Every spring, the TIME 100 list becomes a shorthand for who is shaping the broader conversation.
For event planners, that matters because audience familiarity can reduce risk. When a speaker is already part of the public conversation, it is easier to frame the choice internally, market the session, and create immediate interest in the room.
Eight honorees from this year’s TIME 100 list are available to book through AAE. Each one fits a different event need, audience, and tone.
1. Nikki Glaser
Nikki Glaser hosted the Golden Globes in both 2025 and 2026, and her Tom Brady roast in 2024 expanded her reach well beyond stand-up fans.
For planners, the appeal is straightforward: she knows how to read a room. Her comedy is sharp and self-aware without drifting so far into edge that it loses a broader audience.
She is best suited to corporate conferences, awards programs, and events that need a lighter tone without giving up polish. If the goal is to energize the room and keep the audience with you, Glaser makes sense.
2. Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer is an actress, singer, television host, podcast host, and entrepreneur with a career that spans film, television, music, and digital media. She launched KeyTV Network in 2021, published two books, hosts the podcast “Baby, This is Keke Palmer,” and released a full-length album in 2025.
What makes her useful for event planners is range combined with candor. She can speak to entertainment, entrepreneurship, personal brand, and career ownership without sounding overly packaged.
She is a strong choice for organizations trying to reach younger audiences, creative teams, women’s leadership groups, and university audiences. Her story also gives planners a credible angle around authenticity, entrepreneurship, and self-advocacy.
3. Noah Lyles
Noah Lyles won Olympic gold in the 100 meters at Paris 2024, one of the closest finishes in Olympic history, and added a 200-meter World Championship title in 2025. He is a seven-time World Champion and the first man to complete the sprint treble at a World Championships since Usain Bolt in 2015.
Lyles gives planners more than athletic star power. He speaks candidly about mental health, pressure, confidence, and the internal discipline behind elite performance.
He fits leadership events, sales kickoffs, sports conferences, and college athletics programming especially well. If the event needs a speaker on performance under pressure, Lyles is an easy fit.
4. Hilary Knight
Hilary Knight captained the U.S. women’s hockey team to gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics and remains one of the defining figures in women’s hockey. She is the most decorated player in IIHF World Women’s Championship history and a foundational figure in the establishment of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Her value for planners comes from leadership over time. She has not only competed at the highest level, but also helped build the infrastructure behind the sport’s next phase of growth.
That makes her relevant beyond sports audiences. She is a smart choice for conversations around leadership, gender equity, culture-building, and institutional change. College athletics events, corporate conferences focused on inclusion, and mission-driven organizations are all good fits.
5. Sterling K. Brown
Sterling K. Brown first broke through to mainstream audiences as Christopher Darden in “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” then became widely known as Randall Pearson in “This Is Us.” His Emmy-nominated performance in “Paradise” in 2025 reaffirmed his standing as one of the most versatile actors working in television.
For planners, one of the most useful signals is that Brown has already proven himself in high-stakes speaking settings. He delivered the commencement address at Stanford in 2018 and at Washington University in St. Louis in 2023, where he also received an honorary doctorate.
He is well suited to events focused on storytelling, identity, representation, perseverance, and leadership. Corporate conferences, university programs, and entertainment industry events are all natural contexts.
6. Noah Wyle
Noah Wyle built his reputation over a decade on “ER,” one of the most-watched dramas in television history. His lead role in “The Pitt” earned him a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama in 2025.
Wyle stands out because his public profile connects cleanly to healthcare and policy conversations. He serves on the Human Rights Watch Council, has been a longtime advocate for healthcare access, and returned to Capitol Hill in 2025 to moderate a policy briefing with frontline doctors and nurses.
That makes him a practical choice for healthcare conferences, public policy events, and leadership programs where the audience will care whether the speaker has depth beyond a familiar role.
7. Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Groff won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for “Merrily We Roll Along,” adding to a Broadway resume that already included “Spring Awakening” and “Hamilton.” In 2025, he returned to the stage with “Just in Time,” earning another Tony nomination.
His appeal is rooted in craft. Groff’s career gives planners a credible voice on creative discipline, reinvention, and sustaining high-level performance across different mediums.
He fits performing arts organizations, entertainment industry conferences, and university arts programs especially well. For events centered on artistic excellence, resilience, and creative risk-taking, he brings recognizable name value with substance behind it.
8. Dolores Huerta
Few speakers better represent the word “influential” than Dolores Huerta.
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers in 1962 and served as the union’s vice president for four decades. She was the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. The state of California has designated April 10 as Dolores Huerta Day. She remains, in her nineties, an active leader through the Dolores Huerta Foundation, still organizing, still speaking, and still working.
For planners, Huerta offers something rare: historic significance paired with continued public leadership. She gives audiences a living example of what sustained commitment looks like across a lifetime.
She is especially well-suited to university events, nonprofit convenings, civic leadership programs, and organizations working through questions of workforce equity and community impact.
What this year’s list is telling you
Taken together, these eight honorees reflect a cultural moment shaped by authenticity, legacy, high performance, and the overlap between visibility and substance.
For planners, the key question is fit. Which speaker best matches the audience, event goals, and tone you are trying to create? All eight are available to book, and AAE can help you assess fit, check availability, and narrow the field based on your event.