• How many professional speaker associations exist?
• Where are they?
• How long have they been around?
• How many members do they have?

Do you know the answers? Read on!

Global Speakers Federation

The Global Speakers Federation (GSF) is a loosely affiliated network of professional speaker associations around the world.

It launched in 1998 with member federations from four countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The GSF now counts 10 full member federations, one candidate federation, and one more federation which is forming. The countries represented are shown in the map below in red.

The GSF leadership team includes an executive council, as well as representatives from the member federations.

Most of the member federations are relatively young, with 8 having formed in the last decade, and the oldest going back just 37 years. The total individual membership is just 5780 speakers. I suspect (but have no evidence) that this is just a small fraction of the number of professional speakers worldwide. Nonetheless, there appears to be rapid growth, and we may see these numbers rise considerably in the next few years.

Other Professional Speaker Associations

Outside the GSF:

• Professional Speakers Association of the Philippines
  Philippines – 15 members – formed 2010

Others? Please let me know.

Is Your Country Represented?

Is there a professional speaker association in your country?

If so, have you ever investigated the resources that are available to you in growing your speaking skills and business opportunities?

Similar Articles You May Like... Interview with Kristin Arnold, National Speakers Association President Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

When I found out that Ms. Arnold is also the President of the National Speakers Association (NSA) for 2010-2011, I approached her to see if she would answer a few questions about the NSA.

I’m delighted to be able to share her interview with you here.

Question: How did you come to be a member of the NSA?

I had already been in business as a professional meeting facilitator and was drawn to “speaking” as a way to get the message out to people who might hire me – and I realized I could make money at it as well.

Question: Why did you eventually seek to become the NSA President?

Not sure I went looking for it, but as a strategic thinker, I was drawn to serve our members as I truly believe NSA (and many other associations) are at a strategic crossroads – where relevancy and value are of utmost importance.

Question: Can anyone become a member of the NSA? What are the qualifications? Do you have to be a United States citizen?

No, you don’t have to be a US Citizen, but you have to reside or have a business in the United States (BTW, the same holds true for CAPS, but make that Canadian – I know this to be a fact as I am married to a past CAPS President, Joe Sherren!)  You need to have made a minimum of 20 paid speeches, OR earned at least $25,000 in speaking fees in a twelve month period, OR  as a part of your salaried position, presented at least 20 times to audiences of 15 or more – all of which needs to be accomplished in the past 12 months.

[Ed: CAPS is the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers.]

Question: Membership dues ($175 initiation fee + $425 first year annual membership dues) are significant. What are the specific, tangible benefits which justify these dues?

In comparison to other professional societies, our annual membership dues are quite reasonable and we are quite averse to raising dues.  We work very hard at keeping additional expenses as low as possible so our members can participate in the three things NSA delivers:  [1] Education and professional development, [2] connecting with like-minded individuals in the professional speaking community, and [3] tapping in to the research and the commitment to the profession that supports our livelihood.  All of which support our members to be able to speak more, speak better, and speak with confidence that they are the leading edge of this profession.

Some examples include:

• Attend Meetings (Convention, conferences, labs) for exceptional education and community.
• Read Speaker magazine and search Online Publications for more information about how to speak more and speak better as a professional speaker
• Listen to our audio magazine, Voices of Experience®, Log on to a webcast or webinar, Download Audio Recordings and Watch Video Recordings to learn more about the art and business of speaking
• Join Professional Emphasis Groups and Get Involved in a Special Interest Group so you can get connect with other like-minded professionals
• Explore the Global Speakers Federation so you can speak more and speak better beyond the US borders
• Update Your Online Directory Profile so meeting planners can “find a speaker”

We also have a new strategic initiative around “Commitment to the Profession” which is centered around research and pushing the latest trends and information about the speaking profession and meetings industry out to our members.
We are currently reviewing our products/services mix to ensure we are providing exceptional value to the working level professional speaker.

