Evaluating motivational speakers for your next meeting or event? We’ve added preview videos of some of the top candidates to our web site – easy to view at your leisure, or easy to share with your planning committee members. You can check out our speaker video viewing room for the full library, or here is quick access to nine of our (and our clients’) favorites:

• Karyn Buxman – the “Freakin’ Funny Nurse”
  
• Dan Clark – primary contributing author to the Chicken Soup For The Soul series
• Chip Eichelberger – former point man for Tony Robbins, getting people “plugged in” and “switched on”
  
• Chester Elton – the “apostle of appreciation” and co-author of The Carrot Principle
  
• Vicki Hitzges – bringing laughter, cheer and learning to your meeting
  
• Shep Hyken – author of Moments of Magic and the upcoming The Cult of the Customer
  
• Eileen McDargh – named one of the top 100 authorities in work and life leadership
• Vince Poscente – author of the national bestseller, The Age of Speed
  
• Steve Rizzo – “The Attitude Adjuster”

These are challenging times, calling for challenging speakers – speakers who will challenge your audience to rise above the circumstances and inspire them to unite and thrive in the midst of difficulty.

Posted under Motivational Speakers, Speaker Preview Videos, Speaker Recommendations

Steve Farber, author of the national bestseller, The Radical Leap, has a highly anticipated new release due on bookshelves from Doubleday Business a week from today (Tuesday, March 3, 2009), titled Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership. Patrick Lencioni and Matthew Kelly co-wrote the foreword of the book. Pat, author of bestsellers such as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, says:

“I encourage you to set aside your pre-conceived notions of success and accomplishment and throw yourself whole-heartedly into the GTY [Greater Than Yourself] endeavor.”

And the endorsements continue from a “Who’s Who” of leading business authorities:

“GREATER THAN YOURSELF is a terrific – no, wonderful – idea. Steve is a tremendous writer and an original thinker.” – Tom Peters

“Raising someone up does not reduce your stature – in fact, it exalts you in ways you have to experience to believe. GREATER THAN YOURSELF shows how you can begin improving the world by giving of yourself. It’s a wonderful message wrapped in a highly entertaining, well-written story.” – Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Leading at a Higher Level

“GREATER THAN YOURSELF is more than a good tale well told. It’s a path-breaking book that brings to life the ultimate leadership lesson – that the highest purpose of our work is the development of other leaders. It’s a gift for your mind and your spirit. I enthusiastically recommend it.”
- Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the bestselling book The Leadership Challenge, Dean’s Executive Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

You’re likely familiar with the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s a concept that can be found in almost every religion, society and as a basic tenet of personal relationships around the world. It’s timeless and universal. Yet, too often it’s checked at the door Monday through Friday, from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

With GREATER THAN YOURSELF, Farber brings the age old principle to the forefront of our every day working lives and careers. A leadership guru, Farber argues that it’s not enough for a leader to be a coach, mentor, talent scout, or cheerleader:

“Real leadership is an extreme act rooted in love and motivated by a desire to create a better world…Truly great leaders in life become so because they cause others to be greater than themselves.”

GREATER THAN YOURSELF is a powerful parable about how the best leaders help others to be more capable and successful than they are themselves. Farber illustrates the three principles of GREATER THAN YOURSELF and instructs how to put them into action. They include:

• Expand Yourself: Before you can improve others you must be able to improve yourself; it’s about broadening your competence, knowledge, experience and connection with people to help them do the same.

• Give Yourself: Knowledge is Power, but only if you’re willing to share it freely and generously

• Replicate Yourself: Teaching others to do exactly what you’ve done for them.

In conjunction with the book release, Farber has a new keynote presentation built on these same three principles, titled, “Greater Than Yourself: 3 Steps to Attaining the New Gold Standard of Leadership.” Ideal for current, next generation, and high-potential managers and leaders at all organizational levels, you can learn more about the presentation here, or contact us at The Speakers Group to discuss how you can maximize the impact of this relevant, empowering message by utilizing “Greater Than Yourself” as the theme for your next annual meeting or event.

Posted under Book Review, Leadership Development, Motivational Speakers, Organizational Excellence, Planner Tips, Sales Management, Speaker News, Speaker Recommendations

If you’re a meeting planner (or one who plans meetings, whether that’s your official title or not), you’ve likely noticed the buzz lately in defense of the value of meetings. (If not, check out KeepAmericaMeeting.org.)  There’s a great article on that theme in the February issue of Incentive magazine specifically related to incentive events (imagine that!).

“The Road to Recovery” addresses some of the challenges of planning an incentive program in the midst of a recession, and also offers some possible solutions to create a “well-planned, well-executed” event. If you plan such events, it’s worth a read. There was one quote in the article, though, that really jumped out at me:

“Ask what is it you need to get done this year. Are you still trying to engage loyal customers? Do you still need motivated, engaged and knowledgeable employees? These are not going away.”

