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

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 17, 2009 — Meeting and conference organizers planning to feature the hot topic of social media at upcoming events can be easily overwhelmed when they begin their search for possible speakers. Case in point, a Google query for social media speakers yields over 22 million results, for social media experts, more than 68 million. (Compare that to about 1.5 million results when searching for motivational speaker on Google.) As an alternative, The Speakers Group offers meeting planners a selection of pre-screened social media speakers capable of addressing the subject on as basic or as complex a level as an audience requires, with a range of fees to fit a variety of budgets.

Recognizing the widespread relevance of social media for their clients across multiple industries, The Speakers Group began establishing a niche of social media speakers on their roster earlier this year. In particular, they have sought out speakers who bring diverse perspectives to the social media discussion and who can address audiences outside the fields of technology and social media just as easily as they can address those within – an important distinction.

“Just because someone has spoken at a bloggers conference, a social media event or SxSW does not mean that speaker is the right fit for traditional audiences,” points out Jeff Hurt, a conference planner who has scheduled more than 2,500 speakers over the past 10 years. “Just because someone is a great writer, blogger or author does not automatically qualify them as a great speaker.”

Beyond offering a directory of proven social media speakers, The Speakers Group offers additional value to meeting organizers by being able to discuss their specific needs and objectives related to social media to ensure they secure the appropriate authority for their unique situation.

“There’s no shortage of businesses and more specifically, the individuals who represent them, seeking insight, answers and direction to simplify, organize, and elucidate the intimidating and confusing social media landscape,” said Brian Solis, respected authority on social media and author of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations. “Likewise, social media experts are seemingly ubiquitous. Working with an organization that can effectively connect precise expertise to the forums where they can be fully assimilated, appreciated, and effectively practiced is invaluable to all parties involved.”

By being actively engaged in social media in their own business operations – with a blog that began in 2005 and with profiles on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter – and understanding what meeting organizers and audiences expect of their speakers, The Speakers Group is uniquely equipped to help planners seeking to add value to their events by featuring this important topic.

For more information, read The Speakers Group’s recent blog post titled “Social Media and Your Meeting: No Longer an Optional Topic” and monitor their growing roster of social media speakers at http://SocMedSpkrs.com, or call (615) 526-6600 to discuss social media options for your program.

Posted under Event Management, Social Media Speakers, Speaker News

photo credit: JeffSands

This blog post is for business leaders, meeting professionals, and others who plan events. At The Speakers Group, clients expect us to offer innovative speaker suggestions to help them make their next event the best ever, and it has become clear that the topic everyone wants to know about today is social media. Social media sessions at conferences – whether breakouts or keynotes – are some of the most-attended and highest-rated, and the subject is in such demand that social media-specific conferences are selling out easily. If you plan events, we hope this post will help you in considering how to integrate social media into your agenda.

In case you haven’t noticed, social media (or new media, or social networking) is everywhere. Blogs. Facebook. LinkedIn. Twitter. YouTube. Flickr. The list of social media tools and applications goes on and on, and it’s multiplying every day. As recently as a few months ago, businesses and professionals were asking, “Is this relevant to me/my organization/my industry/my profession?” It’s hard to question relevance, though, when:

• Facebook alone now claims over 250 million members. It’s estimated that there are another 300+ million people engaged in other social media channels. Odds are, some of those people are your colleagues, employees, customers or prospects. You want to connect with them, right?
• Over the next five years, Forrester Research estimates social media marketing to grow at an annual rate of 34 percent – faster than any other form of online marketing and double the average growth rate of 17 percent for all online mediums. That means social media marketing spending will hit $3.1 billion in 2014. The question is not whether you need to invest in social media marketing, but how do you spend wisely?
• TIME magazine recently featured “10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business.” Has your business been impacted yet? If it hasn’t already, it’s very likely that it soon will be.

Whether you plan meetings for an association, non-profit, corporation, healthcare organization, Chamber of Commerce, government entity, or institute for higher education…

Whether your meeting objectives are to boost sales, increase employee engagement, build customer loyalty, or improve the quality of healthcare…

Social media is one topic you can’t afford to leave off of your meeting agenda.