Question: There are 39 NSA Regional Chapters across the United States, with separate dues, services, and mandates. What do (most) regional chapters provide that the national organization does not, and vice versa?

Actually, the mandate is the same; however, each chapter is an independent entity and currently carries out their mandate as they see fit.  We are currently engaged in a robust dialogue with the chapters about strengthening our relationship to ensure a more consistent experience for our members and those new to NSA both at the National and local levels.

As the front door for people new to NSA, Chapters are best at offering local community support and mentoring.  National is best at leveraging the talent and resources within the organization so that all may benefit.

Question: I have heard that NSA members are not allowed to disclose their speaking fees publicly. Is this true? If so, why is this a forbidden practice? If not, why do you think this myth perpetuates?

NSA members can disclose their speaking fees to anyone they care to; however, in a NSA meeting, we refrain from discussing actual fees so there isn’t a perception of marketplace collusion.  So what most presenters at NSA do is to make a hypothetical allusions to a fee as an example.

Question: One statement I’ve heard many times is this: “You go to Toastmasters to learn how to speak. You go to the NSA to learn the business of speaking.” How would you assess this comparison?

True, but pretty general.  We assume you have the ability to speak in front of an audience about a topic that you are passionate about.  NSA leverages that talent and passion to extend the eloquence of your message, establish your expertise, enhance the business enterprise, while embracing our standard of ethics.  These are the four Es – our four competencies which are the cornerstone of our mission.

Question: Suppose there is a Six Minutes reader who is very curious about joining NSA, but isn’t sure she’s “ready”. What advice would you give her to know when she is ready?

Call us and we’d be delighted to chat with you.  For those who aren’t ready to take the plunge yet, we have a robust Academy program at the National level and many of our local chapters have “fast track” programs to jump start your professional speaking career.

For More Information

You can find more information here:

• National Speakers Association
• Canadian Association of Professional Speakers

Stay tuned to a future Six Minutes article for more information on speaker associations elsewhere in the world.

Similar Articles You May Like... Professional Speaker Associations Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

On my recent vacation, I took a copy of Boring to Bravo. It’s a perfect summer read. Not only is it organized into easily digestible chunks (read a section or two while sipping lemonade on the deck), it is also packed with techniques which will energize your presentations.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

Boring to Bravo is the latest book from Kristin Arnold, current President of the National Speakers Association. Among the dozens of techniques in the book, you’ll find advice such as:

• Why you should move with purpose
• The value of choosing vivid words
• How to make the room more engaging
• Effectively breaking your audience into groups
• Facilitating a discussion

Every speaker is guaranteed to find new techniques here. I certainly did.

Don’t Believe Me? See For Yourself!

You can browse through the opening pages of Boring to Bravo with these PDF downloads:

• Table of Contents (pdf)
• Introduction (pdf)
• Chapter One (pdf)

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this book for only $14.93 from amazon.com. This is 32% off the list price.

3 Things I Love about Boring to Bravo

The three things I liked most about Boring to Bravo are:

1. Breadth of Techniques Covered

This book casts a wide net, covering topics such as delivery techniques, visual aids, storytelling, asking engaging questions, facilitating discussion, and critiquing yourself. Gaining mastery over every technique described will help you become a very well-rounded presenter.

2. Emphasis on Techniques Beyond “Just Speaking”

This book stands out on my speaking bookshelf in large part to the tips and techniques that go beyond “just speaking.”

When delivering five, ten, or even 15 minute speeches, you can probably speak from start to finish and keep the audience engaged and entertained. But if you find yourself delivering lunch-hour seminars, or 3 to 4-hour courses, you quickly discover that your audience’s attention is not so easily sustained. It’s necessary to change the pace and introduce short (relevant!) activities.

Ideas for these short activities is where Boring to Bravo excels. For example, there’s an entire chapter on organizing effective group breakout sessions.

3. Risk Ratings

Within every chapter, each section is accompanied by a “risk rating,” which aims to distinguish between low-risk activities (score 1) and high-risk activities (score 5).

