Here we are at the end of another year! If your year hasn’t gone according to plan, you’re not alone. Be it the economic meltdown, the meetings industry crisis, or other circumstances, 2009 has been “interesting.” There’s always much to be thankful for, though, and we’re very grateful here at The Speakers Group. Thank you for reading our blog; thank you for allowing us to be of service as you seek out the best speakers for your meetings. From all of us at TSG, we wish you a wonderful 2010! May it be your best year yet! Please let us know how we can help you toward that goal.

Now, since this is a blog after all, what better way to close out the year than to revisit our nine most-viewed blog posts of 2009:

1. Social Media Speakers: 10 to Know
   Social Media / Social Networking has been on most everyone’s mind this year. Corporations, associations, hospitals, and even government entities have sought out social media expert speakers to help their attendees better understand the relevance of the social web in their endeavors. To help event planners in their search for a social media speaker, we published this starter list of “10 to know.” Our roster of social media speakers has grown since then, so you may want to check out our more extensive listing at http://SocMedSpkrs.com as you plan for 2010.
2. Twitter for Meeting Planners: How to Make It Work for You
   You may remember 2009 as the “year of the recession” or “year of the meetings industry crisis,” but it was also the year of Twitter. We all had to figure out where Twitter fit into our business, including meeting planners. Twitter offers some great opportunities in managing events and connecting with attendees, and we offered a few tips in this post.
3. 9 Business Speakers You Need to Know in 2009
   To kick off the year, we highlighted nine business speakers who were either well established and as relevant as ever, or who were on the way up with some fresh insights. If you’re planning events in 2010, these are still some great speakers for your consideration, addressing topics such as sales, leadership, employee morale and marketing.
4. Janine Driver on Body Language and Successful Selling
   We first came to know Janine Driver after an appearance on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. She’s a dynamic, engaging speaker, and a leading expert on reading body language who helps business professionals make this skill a powerful tool in their repertoire.
5. TSG Keynotes Magazine
   Seth Godin wrote in his blog this week that “The scalable, profitable strategy [of differentiation] is to change the game, not to become the most average.” In the speakers bureau world, everyone says “we have the best service” or “we have the best speakers.” The truth is, most of us have really good service, and most of us have the same great speakers. We’re trying to change the game here at The Speakers Group, though, thinking of ourselves as Speakers Bureau 2.0. It’s a work in progress, but TSG Keynotes came as a result of this mentality. Instead of publishing another speakers bureau catalog — which is no different than what you can find online — we published, for the first time, a mini-magazine packed with helpful meeting planning/speaker booking insights rather than speaker profiles. Our aim: to be a meeting planner’s or business leader’s most valuable partner for booking speakers. How can we be better for you? Let us know.
6. Top Motivational Speakers on Video
   When you’re ready to book a speaker, what is your #1 evaluation tool? Usually, it’s a speaker preview video. In this blog post, we put together a few videos from top motivational speakers. Want to see our full – and growing – library of online speaker videos? Visit our online speaker video viewing room here.
7. Social Media and Your Meeting: No Longer An Optional Topic
   The social media topic is back! Three of our top nine blog posts of 2009 relate to social media – another testament to the relevance of this topic this year? In this blog post, we highlighted how far-reaching social media is, affecting various industries and meeting types. Have you included social media in your meetings this year? We’d love to hear your story in the comments section below. Any advice to share with your fellow planners?
8. Peter Guber Interview – The MAGIC is Story
   I had the pleasure of sitting down with Peter just a few blocks from his office in Hollywood last year – wow, what a guy! Peter is a business genius – just look at his resume – and one of the most charismatic speakers I’ve seen. As one of the most successful entertainment executives of all time, Peter knows what makes a good story, and he brings those insights to business audiences nationwide. He’s a pretty fresh face on the speaking circuit, so if you’re looking for a dynamic addition to your meeting agenda in 2010, give us a call and we’d love to help you consider Peter.
9. The Cat’s Pajamas Video – A Cappella Corporate Event Entertainment
   At #9, it’s The Cat’s Pajamas! Never heard of them? I hadn’t either until I happened upon this quartet singing in a lounge on a cruise a couple of years ago. There are many great a capella groups to choose from, but you won’t find a foursome more talented and entertaining than these guys — and they’re budget friendly! Watch this highlight video if you’re looking to add some “wow!” and fun to your event in 2010.

And with that, 2009 is in the books. Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope we’ll have the chance to work together in the year ahead. Happy New Year!

Posted under Corporate Entertainment, Event Management, Motivational Speakers, Planner Tips, Social Media Speakers, Speaker News

photo credit: markhillary

STEP ONE: Look only locally to save travel expenses.

