A speaker media kit is the folder an event team opens when they are building the programme and the run of show, usually without you in the conversation. Its job is to answer every question they have so nobody has to email you.
That makes it different from a one sheet, which sells you. The media kit assumes the sale already happened.
What has to be in it
- Headshots: high resolution, at least one on a plain background.
- On-stage photography for the event website and socials.
- Bios at three lengths: stage introduction, web, and long form.
- Talk titles and descriptions, in the exact wording you want printed.
- Past clients or stages, for credibility on the event page.
- A tech rider: a one-page list of the audio-visual setup you need on stage.
- Logistics: travel origin and a named contact for the day.
The wording you supply is the wording that gets printed
Event teams copy and paste. Whatever you put in the media kit appears on the event website and in the host's introduction, usually unedited.
That is an opportunity rather than a risk. Write the introduction you want said about you, and it will generally be said.
The tech rider
A tech rider is a one-page document that tells the production team exactly what you need on stage. It names the microphone you prefer and anything else the stage has to provide, such as a confidence monitor, a clicker, a lectern or a specific laptop connection. The term comes from entertainment contracts, where a rider is the addendum listing a performer's requirements.
Production teams often read it before anyone else on the event team has opened the rest of the kit. A speaker without one gets whatever the venue sets up by default, which can mean a handheld microphone when you wanted a lavalier, or a laptop that will not open your slides.
Logistics belong here, not in email
Travel origin and arrival timing belong in the logistics note, and everything about the stage belongs in the tech rider. Each becomes an email in the week before the event if it is not written down somewhere the production team can find it.
Speakers who answer these once in a document tend to get rebooked more than speakers who answer them slowly over six threads.
Where it sits in the package
The one sheet gets you shortlisted and the reel gets you chosen. The media kit is what gets you invited back, because it makes you easy to work with at the point where everyone is tired. The full set is covered in our guide to becoming a keynote speaker.
A worked example: the folder, file by file
Take a hypothetical speaker, Tom, who speaks on supply chain resilience. Here is a media kit folder that answers every question an event team will have, named so that someone who has never met him can find what they need at the last minute.
/01-headshots
Three files: colour and black-and-white versions on a plain background, plus a horizontal crop for web banners. All full resolution, named tom-reyes-headshot-colour.jpg and so on, never IMG_4471.jpg.
/02-on-stage
Four or five photos of him speaking, with an audience visible. These go on event websites and social posts, and they are the files teams ask for most.
/03-bios
A single document with the 25, 75 and 250 word versions, clearly labelled. One file, so nobody has to choose between three near-identical downloads.
/04-talks
Titles and descriptions in the exact wording he wants printed, plus the session formats he offers. Whatever is here ends up in the programme.
/05-tech-rider
One page: a lavalier microphone, a confidence monitor facing the stage, his own clicker, and slides supplied as a 16:9 file with a backup on a USB stick.
/06-logistics
Travel origin and arrival time, with one named contact for questions on the day.
Naming things is most of the work
A media kit is opened by someone in a hurry, often late in the day before an event, often on a phone. Numbered folders sort in a predictable order everywhere, and descriptive filenames mean nobody has to open three files to find the right one.
That sounds trivial until you are the person at 6pm trying to find a headshot that is not a phone photo from a conference dinner.
What to leave out
Your full presentation deck, unless the event specifically asks for it, and long articles you have written, which nobody on an event team has time to read. Your fee stays out too. It belongs in the contract, not a folder shared across a production team and occasionally beyond it.
Common questions about speaker media kits
What is the difference between a speaker one sheet and a media kit?
A one sheet is a single page that sells you to a planner who has not booked you yet. A media kit is the full set of assets an event team uses after the booking, covering photography, bios, talk copy, the tech rider and logistics.
What is a tech rider for a speaker?
A one-page document listing the audio-visual setup a speaker needs on stage, such as microphone type, a confidence monitor, a clicker and how slides are connected. It goes to the event's production team, who use it to plan the stage before soundcheck.
How should I deliver a speaker media kit?
A shared folder link works better than attachments. Event teams need to pull individual files at different times, and a link stays current when you update a headshot.
What resolution should speaker headshots be?
High enough to print. Supply the original files rather than web-compressed versions, because programme books and stage screens need more than a website does.
Should a media kit include my fee?
Not usually. By the time a team is using the media kit the commercial terms are agreed, and fee information in a widely shared folder tends to travel further than intended.