For example:

• “Choose Vivid Words” has a risk rating of 1 (low-risk)
• “Borrowed Stories” has a risk rating of 2
• “Dress the Part” (in costume) has a risk rating of 3
• “Interview a Participant” has a risk rating of 4

I could quibble about a few of the individual ratings, but the concept is useful. You may wish to master low-risk activities first, and carefully experiment with higher risk activities as your skills and confidence grows.

How could it be better?

1. More Aggressive Editing

I think the book would benefit from one last critical edit.

• On several occasions, it seemed like the same tip was being duplicated in different words, just a page or two apart. I don’t think the repetition was intentional, but…?
• There are numerous “guest tips” offered (from highlighted professional speakers) in sidebars throughout the book. These sidebars are valuable as they offer new perspectives. However, the sidebars usually weren’t introduced or placed in context by the main body text. Also, the tips were occasionally duplicates of ones offered in nearby body text.

2. Crosslink the Glossary/Index

There is a healthy 12-page glossary at the end of the book, which offers short descriptions of many of the terms discussed in the book (e.g. Audience Response System). However, there’s a wasted opportunity here to link those glossary definitions back to the location(s) in the book where that concept is discussed. For example, the book would be more useful as reference material if the Audience Response System entry told you that it is discussed on page 89 (the “Using Technology” section of the “Ask Engaging Questions” chapter).

Update: According to the author’s comment below, the glossary is cross-linked as an index in the publicly released version of the book. My review is based upon an advance copy.

3. More Practical Examples

I’d like to see practical examples added more consistently to accompany the tips. There are numerous examples throughout, but they are occasionally missing.

For example, in Chapter 9 (Use Descriptive Words), the author encourages cadence variation (page 130) and parallel construction (page 131), but doesn’t accompany either tip with a short speech example. [Note: It does point to "the many bulleted lists in this book for examples of parallel construction", but many of the bulleted lists in the book are not, in fact, parallel construction.]

What Others Think

Ian Griffin, Professional Speaking blog:

This is not a basic presentation skills book. Arnold encourages readers to step outside the role of the speaker as an authority figure who controls the audience from the front of the room, to someone who passionately participates in an event that is enjoyed by the audience as a collaborative experience.

Stephen Forte:

I have been a public speaker for 15 years, a professional one for over 13, and found this book very useful. I learned several things while reading it, including many things I am doing wrong! [...]

[...] If you want to be a more engaging, dynamic speaker, read this book!

Verdict

Boring to Bravo will help you become a more complete speaker and will improve your ability to handle a diverse set of speaking situations. I recommend you get yourself a copy today.

Similar Articles You May Like... Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson Professional Speaker Associations Interview with Kristin Arnold, National Speakers Association President Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-08-14] Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-07-10]

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

• What’s Inside?
• The Price
• What I Loved
• How could it be better?
• What Others Think
• Verdict

What’s Inside?

Based on the provocative title, you might think this book is heavy on memoirs and light on educational content. You would only be half right.

Confessions of a Public Speaker is packed with personal stories from the author and also packed with tips and advice for speakers from all backgrounds. A more appropriate title would probably have been “Insights of a Public Speaker” or “Lessons Learned by a Public Speaker”; of course, neither of those titles would like sell as many copies as this best-selling book is.

The video below shows the author talking about what the book is about…

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this hardcover book for only $16.49 from amazon.com. This is 34% off the list price.

At this price, it isn’t surprising that this book is the 7th most popular public speaking book on amazon.com since being released last November. Readers love it — everyone’s giving it 5 stars.

3 Things I Love about Confessions of a Public Speaker

The three things I liked most about Confessions of a Public Speaker are:

1. Packed with Great Insights

Confessions of a Public Speaker touches on a broad set of issues — fear of speaking, preparation, organization of ideas, delivery techniques, teaching approach, dealing with a difficult crowd, preventing mishaps, speaking technology, and many others. Every speaker will find new advice and insights here.

