One of our speakers, Jeff Salz, just posted a great article for event professionals titled “Three Wishes Before You Put a Hold on My Calendar.” I encourage you to read the full article (and I’ll give you the link in a moment), but I wanted to highlight what he said about working with speakers bureaus (should you or shouldn’t you?)…
I just Googled motivational speakers and came up with 4,620,000. Good luck navigating your way through that mess. Narrow it down. Looking for an “adventure speaker”? Much better. Only 1,550,000 to sort through there. (Looking at individual names, I am number five. Not too shabby out a million and a half!) So let’s really qualify and enter “Best Motivational Speaker of All Time.” Look, only eighteen million of those! It has been said that the Internet is the great leveler, the grand equalizer – unless someone pays for preferential placement, of course.
Even if every testimonial you read is genuine, even if the photos are less than twenty years old and not photo-shopped beyond recognition, how to know if the speaker is easy to work with, punctual, congenial…or shows up late with an ego a mile wide – if he shows up at all?
The point: to make sure the speaker you are contacting will survive the gauntlet of committees revision and pass the muster of executive review: don’t believe anything you read online without verifying it elsewhere.
Do Rely on a Speakers Bureau
Sure, we speakers love direct bookings – if they go smoothly. But that can be a big if. The smart ones among us also love our bureau partners, understand their unique value proposition and want you to, too. Not only do they insure the pre-event, event and the post event processes go smoothly but they are the matchmakers of the event world. On the phone, pounding keys and staring at screens, attending NSA conferences and chapter meetings – this is the intelligence that bureau folks spend their careers gathering.
Use them. They love it.
Plus, a good speakers bureau will love you back. You should feel their love. If you don’t have a bureau that’s bringing you the love, would you please let us know? We would be thrilled to tell you all about our favorites. Bottom line: a speakers bureau saves you time and disappointment by listening to your story, vetting your choices and charging you exactly what for this service? Zero, nada, bupkis. Such a deal!
Read the full article from Jeff here…
And whether you want to work with a speakers bureau or not, our goal here at The Speakers Group is simply to help you find a great speaker for your next event. “Choose Your Adventure” here…
