SPEAKER GUIDELINES

We ask speakers to address the leadership principles and experiences (both positive and negative) that they have found most valuable throughout their careers.   It is useful for speakers to focus especially on leadership lessons that are transferable.   Specifically, Wharton students are interested in learning about entrepreneurship and risk taking, negotiation and deal-making skills, and forecasting changes and trends in rapidly changing environments and markets.

Students are asked to attend two Wharton Leadership Lectures as part of the required first-year MBA course, Mgmt. 652:  Foundations of  Leadership and Teamwork.  This course reflects our belief that leadership abilities develop throughout a lifetime and that Wharton is a place where we can give students tools and experiences that will support them in that journey.

The most well regarded speakers are those who have taken the time to be thoughtful and introspective about their careers and their business relationships, about what worked and what did not.   What resonates in particular is how the speakers started out (since that is what our MBA students will be doing very shortly), what they learned or did later in their career that they wish they had done earlier, and the like.

The program is often a 20-25 minute talk followed by a question-and-answer session.   We try to schedule the program to run from 4:30-6:00 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon, a time when there are generally no competing corporate presentations.  

We encourage the speaker's company to host cocktails and dinner immediately following the presentation so that 30 students, selected by lottery, can join the speaker for an informal discussion. This part of the evening is cited by students as being one of the most valuable experiences of their time at Wharton and we have been fortunate that nearly all our speakers' companies have chosen to be sponsors.   These dinners are also very enjoyable for the speaker who has the opportunity to engage in a stimulating but relaxed discussion with some of the world's most keen young business minds. Please note that these dinners are specifically designed not to be recruiting events but rather venues that permit the free exchange of ideas and opinions about business issues and leadership. The cost to sponsor such a dinner is $5,000.   Wharton handles all of the logistical details and the speaker's company gets excellent visibility on Wharton's and The University of Pennsylvania's campus.   The evening concludes by 8:30 p.m.  Of course, Wharton would be happy to discuss tailoring the format to meet the needs of the speaker and the speaker’s company.

If you would like more information, please contact Sara Erickson in the Wharton MBA Program Office.