As just one example, the second chapter (just 11 pages) is perhaps the most concise, sensible advice on public speaking fear I’ve read.

2. Wonderfully written!

Most public speaking books are written by speaking experts who, if I were to guess, are not authors by nature.

Confessions of a Public Speaker is different.  Scott Berkun is a best-selling author (see: Making Things Happen and The Myths of Innovation) and refers to himself as a writer first, and a speaker second. His humorous, witty, and sharp prose make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.

3. Honest to a Fault

Confessions begins with an odd disclaimer:

This book is highly opinionated, personal, and full of behind-the-scenes stories. You may not like this. Some people like seeing how sausage is made, but many do not.

Although everything in this book is true and written to be useful, if you don’t always want to hear the truth, this book might not be for you.

It’s true. The honesty in this book may shock some, like this passage:

No amount of training will make a man with two brain cells seem anything but dumb, as the problem is not his ability to speak, it’s his inability to think. It’s rarely said, but some people will never be good public speakers. Unless they find someone to do their thinking for them, they only have, at best, half the tools they need.

[...] The problem with most bad presentations I see is not the speaking, the slides, the visuals, or any of the things people obsess about. Instead, it’s the lack of thinking.

Personally, I appreciate this fresh approach.

How could it be better?

1. More Cohesion from Chapter to Chapter

Each individual chapter is well-written and feels “just right” as far as depth. However, I didn’t notice much continuity from one chapter to the next, and there’s no obvious rationale for the ordering of material.

Maybe this isn’t a bad thing. Each chapter stands on its own. It’s easy to read the book in short bursts — like I did, one chapter each night.

2. Better Photos

There are photos distributed throughout the book (and even one short chapter with a whole series of them), many taken by the author at speaking venues. The photos are referenced in the text, and they help to tell the story.

Unfortunately, the photos are not in color, and the contrast levels are too low, so many of them hard to view. A few are completely washed out in my copy.

Maybe this was a tradeoff that keeps the price of the book low? Maybe it was only my copy? Maybe the photos could be shared on the author’s website for keeners like me who want to squeeze every drop of meaning?

Update: Apparently, it wasn’t just my copy. On Scott’s blog, he reports that the low-contrast photos were a mistake in the first print run, and says the 2nd and 3rd run fixes this problem. If you get a copy now, you should get the good photos.

What Others Think

Gina Trapani, Lifehacker:

If public speaking is a part of your job–and it is, in some capacity, whether or not you’re Barack Obama–this book is a worthy read. It’s converted at least one person who has turned down speaking engagements because the idea was too scary to someone excited about getting better at a special and important skill.

Ben Rothke, Slashdot:

[...] Confessions of a Public Speaker is unique in that it takes a holistic approach to the art and science of public speaking. The book doesn’t just provide helpful hints, it attempts to make the speaker, and his associated presentation, compelling and necessary.

Jeff Bailey, Wired Presentations:

If you are new to presentations this should be the first book that you read on the topic. It gives a lot of great advice that many people take for granted.

Rhett Laubach, Authenticity Rules:

I have given at least 100 public speeches each year for the past 18 years and I have found a ton of value in it.

Ian Griffin, Speechwriter:

Confessions of a Public Speaker offers presenters—and those of us who support executives who give presentations—a great source of ideas to improve both the content and delivery of future talks.

Verdict

Here’s my confession… I didn’t want to put this book down.

Confessions of a Public Speaker provides sound advice that can help anyone improve their speaking skills. Highly recommended.

Similar Articles You May Like... Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker? 8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions and How to Fix Them Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson 12 Days of Public Speaking Christmas Professional Speaker Associations

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

A dream? Not if you understand how to brand yourself as an expert, one of the steps to becoming a speaker in demand.

In this article, we tap into the wisdom of five experts from the fields of branding and public speaking. They discuss the importance of personal branding, and they offer advice about specific tools you can use to shape your personal brand.

