A Blog By Speakers, For Speakers.
20 Lessons Learned From 20 Years in This Industry: Part 1
By Maura Nevel Thomas, MBA, CSP This has been on my mind for years. I entered this business as a trainer, taking lessons I had learned from my decade in the productivity space. The first paid workshop I delivered was a “lunch and learn” for a state government office in 2006, where I earned $100….
The Art of the Presentation
By Harvey Mackay, CPAE Public speaking is one of my favorite pastimes – and it should be, considering all the speeches I give every year. I speak to huge corporations and highly-specialized groups and get paid well for the privilege. I’m often asked for advice on making effective and interesting presentations. Seems a lot of…
AI Disruption is Real—But Most Speakers Are Getting It Dead Wrong
By Ford Saeks, CSP, CPAE Everybody’s talking about AI. It’s the hot topic at conferences, the buzzword in boardrooms, and apparently the newest line item on speaker one-sheets across the country. The problem? Most of the content being delivered from the stage isn’t strategy—it’s a book report. Summaries of what ChatGPT can do, mixed with a few…
How To Develop A Successful, Long-Term Career As A Professional Speaker (By Answering These 9 Questions)
By Jim Pancero, CSP, CPAE | How are you, as a professional speaker/trainer/consultant growing your speaking business? Most have no real plan or strategy for what they need to do to have a successful, and profitable long-term speaking career. What does your plan look like…and what are you doing each week to advance this master…
8 Truths About Speaking Internationally (They Are Not What You Think)
By Sylvie di Giusto, CSP, CPAE Talk to any speaker long enough, and one dream is bound to surface: taking their message to a global stage. The allure is understandable: images of exotic destinations, selfie-filled reels beside iconic landmarks, late-night receptions under foreign skies, multilingual backstage crews managing headset switches, and spontaneous applause in languages…
Super Sexy Speaker Systems: How to Stop Dropping the Ball (and Look Good Doing It)
By Marcey Rader, CSP | Want to be sexier in your speaking business? You already rock the stage. But what about backstage – the messy, unsexy side, where the sausage gets made? Let’s talk about building systems that keep you in your zone of genius and off the hamster wheel. Why bother? Systems =…
From Microphones to Milestones: My Journey to CSP®
By: Sharon Weinstein, CSP, MS, RN, CRNI-R, FAAN, CVP | I’ve held a lot of microphones in my life. Town hall meetings. Hospital boardrooms. Government offices. Conference panels. I’ve briefed ministers, board members, nurses, and CEOs—often in the same week. At one point, I was in three countries a week, translating healthcare goals into policy…
A Dream, a Journal, and the Journey in Between
By Sam Demma*, CSP | In July of 2023, I sat in the back of the ballroom in Orlando, Florida, watching a parade of brilliant speakers walk across the stage to receive their CSP, CPAE, and respective awards. Moved to tears by the remarks from Dr. Willie Jolley, CSP, CPAE, Cavett Award Recipient, I scurried…
My 5 Secrets to Getting Booked Consistently for 25 Years
By Jason Hewlett, CSP, CPAE The first NSA meeting I ever attended—22 years ago—featured a brilliant, well-known keynote speaker who emphatically proclaimed, “Do not EVER speak for free.” Oddly, I had just seen that same speaker a few days earlier… speaking for free at a charity event. That’s why I came to NSA in the first…