A Blog By Speakers, For Speakers.
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…
From Big Macs to Big IMPACT: Systemize Your Speaking Business
By Patrick Donadio, MBA, CSP, MCC The Smart Speaker’s Advantage Sitting in a Tokyo McDonald’s, craving something familiar after weeks of home-cooked meals from my various Rotary host families, I bit into a “Big Mac.” It tasted exactly like the Big Mac back home in Columbus, Ohio. That was the moment I understood the power…
Let’s Get Candid About Keynote Speaking Fees!
By Crystal Washington, CSP, CPAE I owe you an apology. As the person who introduced using “pineapples” in place of quoting actual numbers when I hosted the NSA podcast—I know you’re groaning—I think it’s time we have a candid discussion about speaker fees in 2025. First, I must share that I’m writing from the perspective…
The Business Behind the Curtain: 25 Ways to Create an Amazing Speech – That Doesn’t Include the Speech
By Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE One of the highest compliments a speaker can receive is being invited back to present for the same client. It validates that you weren’t just good, but good enough—or should I say amazing enough—to be invited back. Who doesn’t love that? But there’s another compliment that’s almost just as good,…