Be the Expert

As a public speaker, you will have plenty of opportunities to speak, but your potential audiences also have plenty of other speaker options. Beyond simply having a skilled delivery, go-to speakers have developed a specific area of expertise. That expertise keeps their audiences coming back for more.

Jane Atkinson stated that the trick is to have your name become synonymous with your expertise. If people aren’t taking you by the sleeve, offering to buy you lunch just so they can pick your brain about your area of expertise, they should be.

Jane Atkinson:

In the speaking industry, it’s all about focus. You can’t be all things to all people. The best way to start building your brand is to declare your area of expertise. People need to know what they are getting from you. As people recognized my expertise, they kept asking me for my professional advice, and I thought, “Some day I’m going to charge for this advice.” I was developing my personal brand.

For Jane, especially in the speaking industry, more is not always better. Likewise, according to Nick Morgan, saying ‘yes’ to every opportunity may seem like a great way to establish more business, but it can exhaust you and dilute the potency of your personal brand.

Nick Morgan:

It wasn’t until I had the courage to say ‘no’ to some people that my brand began to take on some clarity.

The clarity Nick refers to comes from defining an overall vision and shaping our personal brands to help others see that vision the same way we do. But the vision must have a sharp focus. As an example, Aymee Buckhannon related how she found her own focus by helping others develop their personal brands.

Aymee Buckhannon:

I built a website for a life coach as a favor. Then another person saw it, then another person saw it, and the rest is history. Now I define myself confidently as a “branding strategist” and focus mainly on network marketing professionals.

Developing expertise in an area of interest to others may take years. By then, hopefully your area of expertise is something you still are passionate about. When you can align your expertise with your passion, you are well on your way to being the speaker audiences crave.

Manage Your Personal Brand

Even when you’re not behind the podium, you convey a presence to the world, be it in your one-to-one relationships or via the Internet. So, how do you make sure that the image you convey helps your speaking career instead of damaging it?

Joe Calloway wrote, “Your brand resides in the minds of your customers [...] Your brand is whoever customers think you are, whatever they think is your promise to them, and whether or not they believe that you keep that promise.”

It’s not too difficult for a presenter to replace the word “customers” in Calloway’s example with “audience” – or even “potential audiences”. Expanding your speaking opportunities means shaping your brand as a presenter, because your brand affects:

• Your ability to be hired to present.
• The types of speaking engagements you are offered.
• Your audience’s expectations.

Our experts agree that a speaker’s personal brand is as important as how well a speaker delivers a presentation. According to Joe Calloway, the two key questions are whether your brand is what you want it to be and whether you have created it by design.

Joe Calloway:

If I were to ask your clients or professional colleagues what it’s like to do business with you, whatever they say next is your brand. For me, one of the key elements of my personal brand is that Joe Calloway is “easy to do business with.” It’s very much by design and has become a key “tiebreaker” that has gotten me a ton of business over the years.

Cynthia Starks said that, for her, a personal brand is more than a choice of colors for a website or business cards. She takes a “big picture” approach to personal branding, remaining aware of how she comes across to other people in both personal interactions and in her dealings with others on the Internet.

Cynthia Starks:

I think personal branding is who you are – and that “who” comes across most fully in your personal interactions – on the ‘Net and in real life.

Are you kind? Are you willing to hear different opinions? Willing to be a resource to others? Are your online comments encouraging and supportive instead of sarcastic or cynical? These sets of behaviors are truly your “personal brand.”

Jane Atkinson echoed Cynthia’s observations about a more inclusive definition of personal branding. She cautions against losing track of your brand as a speaker.

Jane Atkinson:

People are building their personal brands, whether they’re aware of it or not, and sometimes they may unintentionally be creating a negative brand for themselves. It takes intention and focus to build an effective personal brand.

Jane suggested taking an active role in creating the brand that you want as a speaker, a sentiment shared by Aymee Buckhannon, who pointed out that when people see that you deliver what you promise through your personal brand, you increase your opportunities as a speaker and in other channels, too.

