I'm looking for a dynamic keynote speaker to address a regional conference of marketing professionals who has national name rocognition, can clearly speak to teamwork, and doesn't want an-arm-and-a-leg in fees. Where should I look?

-- Frank Lippert (fjl@deainc.com), November 06, 2000

Answers

A nationally known speaker is good for publicity, but that doesnBt necessarily mean that their spiel is going to be any good. A googly- eyed audience will applaud mostly anyone who is famous enough to utter a few choice syllables but IMHO content and delivery is a bonus. A speaker's price should not be construed to be a guide to quality but serve as a reference point to their availability and their public demand. Not all speakers have to be paid like rock stars and not all speakers are rock stars. The fact that you are prepared to dangle a carrot out for a nationally known speaker (even if it is a small carrot) should wake up some speakers that want to resurrect their speaking profiles. The question then becomes "where do you dangle?"

If you want a keynote speaker who is nationally known then a good stopping off point is

http://www.leighbureau.com/contact_us.html

Whether you get a keynote at a cheaper cost is a question of negotiation but your best bet is to scour public relation companies, they will fight hand over fist to get profiles of presenters in front of you.

Of course there are also the run-of-the-mill speakers bureaus see: http://www.event-solutions.com/sourcebook/F78.html

or take your pick (leigh is included in this listing) http://asia.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Sp eakers/Bureaus/

to the people who grabbed speakers.com URL and who think they have iced it as a result: http://speakers.com/website/speakersonline.asp

and you can also page/poll marketing associations or a specific niche if marketing ie direct marking, customer relationship marketing, branding etc etc

We presented recently to a native Indian conference recently without asking or receiving a presentation fee for our services, while the audience were enthralled by it and our benevolence was good, e were still Friday afternoon speakers, a slot filler. I think that there are other benevolent people out there like us so don't assume that all great speakers come with a price, equally don't assume that people will do everything for free either! It's a question of finding people with core beliefs (rare) , with people whose careers will receive a boost (frequent) and know how to present (precarious) to those who believe they are pro's (the safe bet).

Good luck in your search. I would offer my services to you too, but that would mean revealing my real name, so gee whiz I've blocked my own Khyber Pass. Best of luck anyway and hope you put together a great conference. When you have found someone, please let me know know who and how you did it and where you are holding the conference, who knows I might even be a conspicuous attendee in the audience.

M.

"To be or not to be that is the question" A quote by Willy Shakes. M Profile at: http://www.fastcompany.com/fasttalk/replypost.html? p=9738 Mantra of M. "Life is about Private Relations not Public Relations"

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), November 06, 2000.

You might also check out the rosters of the David Lavin Agency -- http://www.davidlavin.com/ -- and the Steven Barclay Agency -- http:// www.barclayagency.com/ . They're different mixes, but both are interesting.

Heath

-- Heath Row (heath@fastcompany.com), November 08, 2000.