A good board speaker is someone that is going to take the time to get to know what you want to accomplish with the board and motivate the board to take action.  You want to hire a Board Speaker that has served on multiple boards and understands the dynamic of a board.  If a speaker comes in and treats the board the same way that they treat a sales team or a group of key employees, they will be ineffective.

In most cases, speaking to a board is about being a great motivational speaker and understanding that a board is typically involved in many things outside of the organization.  Thus, the board members will only take action if they are presented with clear requests that are made as easy as possible.

Board Speakers should reinforce the mission of the organization and make the board members feel great about serving as a board member.  This is especially true if they are voluneery board members on a non-profit board – although it holds true for everyone.

When I have spoken with board members, and this is not right for everyone, I focus on the little things they can do with their network, PR and word of mouth to create higher visibility.

In consulting, I was reponsible for helping one non profit come up with a generic board member business card that made it easier for every board member to better talk about the organization and refer people to it.

It is just these simple things that can really help an organization get the most out of their board members and help them participate better.  They probably want to, but unless you make it easy and clear it will always be a challenge.