Aymee Buckhannon:

If people like to work with me for what I offer as a leader, or a branding strategist, then it won’t matter which product I carry. Meaning, if that company goes under, or if I change course, my personal brand is me, and not “enter product name here”.

Like many professional speakers, Nick Morgan is also a successful author. He said that the benefits of a well-crafted personal brand have extended beyond his speaking career to help his book sales, even in a difficult market.

Nick Morgan:

All the interviews and connecting I did when my second book came out have paid off in increased book sales. Your book will disappear without a trace unless you personally take charge of marketing it and work very, very hard.

Our experts agree that personal branding is a journey, not a destination. We must think hard about our goals as speakers and consciously develop a personal brand that we can realistically (and diligently) maintain.

Three Fundamentals to Managing Your Brand

Our experts suggest three key ways to promote your personal brand online.

1. Blog it!

Nick Morgan:

The blog is fundamental. You have to have something to say, and the blog is the place to start. Start a blog. If you don’t have a blog, you don’t have an opinion, and why should anyone pay attention to you?

Aymee Buckhannon:

You can even start your blog with a freebie. I believe content is more valuable than “aesthetics” at first. However, as you begin to work your way through the online world, you will need an upgrade and a professional look that stands out from all the “freebies”.

2. Get Your Own Website

Aymee Buckhannon:

If you do not own www.YOURNAME.com, get it now! Once you are famous or you have managed to brand yourself, whoever owns that name will profit.

Jane Atkinson:

When I updated my website, I decided that “all roads lead to the book”, meaning my website’s mission was to promote my book and provide sufficient information about it and easy links to order it.

Cynthia Starks:

The best reason for a website is that when someone says, “send me some speech samples,” you can happily say, “they’re on my website. Here’s the address.” 

3. Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Aymee Buckhannon:

The main goal of sites like Facebook and Linkedin is relationship building. Your profile should be about you and not about what you sell. People on these sites are looking for others with whom they have something in common.

Jane Atkinson:

Thanks to social media, it has never been easier to build a personal brand. We need to be careful what we post if we want to maintain a credible brand. I use Facebook for more personal touches that tend to focus on my expertise, but I give hints to my personal side, like when I got my new puppy.

Cynthia Starks:

If you’re on LinkedIn, don’t forget the group LinkEds & Writers, where I’ve discovered some wonderful fellow communicators. The Quintilian Speechwriters Group is another excellent group for both corporate and freelance writers. There, you can pick the minds of some of the best speechwriters in the business on a variety of topics related to the process and business of speechwriting.

Discover More About the Experts

• Jane Atkinson (Web | Twitter) is President of Speaker Launcher and author of The Wealthy Speaker. She coaches professional speakers, celebrities, and CEOs to help focus their careers. She has represented numerous speakers who have vaulted to the top 3% of the speaking industry.
• Aymee Buckhannon (Web | Twitter) is personal branding expert and owner of My Personal Brand. She helps her clients develop cohesive personal branding for websites, blogs, and social media.
• Joe Calloway (Web | Twitter) is a nationally known speaker and author of the best-selling business book Becoming a Category of One. He helps companies align their vision, brand, and employee engagement objectives.
• Nick Morgan (Web | Twitter) is President of the presenter coaching and message development company, Public Words, Inc., and author of Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma; and Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking.
• Cynthia Starks (Web) is President of Starks Communications, LLC and is a former IBM and Fortune 500 speechwriter. Leaders in business, education, and government have delivered her speeches around the world.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Chaunce Stanton provides marketing communications support for the professional services industry, including architects, engineers, and scientists. For more than eight years, he has routinely helped teams develop messages and craft polished presentations for multimillion-dollar projects. Chaunce is an enthusiastic member of Toastmasters International in St. Paul, Minnesota’s Metropolitan Chapter.

If you have absolutely no idea how to get there, this book will show you what is required.