STEP TWO: Choose a speaker based on the theme of your event.

STEP THREE: Read a book and hire the author to present the content.

STEP FOUR: Base your search on price.

STEP FIVE: Make name-recognition the top priority in your search.

STEP SIX: Do it yourself.   Google away!

Or, if you prefer to hire a good one…

Throw the net as wide as possible when searching for a speaker. Don’t let price, budget, name, or even topic dictate your search.  Look for the right speaker and if they are a fit, try to negotiate the expenses into the fee.

Tie in the décor with your theme, not the speaker. Any speaker worth their salt will work to customize the presentation to fit your theme in one way or another.  You want your attendees to walk away from the session saying “What a great speaker!” not “Wow did that speaker ever tie into the event theme well!”

Good writing does not necessarily a good speaker make. For a good best-selling author who speaks, look for one who was a speaker first, and then wrote their NYT bestselling book.

Finding a ‘silver bullet’ speaker is rare (great name, great story, great speaker, great message, actually accept engagements).  Nearly without exception, one of the things on that list has to be sacrificed. Quite often name-recognition is a contra-indication of speaking skills. It’s a short list!  You can save $10k – $20k by hiring a no-name speaker with the right stuff.  For well-spoken, engaging, name-recognition speakers, consider those who are famous for a profession that requires giving speeches i.e.: politicians & activists.

Outsource your weaknesses! Get a speaker-consultant-on-call who can help you.  Speaker Bureau services are free – use them!  Get referrals from colleagues you trust.  Use the IACEP network.  Ask other speakers!

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Guest Post by Christa Haberstock, Meetings Industry Veteran and Consultant to Professional Speakers

Posted under Event Management, Motivational Speakers, Planner Tips, Speaker Recommendations

photo credit: Rob Shenk

What’s your greatest challenge when booking speakers for your meetings? We’ve been asking that question of our clients and others who plan meetings lately and by far, the answer we hear most often is something to the effect of “finding speakers who fit my needs, objectives and budget.” If you feel the same way, allow me to introduce The Speakers Group.

When you consider that there are more than 5,000 professional speakers you could encounter in a speaker search, combined with today’s unique budgetary constraints on meetings, combined with the fact that you have numerous responsibilities beyond “booking speakers” that demand your attention, finding the right speaker(s) for your event can be understandably overwhelming. Our purpose at The Speakers Group is to relieve you of that burden and make your life easier.

Every day, we are evaluating speakers (reading their books, educating ourselves on their available presentations, watching videos, reviewing feedback from your peers) so we can guide our clients to speaker candidates who are best equipped to score top ratings with their audiences. That’s what we do.

With The Speakers Group on your side, you don’t have to spend hours researching speakers, trying to decide who might be the best match for your event. That’s exhausting! With one 15-minute phone call, we’ll gather the details about your event, listen to your concerns, and go to work for you. You can return to your other priorities, and the next time you think about speakers, you’ll be looking at a proposal of candidates who have been selected specifically for their relevance to your event. And that’s just the beginning of how we can help you.

We’ll continue to save you time and provide peace-of-mind throughout the speaker booking process, all the way through the day of your event. With an understanding of your needs and objectives combined with our expertise in speakers and how to effectively work with them, your speakers are one aspect of your meeting you won’t have to worry about!

(And by the way, we’re at your service at no cost to you. We earn a commission from speakers when we book them – because we help them connect with you just the same as we help you connect with them.)

Could you use some help finding and booking speakers for your meetings? Give us a try. We’d like to show you why we’ve been called “so easy” to work with and “a refreshing change from other speakers bureaus.”

Posted under Event Management, Motivational Speakers, Planner Tips

Posted under Event Management, Motivational Speakers

Illustrating how much companies stand to gain when workers travel for meetings, conventions, training or as an incentive for performance, a new Oxford Economics study found that for every dollar spent on business travel, companies realize $12.50 in incremental value and $3.80 in profits. Some highlights from this study include:

• Companies would need to increase an employee’s total base compensation by 8.5 percent in order to achieve the same effect of incentive travel, according to executives.

• The majority of corporate travelers identified internal company travel as key to professional development (66 percent), job performance (58 percent) and morale (56 percent).

• Internal meetings receive the highest marks, with 73 percent of executives indicating a significant impact on employee performance and 66 percent confirming the importance of travel to employee morale.

• Nearly 80 percent of executives indicate that incentive travel has a positive impact on employee morale and job satisfaction; more than 70 percent on employee performance.

Read more at ROI Speakers.

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