No matter your industry, no matter your profession, social media matters. Here are a few examples:

Social Media and Associations

Buzz2009, the first “Social Media for Associations” event was held on July 9 and focused on helping association executives learn social media concepts and strategies that would allow them to:

• Recruit more members
• Energize their events
• Activate their community online
• Engage volunteers by leveraging your social capital
• And much more!

In addition to featuring several social media “expert” speakers, one of the sessions featured a panel discussion with real stories of how associations are implementing social media programs to deepen their connections to existing members. Read this post on SmartBlog for some of the highlights, including examples from the American School Counselor Association, Property Casualty Insurance Association of America, IEEE and CEA.

Social Media and Healthcare

What role does social media play in healthcare? A fascinating one! From Aurora Health Care broadcasting a surgery on Twitter as means of patient education to physicians tweeting and blogging to strengthen the doctor-patient bond, the medical community is finding that there are many relevant applications of social media. (Here’s a blog post about Three Ways Healthcare Brands Can Leverage Social-Media.)

Leading healthcare organizations such as Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Health System, Henry Ford Health System, Mayo Clinic, and Emory Healthcare recently gathered at the Healthcare New Media Marketing Conference in Phoenix to learn and discuss best practices. Watch this short video featured at the conference to see exactly how social media is impacting the healthcare industry:

Social Media and Human Resources

Human resources professionals are especially interested in social media, whether because of the unique challenges it presents for corporate IT policies, or because of the opportunities it presents to increase community and engagement among employees, or because of the potential it holds in attracting and retaining top talent. The topic was explored at the most recent Annual Conference of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and also at  the Social Media for Talent Management Conference in New York and the Innovating Employee Engagement Meets Executing Social Media event in Chicago.

In August, the Advanced Learning Institute’s 26th forum on Internal Branding: How To Use Strategic Communications To Drive Employee Engagement, Build Your Brand, & Impact Your Organization’s Bottom Line, will be held, and among the companies involved are Hyatt Corporation; AAA Northern CA, NV & UT; American Express Canada; Benetton USA; Pitney Bowes; U.S. Department of the Interior; and Booz Allen Hamilton.

Social Media and Government

On one hand, government is all about the people, and social media is where the people are. On the other, government is usually not thought of as being the most forward-thinking in terms of technology. With government budgets being tighter than ever before, though, representatives at the federal, state and municipal levels must find new, more efficient ways to support their constituents over the web. Social media provides that solution, offering a great way to connect and mobilize a community.

The Advanced Learning Institute just held their 11th Forum on Social Media for Government: How To Engage Your Employees And Citizens By Using The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Drive Communication Results.

Social Media and Corporations

BlogWell: How Big Brands Use Social Media is an upcoming event that will feature eight case studies of big businesses successfully using social media, including General Mills (How the parent of Betty Crocker, Yoplait, and Pillsbury uses social media), McDonald’s (Social media for internal and external communication), Walmart (Using social media to connect with 200 million customers), and Ford (Sharing your story through social media).

At the previous BlogWell event, Josh Karpf, PepsiCo’s manager of digital communications, shared some insights based on their social media strategies. Read some highlights here.

Social Media and Small Business

Like all businesses, small businesses depend on their customers for survival. What makes small businesses different, though, is that their budgets are more limited than their big business competitors, and they often depend on superior, hyper-personalized customer service to compete with their larger competitors. Social media is valuable on both counts.

Because connecting with customers and prospects is the foundation of all successful social media programs, blogs, forums and social networks allow small businesses to bring the voices of their customers directly into their organizations. And to top it all off, most of these social media tools are free or very affordable. That’s why BusinessWeek columnist Steve McKee says social media is worth a small business’ time.

Recognizing the relevance of social media to small business, The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce in Maryland recently held a full-day social media conference to help business leaders in their community consider whether or not to use social media, and if so, how to use it strategically for maximum effectiveness.

