The best professional speakers are a rare breed—not only are they experts in their field, often with decades of industry experience, but they are also masters of what is often reported as feared more than death: public speaking. Professional speakers have the magical combination of magnetic charisma and expert knowledge that enables them to draw in their audience, and then educate, energize, motivate, and inspire the crowd.  

With many professional speakers on the circuit, how can you ensure you hire one of the tried-and-true best professional speakers for your big event?  Read on for our list of the top 11 professional speakers who have delivered amazing results for our clients, time and time again.

1. Barbara Corcoran
Best known as a panelist on ABC’s Shark Tank, Barbara Corcoran is a self-made real estate mogul, entrepreneur, and author.  Corcoran’s business keynote tells her inspirational story of turning a $1,000 loan into a $5 billion dollar real estate company.  As a business speaker, Barbara Corcoran brings her front-line business experience and infectious energy to every group she addresses. Motivational, inspirational, and sometimes outrageous, Barbara Corcoran’s tell-it-like-it-is attitude is a refreshing approach to business success.

2. Fredrik Eklund
One of our favorite and most colorful professional speakers is Fredrik Eklund. Fredrik Eklund, the energetic, high-kicking, top broker at Douglas Elliman has secured over two billion dollars in closed residential sales. Constantly rated as New York City’ “Top Luxury Broker,” he set record sales in 28 buildings in Manhattan last year alone and is often spotted showing apartments to top name celebrities including Sara Jessica Parker and Jennifer Lopez. He was also the star of Bravo’s hit series Million Dollar Listing New York. Fredrik also frequents the main stage at major business events; and with his larger than life personality and record-breaking sales acumen, Fredrik will capture the interest of any size audience. One of Fredrik’s most memorable events this year was in Sweden to an audience of nearly 3,000 people. To say that the event was a success would be an understatement. It was a home run hit that took the audience from fits of laughter, to tears, and then to their feet for a standing ovation.

3. Peter Diamandis
In 2014 Fortune Magazine named Peter Diamandis as one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. Diamandis is the Founder & Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. Diamandis is also New York Times bestselling author of two books: Abundance and BOLD. As an entrepreneur and futurist speaker, Peter is also a sought after professional speaker. This year he spoke at ThoughtWorks’s ParadigmShift, an executive conference that brings together business and tech’s most influential thinkers. Peter often speaks on the topics of technology, future tech and global trends, and innovation.

4. Peyton Manning
This year football living legend, Peyton Manning, spoke at Entrarta Summit, a four-day corporate conference that offered training courses, breakout sessions, and an impressive roster of keynote speakers, about personal branding and negotiation skills. When the scheduling and budget work out, a celebrity speaker can be a great addition to a conference. Peyton spoke on the importance of leadership, as well as teamwork skills in accomplishing any project. Having a celebrity as your keynote speaker can add some buzz around your event and provide attendees with chance to hear from beloved public figure about how they made it big.

5. Simon T. Bailey
Simon T. Bailey is one of America’s top 10 most-booked professional speakers on change, leadership, and customer experience. Simon is the CEO of Simon T. Bailey International, a premium education company specializing in creating learning and development content for individuals and organizations. His keynotes focus on bringing out your brilliance and will teach you how to make something happen instead of just playing it safe. A Simon T. Bailey keynote will inspire and invigorate your team with his brilliant message.

6. Peter Zeihan
Geopolitical Strategist Peter Zeihan is a global energy, demographic and security expert.  While Zeihan is best known for his expertise in geopolitics, knowing the ins and outs of domestic and international markets, economies, and relations is more vital than ever before in understanding how to prepare your business to best succeed during times of change.  Zeihan explains how geography and economic and political climate elevates some business sectors while enervating others, and what sort of surprises — both good and bad — are about to burst onto the stage.

7. Juliet Funt
Juliet Funt is the CEO of WhiteSpace at Work, a training and consulting firm that helps organizations, their leaders and employees flip the norms of business in order to reclaim their creativity, productivity and engagement. Juliet helps attendees learn the pivotal difference between activity and productivity. She teaches them a streamlined method for personal process improvement–leading to more creativity and engagement. She also helps executives, managers, and teams answer the critical question “What thoughts deserve my full attention today?” Booking Juliet as a professional speaker at your next corporate meeting will be a game changer, plus she’s really funny!

8. Peter Sheahan
Peter Sheahan is the founder & group CEO of Karrikins Group. Peter is known internationally for his innovative customized professional keynotes and thought leadership and has advised leaders from companies as diverse as Apple, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Hyundai, IBM, Pfizer, Wells Fargo, and Cardinal Health. As a professional speaker at a corporate meeting Peter will advise your company on matter such as, finding opportunity in disruption to create more value, how to turn a challenge into opportunity and disruption into competitive an advantage, and building organizations and teams capable of sustaining growth through a culture of innovation, courageous leadership, and aligned individuals.

9. Mike Walsh
Mike Walsh is a renowned futurist, bestselling author, and the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing business for the 21st century and consumer innovation research lab.  As a global nomad, professional speaker and consumer trend scout, Mike Walsh brings a truly global perspective to every event.  Rather than focusing on the distant future, Mike focuses on the next five years – scanning the near horizon for disruptive technologies and consumer innovations on the verge of hitting critical mass – then translating these into usable business strategies.  Mike Walsh has advised the CEOs and senior management teams at multinational companies including: the BBC, Fuji?lm, Richemont, MSN, Star TV, Televisa, Philips, and HSBC.

10. Sallie Krawcheck
As the Chair of a major investing fund, the former CEO of Citi Global Wealth Management, and former President of Global Wealth & Investment Management for Bank of America, Krawcheck knows a thing or two about business and finance.  She has been listed as one of Forbes’ and Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” in business and U.S. Banker’s top “Woman to Watch.” She is a past recipient of CNBC’s “Business Leader of the Future Award,” was one of Time magazine’s “Global Business Influentials,” Fortune’s “Most Influential Person Under the Age of 40” and an “Institutional Investor” top CFO in financial services.  She was recognized by the World Economic Forum as one of its Young Global Leaders and has been lauded as an exceptional top female business speaker for businesses and associations.  Krawcheck’s business speaker keynotes include a refreshing mix of humor, passion, and invaluable learnings from her extensive business experience.

11. Paul Moya
“Harvard Cowboy”, Paul Moya, is best known for the world-class results his clients receive at Millennial Labs—a full-service consulting firm trusted by globally recognized brands to solve their most complex generational challenges in the workplace, marketplace, and voting booth. Over the last decade, Paul has impacted leaders from brands ranging from Citibank to Microsoft and General Motors to Nestle CentroAmerica in audiences as large as 54,000. Paul is a highly sought after professional speaker, not only for his incredible experience and results but also his friendly and relatable demeanor. This year Paul received the honor of being asked to speak at the International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB) 2017 Conference in Las Vegas. This three-day conference is the largest gathering of speaker bureau, agency and speaker management professionals in the world.  

The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.