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How One Adventurer Turned Global Attention into a Sustainable Speaking Business Using the Award-Winning Speaker Business Model from MainStage Speaker Business Academy Mark Agnew looked perfectly set up for a speaking career. A world-first expedition in the Arctic. Headline coverage from the BBC. More than 200 media features worldwide. Surely, the speaker bookings would just … Read more
By Thom Singer, CSP Influence 2026 lands in my hometown of Austin, TX, this July 25–27 at the Hilton Austin. The theme is about building a better business, and if you’re attending, you should show up ready to learn. The main stage will be strong, the breakouts will be useful, and the hallway conversations will be everywhere. … Read more
By Harvey Mackay, CPAE I am, first and foremost, and will always be, an envelope salesman. My business card says so. But more people probably know me as an author and speaker – which evolved from my sales career. Who knew? Regardless of the title on your business card, everyone is a salesperson whether you want to admit it or not. Why? Because from the time you get up in the … Read more
By: Courtney Ramsey, CSP I read a thread recently that stopped me mid-scroll. The topic wasn’t new, but that didn’t make it any less relevant. It was about whether speakers should attend the reception the night before they present. I paused because this is one of those things I still debate… every single time. I’m that speaker sitting in my hotel … Read more
Part 7: Tracking Your Past Helps Predict the Future By Cara Silletto, CSP Do you know how you actually win business? What are your top three lead-generating activities that bring in new gigs? How do people go from seeing you speak to booking you years later, if they weren’t ready to call the moment you … Read more
Part 6: Logistics: The Art of Being “Easy to Work With” By Cara Silletto, CSP As a former association meeting planner myself, I’ve learned there is a secret in the speaking industry: planners will blacklist speakers who are a logistical nightmare, even if they’re fabulous on stage. Being “easy to work with” is a critical … Read more
Part 5: Build Your Marketing Engine By Cara Silletto, CSP Many speakers treat marketing like a fire extinguisher: they only grab it when their business is on fire. But if you want to build a well-oiled machine, you have to treat marketing like a garden. You don’t just water it once a year; you have … Read more
Part 4: Leading vs. Lagging: How to Predict Your Revenue Before It Happens By Cara Silletto, CSP Are you looking at the right numbers? Most speakers look at their bank account at the end of the month to see how they did. This is a Lagging Metric. It tells you what happened in the past, … Read more
Part 3: Your CRM Is Your Satellite Brain By Cara Silletto, CSP Ever said one of these? “I have a CRM, I just don’t put everything in there.” Well, systems are only as good as the data you enter, so that’s a bummer. “I just use a spreadsheet, and it works fine.” I’ve never seen … Read more
Part 2: The DWMQA Cadence: How to Prevent Your Business from Breaking By Cara Silletto, CSP “I’ll make the sales calls after I update my website.” Those are the famous last words of a struggling business. The problem isn’t that you don’t know what needs to be done; it’s that you don’t have a set … Read more
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Rob Ferre
Member since 2015
It's been awesome to see exactly what NSA has done to create a great hybrid virtual experience and also making sure that everyone feels safe in this environment while producing great content.
Helen Turnbull
PhD, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow, Member since 2007
I’m delighted that I could still be a part of Winter Conference even though I was at home and I still had so many takeaways.
Lisa Koenecke
Member since 2020
I love the variety, I love the level. I love the content that's happening. As a new speaker, it's giving me lots of ideas on how to scale my business and seeing people that I've heard about for so long.