- Fay Beauchine, Executive Vice President of Carlson Marketing

That, to me, says all that needs to be said about why meetings remain important – and dare I say even more important – in an economic crisis like we are facing now. Your employees, your sales force, your leaders, your customers – everyone connected to your organization – is challenged right now. What better way to encourage, educate and build synergy than through a meeting? (And better yet, a meeting with a dynamic, relevant, well-informed keynote speaker or workshop leader!)

Should you schedule meetings and speakers right now? If it’s a program packed with fluff and formalities, then absolutely not. But if it’s a program that is well thought out, on target, and well executed, how can you afford not to?

Posted under Leadership Development, Organizational Excellence, Planner Tips, Sales Management

With corporate and association meetings budgets feeling the pressure from current economic conditions, e-meetings/virtual meetings/online meetings/webinars are becoming much more appealing alternatives to traditional live meetings. If you find yourself trying to evaluate whether the online medium is right for your next event, we came across this free webinar that you might find helpful, produced by MeetingsNet:

Hear from Debi Scholar, PricewaterhouseCoopers, as the pioneer of combining virtual meetings in the same team with meeting planners and from Tim Stark, the director of online events at Penton Media, the largest independent B2B media company in the U.S., on why you should embrace e-meetings and learn about best practices for planning, building, and deploying a successful online event.

To view the free program, visit the event registration page here.

As an added note: Many professional speakers are now offering “virtual” delivery of their keynote programs and workshops, in an effort to better accommodate clients’ needs. This web-based session can be a standalone program, or it can integrate with your complete online meeting agenda. Professionals are in need of expert insights from speakers today more than ever, yet reduced budgets can make it difficult to proceed as scheduled with sales meetings, leadership retreats and other programs. In that case, consider scheduling an online session with a speaker to access the same valuable content while saving time and money compared to a live event. If that’s of interest, contact us at The Speakers Group and we would be happy to discuss specific solutions that may be a fit for you.

Posted under Event Management, Leadership Development, Organizational Excellence, Planner Tips, Sales Management

Meetings, Events & Incentive Travel Industry Joins Together for Keep America Meeting Campaign

New York – February 11, 2009 – Two days after the U.S. Travel Association and industry leaders from key organizations issued guidelines for recipients of TARP funding, members of the meetings, events and incentive travel industries have banded together in a grassroots effort to draw attention to the important role meetings play in building successful businesses, as well as the vital role meetings, events and incentive travel play in the American economy.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, meetings and events are responsible for 15 percent of all travel-related spending, create nearly $40 billion in tax revenue at the federal, state and local level and generate more than one million jobs. Without the jobs generated by meetings, events and incentive travel, the current unemployment rate of 7.6 percent would rise to 8.2 percent and cost the average American household an additional $136 in taxes annually.

The campaign asks supporters to go to its www.keepamericameeting.org website and sign an online petition. The petition signatures will be delivered by Keep America Meeting to the U.S. Travel Association and industry leaders from key organizations to fuel industry-wide efforts with the White House and the U.S. Congress.

Keep America Meeting was created by TBA Global in partnership with the U.S. Travel Association with support from the Event Marketing Institute. It is endorsed by a nonpartisan group of associations, publishers and companies.

A preliminary list of endorsers includes Site (Society of Incentive Travel Executives), Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) and media endorsers Red 7 Media (publisher of Event Marketer, Event Design, Agenda, EXPO magazines), MeetingsNet (publisher of Corporate Meetings & Incentives, Medical Meetings, Financial & Insurance
Meetings, Association Meetings, Religious Conference Manager magazines), Special Events Magazine, Event Solutions Magazine, and Northstar Travel Media LLC (publisher of Meetings & Conventions and Travel Weekly magazines).

Other early supporters include the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, PGA National Resort & Spa, DGO and HotelBlox. Organizations interested in becoming a Keep America Meeting endorser agree to fully promote the cause and can sign up on the Keep America Meeting website.

U.S. Travel Association
The U.S. Travel Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $740 billion travel industry. U.S. Travel’s mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. For more information, visit www.ustravel.org.

About TBA GLOBAL
Founded in 1994, TBA Global (www.tbaglobal.com) is a privately-held agency that creates nontraditional marketing and communications programs, events and meetings for high-profile businesses and associations worldwide. TBA Global is ranked in the top 100 U.S. marketing organizations and among the Top 50 Sales Promotion Agencies by
Advertising Age magazine (May 5, 2008). TBA Global has 18 offices in North America and the U.K.

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Contact:
Alison Jenks
VP Marketing, TBA Global
aljenks@tbaglobal.com
858-509-8700
Kristy Chandler
U.S. Travel Association
202-408-2172

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To get involved, visit the Keep America Meeting web site, and check out the Keep America Meeting Group on LinkedIn.

Posted under Event Management, Planner Tips, Suggested Links