Best Motivational Speakers In Georgia, USA

Updated for 2026 with current speaker trends, formats, and budgets. Georgia books more corporate keynotes and away days than almost any other state in the Southeast, and Atlanta's convention calendar (Georgia World Congress Center, Cobb Galleria, AmericasMart) keeps event planners busy year-round. PepTalk covers over 300 topics for organisations booking in the state, from change management and leadership to sales, health, and personal development. Whether your event is in Atlanta, Columbus, or Augusta, here are the speakers we'd point you to first, and what it actually costs to book them.

Motivational Speakers in Georgia

These are the motivational speakers in Georgia we'd shortlist first for corporate keynotes, leadership offsites, and conference headline slots, ranging from Atlanta-based names to speakers who travel in regularly for the state's convention season. Each entry below covers what they speak on and who tends to book them, so you can match the right fit to your event before you get in touch.

Elizabeth Miller

Elizabeth Miller is a Certified Caregiving Consultant and Certified Senior Advisor who founded Happy Healthy Caregiver after years of balancing a corporate career with caring for ageing parents and a sibling with disabilities. She gives audiences a working model of eight self-care areas and sixteen self-care activities that take under sixteen minutes each, work covered in Woman's Day and Health Magazine.

Learn more and book Elizabeth Miller →

Eryn Eddy

Eryn Eddy founded the lifestyle brand So Worth Loving and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and Red Table Talk discussing mental health and personal branding. Her sessions connect emotional wellbeing to how organisations build and communicate their brand identity.

Learn more and book Eryn Eddy →

Jesse Itzler

Jesse Itzler co-founded Marquis Jet and Zico Coconut Water, both later sold, and co-owns the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. His talks draw on documented endurance challenges, including climbing the vertical height of Everest over 36 hours, to give teams practical frameworks for building mental toughness under pressure.

Learn more and book Jesse Itzler →

Dr Leslie Nwoke

Dr Leslie Nwoke is a physician and the founder of HeartWork EQ, combining a background in medicine and public health with emotional intelligence training. She works with high-performing women navigating professional setbacks, ADHD, and burnout, teaching practical tools for productivity and self-awareness.

Learn more and book Dr Leslie Nwoke →

Mark Travis Rivera

Mark Travis Rivera is CEO of The Professional Storyteller and founded marked dance project at seventeen, becoming the youngest person in the US to lead an integrated dance company for disabled and non-disabled dancers. He has spoken at Harvard, MIT, Rutgers, and NYU on disability inclusion, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and storytelling as a tool for cultural change.

Learn more and book Mark Travis Rivera →

Mohamed Massaquoi

Mohamed Massaquoi played five seasons as an NFL wide receiver after being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2009, then earned a master's in Industrial-Organisational Psychology and completed Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development. After a 2017 accident that resulted in the loss of his left hand, he founded VESSOL to help teams navigate change and build resilience through periods of transition.

Learn more and book Mohamed Massaquoi →

Rennie Curran

Rennie Curran is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Tennessee Titans and Edmonton Eskimos, now working as a leadership coach for clients including Fidelity, Chick-fil-A, and Coca-Cola. His sessions use the contrast between sports team dynamics and corporate team performance to address what helps or hinders individual output.

Learn more and book Rennie Curran →

Ruth Penfold

Ruth Penfold spent two decades in People and Culture roles at Shazam, Onfido, and bp Launchpad, where she served as Chief People Officer. She now runs Bloom and the Women Who Lead programme, teaching leaders to close what she calls the Authenticity Gap between who people are and who they feel they need to be at work.

Learn more and book Ruth Penfold →

Ted Jenkin

Ted Jenkin has managed more than two billion dollars in assets and advised over 10,000 families, earning Investment News' Innovator of the Year in 2019. He's the Amazon bestselling author of The 21 Day Budget Cleanse and appears regularly on CNN and in the Wall Street Journal on budgeting, investing, and tax strategy.