Social Media and Higher Education

You don’t have to look far to see how social media is becoming a focal point for colleges and universities. A recent Mashable.com post highlights “10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media” – among them, to showcase student and faculty work, broadcast events, and create a dialogue with students. An April article in The Chronicle of Higher Education explains why college admissions offices overwhelmingly consider social media important for recruiting students and cites studies that show more institutions are creating blogs (41%) and online social networking profiles (61%). And now students are even learning about social media in the classroom.

In Conclusion

We could go on and on with examples, but what does all of this tell us?

1. Social media has near-universal relevance – it’s hard to find an industry or profession that cannot benefit from either internal or external (or both) applications of social media.
2. There is a craving for wisdom and guidance in navigating the ever-changing, often-overwhelming world of social media – people and organizations are looking for help!
3. If you don’t address social media on your meeting agenda, your attendees are going to turn to another event that does (such as those listed above).
   

As you look to help your attendees by incorporating social media content into your program, we at The Speakers Group are here to help you, having already researched numerous social media practitioners and authorities so you don’t have to. Search the web and you’ll find hundreds, if not thousands of “social media speakers” for consideration, but if you have other things to do, check out 10 Social Media Speakers who are guaranteed to deliver the kind of cutting-edge, proven insights your attendees expect.

Posted under Event Management, Organizational Excellence, Planner Tips, Social Media Speakers

photo credit: nextconference

Looking for a social media speaker for your next event? With hundreds of options to choose from, and with new “experts” popping up every day, how do you know who is the best — and more specifically, the best for your event?

Knowing that social media is one of the most in-demand topics for meetings and conferences today, we have scouted books, articles and conferences for leading authorities who meet the following criteria:

1. The individual must be established as a uniquely successful practitioner of social media and/or be frequently called on to share his or her expertise in the field — specifically as it relates to corporate and association social media practices.
2. The individual must have a proven ability to discuss social media in a way that is easily understandable and relevant to each unique audience.
3. The individual must be able to effectively engage the audience (every “expert” who writes an article is not necessarily someone you want on your platform as a speaker).

Based on those criteria, we’re assembling a powerful roster of social media speakers to help you address this highly relevant, in-demand subject at your next meeting or convention. Following are 10 such speakers from our roster to help you get started in your search (in alphabetical order):

Chris Brogan
Co-Author of Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust

Ryan Paddock of Digital Scientists says it best: “Chris Brogan, true to his reputation, is the authority when it comes to helping companies discover and implement social media into their business model. Chris… challenged the attendees to think differently about how to generate ROI in a strict corporate culture using social media and digital tools. His participation and prowess in the field undoubtedly added to the success of the event.”

Scott Klososky
Former CEO of Three Successful Startups; Specialist in Analyzing and Forecasting Technology Trends

Scott Klososky has proven multiple times that by combining technology knowledge with information on social trends, a person can have a huge impact in growing a business. In his presentations, Scott can help audiences understand “Digital Plumbing” (how to make data more valuable by leveraging the business intelligence layer), Social Media (how target and proximity marketing are playing out in the advertising and marketing space), Technology and White Collar Lean (using technology to lower back office and operations costs) and Web 2.0 Tools (Blogs, RSS Feeds, social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook,Twitter, crowdsourcing, other “hot” tools, plus Scott’s 10 favorite websites of the month). After all, he says, “Technology is simply a tool. Without the people who utilize it, there is no value.” Read some of Scott’s insights in this recent Q&A.

David Kralik
Director of Internet Strategy for American Solutions; One of the “Top Ten Changing the World of Internet and Politics”

While qualified to discuss a broad range of issues related to social media, David’s specialty is discussing the benefits of bringing Silicon Valley culture to Washington, DC. (He recently spoke about this during a Policy Talks@Google session which you can watch here.) David asks: What if the government ran on 20% time? David can help governments from the municipal level to the federal level understand how social media can help them tell their stories online, build and engage a following, and communicate with their constituents.

Mike McDerment
Co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks – One of Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Brilliant Companies”

FreshBooks, in business since 2004, now serves more than 800,000 people and has more than doubled the size of its staff in the past year. Though the business is 100 percent online, a key factor in their success has been their ability to engage with and get face-time with their customers. Read about FreshBooks As A Social Media Case Study and get a glimpse of the social media insights Mike can offer as a speaker for your audience.

