"opening speaker" is a perfectly correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it when you are talking about a person who spoke first at an event such as a meeting, convention, or lecture. For example, "The opening speaker of the conference was a successful entrepreneur."
Opening speaker - Justice Ruth McColl, AO, Judge, NSW Court of Appeal.
Writer asked a number of visitors for their opinions of Haig as choice for opening speaker but she did not get satisfactory replies.
Opening speaker Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who has made himself into something of a standard-bearer for the conservative wing of the GOP, laid out a list of items – some more concrete than others – for conservatives to run on in the midterms, including a lifetime ban on lobbying for retired members of Congress, a "strong balanced budget amendment" and, of course, the repeal of Obamacare.
Connected to this concern, Dawkins invited Sean Faircloth to serve as opening speaker on Dawkins's 2011 US book tour.
Opening speaker Edith Cooper, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Human Capital Management at Goldman Sachs, called returning professional women "gems of the workforce".
Laura Bush is serving as honorary chairman of today's Healthy Schools Summit: Taking Action for Children's Nutrition and Fitness, and Dr. Satcher, opening speaker at the Summit, is chairman.
He and Mr. Seneca tell them every year, too, as opening speakers for the legislative budget hearings.
The Democrats' 2008 convention was gaveled to order with a stream of opening speakers who began laying the foundation for the tasks that Mr. Obama and his advisers hope to accomplish during the four-day event.
Typically, ministers or party leaders open debates, with opening speakers given between 5 and 20 minutes, and succeeding speakers allocated less time.
When it first opened, Speakers' Corner attracted hundreds of visitors.
Troubled by news photos showing those two 10-year-olds in Daytona Beach in prison suits and handcuffs, the National Coalition for the Homeless joined with AmeriCorps Vista to open speakers bureaus last fall in Key West, Jacksonville and Tallahassee.