Learn more and book Ted Jenkin →

Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour

Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour is America's first Black female combat pilot, having served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine and later worked as a diversity liaison officer at the Pentagon. She's the author of Zero to Breakthrough, a seven-step method for turning obstacles into forward motion, and founded VAI Consulting and Training.

Learn more and book Vernice Armour →

Horst Schulze

Horst Schulze co-founded Ritz-Carlton and later founded Capella Hotels, shaping the company's service philosophy during his tenure as President and COO. He speaks on building the internal measurement systems that let a business assess service delivery against defined standards, drawing on decades running some of the industry's most decorated hotel groups.

Interested in booking Horst? Get in touch with the PepTalk team.

Katharine Wilkinson

Katharine Wilkinson was a senior writer on the New York Times bestseller Drawdown and is editor-in-chief of The Drawdown Review. Time Magazine named her one of 15 Women Who Will Save the World, and her sessions translate climate research into direction that business, government, and community leaders can act on.

Interested in booking Katharine? Get in touch with the PepTalk team.

Why Hire a Speaker for Your Georgia Event?

The right speaker turns an event from something people simply attend into something they talk about afterwards. Across Georgia's corporate conferences, team away days, and leadership summits, the person on stage shapes how the whole event gets remembered more than almost any other single decision on the agenda.

How to Choose the Right Speaker

Match the speaker to your event's goal and audience first, before you look at name recognition. A leadership summit calls for a different speaker than a wellness-focused away day, even on the same budget. Before you commit, watch footage of anyone you're considering and read what past clients have said about them, and weigh up travel: fees often move depending on how far a speaker has to come, so a Georgia-based speaker can work out cheaper for a Georgia event simply because there's no flight or hotel involved.

Booking a Speaker in Georgia

A speaker bureau shortens the search. PepTalk holds direct relationships with speakers based in and around Atlanta, so we can check real availability and pricing quickly rather than routing everything through an agent for someone who may already be booked. We also handle contracts and logistics, so you're not chasing riders and AV requirements yourself. Planning events across the wider Southeast? We've put together the same breakdown for North Carolina and Florida.

Benefits of Using a Speaker Agency in Georgia

• Direct access to speakers based in Atlanta and across the state, which usually means faster availability checks and lower travel costs
• A single point of contact handling contracts, fees, and logistics, rather than negotiating separately with each speaker's team
• Speaker recommendations matched to your event's goals and audience, not just whoever happens to be free

Booking Well in Advance

Atlanta's convention venues, including the Georgia World Congress Center, Cobb Galleria, and AmericasMart, keep the city's event calendar busy for most of the year, and in-demand Atlanta-based speakers get booked out early around the busiest of those windows. If you have a date in mind, reach out as soon as you can. It's the single biggest factor in whether your first-choice speaker is still available.

‌

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I book a keynote or motivational speaker in Georgia?

Start with your event's theme, audience, and objectives, then reach out to PepTalk with those details. We'll check availability and fees for speakers who fit the brief, handle the contract and logistics, and confirm everything ahead of the event. Email hello@getapeptalk.com to get started.

What do keynote or motivational speakers in Georgia cost?

Fees vary by speaker, but in-person bookings in Georgia typically start from $2,000 for a local speaker and scale up from there based on name recognition and demand. Booking someone already based in the state usually keeps travel costs down. Get in touch for a quote against your specific budget.

Are there additional costs besides the speaker's fee, such as travel or accommodation?

Travel and accommodation are usually the only extra line items, and they're often reduced or waived entirely when the speaker is based near your venue. This is one of the practical advantages of booking a Georgia speaker for a Georgia event.

Can I get advice or recommendations for speakers that match my Georgia event theme or topic?

Yes. PepTalk works with clients across Atlanta and the rest of Georgia regularly, and we can recommend speakers from our network of over 3,000 experts based on your specific theme, audience, and budget.

Want to book a Georgia motivational speaker for your next event or conference? Email us at hello@getapeptalk.com or send us a message via chat. You can also call us on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US). Remember, it's always a good time to get a PepTalk!