Jane Atkinson’s The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business is packed with advice to prepare you to make the jump to $15,000 speaking fees, whether you are six months or six years away.

This article is the latest of a series of public speaking book reviews here on Six Minutes.

What will you learn from The Wealthy Speaker?

The Wealthy Speaker is a comprehensive insider’s view of the speaking industry. Jane Atkinson guides you through all aspects of a keynote speaker’s business, including:

• Positioning yourself as an expert first, speaker second
• Developing your message
• Setting and negotiating fees
• Development of marketing materials
• Creation of your website and demo video
• Building your contact database
• Working with speaker’s bureaus and event planners
• Growing your business and hiring staff
• Selling products

The Wealthy Speaker is written with authority, and Atkinson’s extensive expertise in the speaking industry is apparent. This isn’t a book with theoretical ideas that might work. These are lessons learned from her successes and failures in the trenches.

Numerous case studies highlight successful speakers and industry insiders. These are fairly short (1-2 pages), but highly enlightening.

Throughout the book, you’ll also find worksheets and personal assessments. These exercises are well-designed to help you apply the lessons to your personal situation.

As a final note, you won’t find much information here at all about honing your speaking skills. And that’s a good thing because that’s not what this book is about. I was happy to see this book kept its focus on the business of speaking, not the mechanics.

What I wish was in The Wealthy Speaker

As much as I learned from The Wealthy Speaker, it’s not perfect. You cannot cover everything in 208 pages. So, what’s missing?

First, as Atkinson states early in the book, the book has a bias towards business models based primarily on keynote speaking. So, you won’t find specific information here to carve out a wealthy career as a trainer, seminar leader, or speaking coach. Perhaps we’ll have to wait for the sequel: The Wealthy Trainer?

Second, a few topics could use more treatment.

• For example, the section on website management is thin. To be fair, Atkinson defers to “experts” for this topic. The topics which comprise her core expertise (e.g. positioning, marketing, speaker’s bureaus) are handled much better.
• The information on contracts also feels skimpy. I expected to find more samples and a richer resource here. Perhaps the rationale here is that wealthy speakers delegate the contract work to staff?

Third, while the table of contents is detailed, there’s no index or appendices (e.g. a list of all the resource websites mentioned throughout the book). This reduces the usefulness of The Wealthy Speaker as a reference tool. Maybe this will be added in the second edition?

The Bottom Line

The Wealthy Speaker is excellent value, and easily worth the purchase price. An investment of $11.53 is a small, small price for gaining so much knowledge.

About the Author – Jane Atkinson

Jane Atkinson has 15 years of experience helping speakers secure more bookings at higher fees. She is a business coach for speakers, specializing in positioning and marketing. You can read more about her on her website: Speaker Launcher.

Jane previously shared her expertise as a guest author on Six Minutes with 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool.

Similar Articles You May Like... 6 Key Steps to Dip Your Toe into the Professional Speaking Pool Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) Professional Speaker Associations Interview with Kristin Arnold, National Speakers Association President Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review [2010-08-14]

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

How many times have you sat in an audience and thought to yourself: “Man, I’d like to be up there!”

Perhaps you’ve given a few presentations and you find out that you’re pretty darn good at this speaking thing. Maybe you join Toastmasters and rise to the top of your club. Some time goes by and you start thinking “I can make a living at this. Imagine getting paid to speak!”

You decide to go for it.

So what’s next?

Here are a few broad steps that you can take to get started in the world of professional speaking:

1. Pick a Lane
2. Be the Expert
3. Get Good
4. Set Up Shop
5. Creating a Great Promise
6. Develop a Marketing Program

1. Pick a Lane

The first step along your journey must be to “pick a lane.”

You need to choose a topic area to focus on, based on your expertise. Now you might say, “but I have several speeches that I’m very good at – how can I choose just one?”

Ask yourself this question: “What do I want to be known for 5 years from now?” If you don’t want to be known for anything and don’t care much about getting paid, then by all means continue with all of your speeches.

