us – we provide a low-friction, efficient route to a better event.