Clayton Morris
Co-host of “FOX & Friends Weekend” and the Technology Show, “Gadgets and Games with Clayton Morris”

Clayton appeared on a panel with Rick Sanchez, Ann Curry, Brian Solis and others at the groundbreaking 140 Characters Conference and shared insights on how social media is changing the world of broadcast news. He is continuously uncovering best practices in social media by speaking with thought leaders such as Jeff Pulver, Robert Scoble and Gary Vaynerchuk, among others — see his chat with Jeff, Robert and Gary about the future of social media on the June 26 episode of Gadgets and Games.

Joe Rotella
Industry Expert on Usability, Web Design and Social Media

People are hearing fantastic stories about successful social campaigns that cost little or nothing to implement, and perhaps you’re considering putting your organization’s toe into the social media marketing pool. But are you really ready? Joe’s expertise can help you get ready. Joe recently spoke about social media and usability at the Ohio Hospital Assocation’s Annual Meeting and Tiffany Himmelreich, Manager of Media & Public Relations at OHA, said, “Attendees were frantically scribbling down pearls of wisdom, which proved to be challenging as they were simultaneously laughing at Joe’s humorous and engaging delivery. We have never received so many compliments about a speaker.”

Chris Sacca
Advisor to Twitter; Former Head of Special Initiatives at Google and Technology Advisor to President Obama’s Campaign

Based on his experience as an advisor to Twitter, and as former Head of Special Initiatives at Google Inc. and as an advisor on Telecommunications, Media, and Technology to President Barack Obama’s campaign, Chris is uniquely equipped to speak about how the Internet, social networks, and social media are being used in business as well as in government and democracy, exploring what it means for both entrepreneurs and citizens.

Andy Sernovitz
Author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

Whenever there’s been an innovation in marketing, Andy Sernovitz has been there. An 18-year veteran of the interactive marketing business, Andy has spent years helping companies learn how to do better marketing. Andy recently delivered the opening keynote presentation at Buzz2009 – dubbed the “Social Media for Associations” event – in Washington, DC, and spoke about the core concepts that drive word of mouth, how social media plays a part, and what associations can do to create buzz around the great work they do. Andy is equally capable of helping corporations adopt best practices in social media, and does just that with his company’s BlogWell: How Big Companies Use Social Media event. Andy can help his audiences learn everything from how to get started, how to get past roadblocks, and how to make their social media programs phenomenal.

Peter Shankman
Authority on PR and Marketing; Creator of the 100k-member-strong Social Media Success: HARO

Peter’s PR and Social Media clients have included the Snapple Beverage Group, NASA, The US Department of Defense, Walt Disney World, The Ad Council, American Express, Discovery Networks, Harrah’s Hotels, and many others. Peter is perhaps best known for founding Help A Reporter Out (HARO), which in under a year has become the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 100,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,200 queries from worldwide media each week and adding thousands of new members each week.

Brian Solis
Considered One of the Original Thought Leaders to Pave the Way for Social Media and PR 2.0

Brian often asks his audiences, “Who do you want to be online?” Since what you do, say and post online defines who you are and broadcasts this image ahead of you wherever you go, how you (or your company, or your people) design your online public image will influence your chances of success in this new social economy. Brian is an active leader in spotlighting and cultivating new startups and emerging visionaries in Silicon Valley and beyond, and as a speaker, he helps audiences understand what the rapid evolution of products and services means for their businesses and careers.

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To find the perfect social media speaker(s) for your unique audience, meeting objectives and budget, contact us at The Speakers Group and we would be happy to offer some guidance and help you uncover opportunities to utilize social media in enhancing your business and your events.

And for additional help in your search for a social media speaker:

Be sure to read Peter Shankman’s “Is Your Social Media Expert Really An Expert?”

Not sure if a social media speaker is right for your meeting program? Read our blog post about the widespread interest in social media across numerous professions and industries.

Connect with The Speakers Group through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (company, president and vice president).

Bookmark our Social Media Speakers page to stay up-to-date as we add more authorities on this topic to our roster.

Posted under Innovation Speakers, Planner Tips, Social Media Speakers, Speaker Recommendations