Here is the complete English version:
This raises a crucial question for the speaker market as well: What distinguishes a true expert when knowledge is available almost without limits?
For Gerd and Jana Kulhavy, Managing Directors of Speakers Excellence Deutschland Holding GmbH, the answer does not lie in providing even more information, but in experience, judgment and impact.
“When answers become cheap, judgment becomes valuable.”
This statement from their interview with Jörg Maire captures the development perfectly.
Knowledge is available – experience is not
A great expert is not defined simply by knowing a lot about a particular subject. What matters is whether they truly understand the topic, have experienced it firsthand and have proven their expertise in practice.
And that does not only include success. Challenges, wrong decisions and the lessons learned from them are often what give an expert genuine substance.
Reach and personal branding can help attract attention and build trust. However, they are not proof of genuine expertise. The more important questions are: Has this person carried real responsibility? Can they demonstrate tangible results? Do they develop their own ideas and perspectives? Or are they simply repackaging familiar content and current trends?
The easier it becomes to create a professional public image with the help of AI, the more important this distinction becomes.
From knowledge to judgment
The fundamental shift is that companies will increasingly be less willing to pay simply for the transfer of information.
After all, information is already available almost everywhere, at any time.
What companies will continue to need, however, is context and interpretation: What does a particular development mean for our company? What consequences does it have? What is relevant to our specific situation – and what is not?
This is where the true value of an expert begins.
AI can provide multiple answers within seconds. Determining which of those answers is relevant and meaningful in a specific situation, however, requires experience and judgment.
For speakers, this means a shift across three levels: from information to inspiration to transformation.
Information is losing its exclusivity. Inspiration remains important. But lasting impact only occurs when people think, decide or act differently after a presentation.
How companies can identify genuine expertise
With the growing number of speakers, experts and topics available, selecting the right person is becoming increasingly challenging for companies. A professional online presence or a large social media following is no longer enough as a decision-making criterion.
When choosing an expert, it is therefore worth taking a closer look at three questions:
Where does the expertise come from?
Is it based on personal entrepreneurial responsibility, academic research, many years of professional experience or an extraordinary personal achievement? Or is it primarily based on knowledge originally developed by others?
Is the speaker the right fit for the specific challenge?
A well-known name is not automatically the right choice. What matters is whether the topic, personality and presentation style match the objective of the event, the target audience and the corporate culture.
Can the promised quality be verified?
References, authentic videos and reviews provide valuable indicators. At the same time, companies should consider whether a speaker can handle different audience situations, respond confidently to critical questions and tailor their content to the specific assignment.
This is precisely why the Expert Marketplace combines digital transparency with relevant information for selecting experts. Profiles, videos, references, reviews and presentation topics help companies and event organizers gain a more comprehensive picture before making a decision.
A great presentation must leave more behind than enthusiasm
A presentation can be entertaining, emotional and rhetorically brilliant – and still be forgotten the next morning.
Lasting impact is created when people can connect what they have heard to their own situation. A powerful story and a clear message are important. What ultimately matters, however, is whether the presentation generates concrete impulses that influence future action.
At the same time, the role of the speaker is changing
The traditional keynote can become the starting point for a broader process. Workshops, personal involvement, interactive formats or mentoring can help transform a one-time impulse into more sustainable change.
Signs of this quality often become visible even before a booking is made: What questions does the speaker ask during the briefing? How deeply do they engage with the target audience and its challenges? Are they willing to adapt their content to the company’s specific situation?
What experts will need by 2030
The better artificially generated content becomes, the more valuable the credible original may become.
This certainly does not mean that speakers and experts should avoid AI. Quite the opposite: Being able to use new technologies effectively will increasingly become a basic requirement. What matters is that technology supports an expert’s personality and expertise rather than replacing them.
Five capabilities that will become particularly important for experts in the future can be derived from the interview with Gerd and Jana Kulhavy:
- Make complex relationships understandable without oversimplifying them.
- Turn personal experience into relevant stories.
- Represent a clear and well-founded point of view.
- Enable genuine interaction with the audience.
- Develop a presentation into a broader learning or transformation process.
As perfectly formulated content becomes increasingly abundant, personal experiences, decisions, doubts, mistakes and convictions may become even more valuable.
Depth over speed
For expert positioning, this leads to a clear long-term perspective: Not every current trend needs to become part of your positioning.
Speakers who merely repeat widely available knowledge or repackage the latest buzzwords are increasingly competing with content that AI can produce within minutes.
At the same time, new opportunities are emerging for highly specialized experts who understand a specific problem, bring substantial real-world experience and can provide their audiences with meaningful guidance.
Anyone working on their expert positioning today should therefore not focus exclusively on which topic can generate the greatest reach in the short term.
The more important long-term question is:
What is the question I still want to be a credible voice on five years from now?
Because knowledge is becoming increasingly accessible. Experience, perspective and judgment remain personal.