If you want to get paid well and be known as the expert on one thing, then pick a lane.

2. Be the Expert

When launching into a career as a professional speaker, many people make the mistake of thinking of themselves as just a speaker. In the big picture, however, you are the central cog of a company that helps to accomplish something.

Whether you help people manage their time better, lead others, get motivated, or be educated on the economy, your company should have a mission.

You should think about speaking as just one of the channels which you use to distribute your knowledge. You might also write books, consult, coach, run teleseminars, host retreats, etc.

The key is this: when you think about yourself, don’t narrow it down to professional speaker; be the head of an empire that helps people in your lane of expertise.

Remember that you can’t fake it. Your expertise must be real and credible. If you aren’t there yet, go out and develop your expertise before pursuing this path.

3. Get Good

Winning a speech contest is a step in the right direction towards getting good, but it doesn’t mean that people are going to pay you.

The real test to knowing when your speech has “made it” is when someone comes up to you after your presentation and says “I’d like to book you to speak six months from now in Las Vegas.”

When spin-off, which is king in our business, is happening on average 2-3 times after every engagement, then you can stop working on your speech. Until then, work the speech. [Ed.: spin-off refers to a future speaking engagement you gain as a direct consequence of your present engagement]

4. Set Up Shop

The speaking business is like any business. If you don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in your body, you may be in for hardship.

To get started, you need cash flow – start up capital. If you are starting on a shoe string, then you are going to find it more difficult. That said, with today’s technical world, things are a bit more possible.

For instance, you can use a blog as your website and manage it yourself. If it looks professional enough, then you might be able to save the costs of setting up and managing a website which can creep into the thousands depending on your supplier.

The key is to be able to communicate what you can do for people within 15 seconds of their arrival to your site. In our ADD web world, you don’t have long to impress someone. [Ed.: ADD = attention deficit disorder]

If they don’t see what they are looking for, they will abandon your website in a heartbeat.

5. Creating a Great Promise

The promise statement is the key to communicating your value to your prospects.

It’s like a tag line and would go on your website and marketing pieces. In five to nine words (less is more), the promise statement tells prospects what they will get by working with you.

For example, a speaker who delivers programs on team-building might create a promise “Helping Teams Win in a Competitive Field.”

You can work on making your promise more clever or reflective of your personality, but the real key is to show the outcome and the value, and to get that decision maker to lean in and say “Yes, we need that!”

6. Develop a Marketing Program

Now obviously I’m simplifying here, but once your website is up, you’ll want to create a flow of traffic to it.

You’ll want to choose industries that would be a good fit for your message and start a marketing campaign that will allow you to position with those groups as an expert.

I often recommend to my clients that they start a twelve month marketing calendar. The goal is to develop a list of followers by having people sign up for something on your website. Then to stay in touch with that list on a regular basis so that when they have a need for your expertise, you are top of mind. A few marketing ideas are:

• developing articles for your target markets
• postcard campaigns
• e-mail campaigns
• direct mail
• utilizing social media
• teleclasses

In my opinion (which comes from 20 years of working inside this field) it takes 3 years to launch a professional speaking career. Of course, there have been a few exceptions. But if you are determined to dive in and earn a living in the world of professional speaking you’ll need to pick a lane, establish your expertise, get good on the platform and develop a consistent marketing campaign.

And if you do all that and show your clients the outcome that they will get by working with you, then you will be on your way to becoming a wealthy speaker.

Similar Articles You May Like... Book Review: The Wealthy Speaker by Jane Atkinson Professional Speaker Associations Interview with Kristin Arnold, National Speakers Association President Book Review: Boring to Bravo (Kristin Arnold) Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) What Does Your Personal Brand Say About You as a Speaker?

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Jane Atkinson is the author of The Wealthy Speaker: The Proven Formula for Building Your Professional Speaking Business. She is a business coach for speakers, specializing in positioning and marketing. For more information, visit Jane’s website: Speaker Launcher.