Your Retreat Speaker Checklist

Retreat season is around the corner!

Memorial Day has passed, summer is here (at least unofficially), and many firms are planning fall retreats. If your retreat agenda includes a business development speaker or training, here are five positive things to look for in your selection criteria.

1. Excitement. Little in business development is actually new; yet effective BD trainers help lawyers put familiar ideas together in new ways and create excitement among audiences for doing BD. A BD speaker or workshop should deliver concepts and tools in ways that spark optimism and creativity.

   
   

   There are many excellent business development speakers and trainers in the legal and professional services industries. Look for the speakers who make business development feel exciting, relatable, and valuable to you. Then ask whether that excitement is likely to translate to individual lawyers, especially in the context of your firm's BD culture and environment.

   
   

   While it's unlikely that any one speaker will prove exciting to everyone in your audience, it's guaranteed that if you aren't excited, others won't be, either.

2. New skills to practice. In addition to providing new frameworks to consider BD, the speaker you hire should deliver practical—and practicable—skills that empower attorneys to perform specific BD activities with specific clients. Look for speakers who can share ahead of time the concrete skills lawyers will leave with, and any supports that will help them practice. Also look for materials or resources that help in-house teams follow up with lawyers for support and accountability.

3. Post-event care. I've said it before: We can inspire lawyers in an afternoon, but it takes practice, accountability, and appropriate incentives to achieve behavior change.

   
   

   By all means, hire an inspiring speaker—it beats the alternative. Yet as you identify candidates and negotiate terms, ask about resources and structures that help you and your firm to keep the retreat energy flowing.

   
   

   Examples include:

   • Consulting before the retreat to help your in-house team establish a framework for continuing BD learning after the retreat.

   • Deliverables including timelines and activities that in-house marketers can calendar and follow up on with lawyers.

   • Ongoing training or coaching for a cohort or select attorneys to extend the learning and practice. (This will cost more yet go farther to reinforce your firm's investment.)

4. Evidence that they "get" you. Look for clues that your BD speaker gets what you're after and understands your firm's climate and culture around business development. Of course, every speaker will have their own framing or curricula that inform their work. Yet it is not helpful to bring in a BD speaker with a one-size approach to business development.

   
   

   After meeting, ask your BD speaker to state back to you how they will tailor their content to speak to the priorities you've raised. Listen for specifics:

   
   

   • Where does the curriculum align with an opportunity or challenge?

   • How does an exercise help attorneys facing a specific scenario you have seen in your firm?

   • What shifts lawyers out of one routine to create new routines that support positive BD habits that you believe will work in your firm?

     
     

   All these serve as data points that will reinforce your speaker selection.

   
   

5. Testimonials. Finally, ask for references, and then call those people. It's great to identify a speaker, have a promising conversation or conversations, and move ahead with an engagement. Before you put your credibility on the line with your lawyers, ask to speak with retreat organizers and lawyers who have lived through your speaker's program.

   
   

   Reference questions might include:

   • What worked well from the program?

   • What feedback did lawyers share after the program?

   • Did the speaker deliver on promises?

   • Would you bring that speaker back to your firm?

   
   

   The answers to these and other questions will help you decide if that BD speaker is right for your firm.

   Retreat season will be here before we know it. Use these steps to make this year's speaker your best yet (whether the topic is BD or something else)!