April 2009 News Flash
President’s Message from Neil Dempster
The National Speakers Association is made up of thousands of people who earn a living presenting keynotes, delivering training programs, and/or facilitating meetings. Many of these events are held in hotels and conference resort settings. As an integral part of the meetings industry, we not only have a vested interest in the vibrancy of this industry; we have an obligation to do everything in our power to correct misconceptions that impact tens of thousands of people who count on this industry for their livelihood.
Recently, Senator Kerry introduced legislation that would forbid all 421 firms that received money from TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) from hosting, sponsoring, or paying for meetings and conferences, holiday parties, and entertainment events. The implication is that meetings are mostly big parties while the opposite is true. The vast majority of conferences today are well organized and deliver ROI well beyond the cost. This bill has the potential to impact not only the named organizations who received aid, but every organization that worries about being perceived as extravagant by its customers and the public.
Listed below is a web site link that provides a way to voice your concern to those in government studying this bill. Your voice counts. Please take a moment to get involved. http://capwiz.com/nbta/issues/alert/?alertid=12773376
Have a GREAT month.
Sincerely,
Neil Dempster, http://www.neildempster.com MBA, CSP
NSA-Arizona President
2008-2009
P.S. Speaking of conferences, please update your calendars to include the NSA National conference on July 18-21, 2009. It’s right here in our own back yard. The value received from this conference will far outweigh the cost of attending. Invest in your future!
NSA-ARIZONA MONTHLY MEETING
April 11, 2009
Networking/Breakfast: 8am – 9am
Meeting: 9am – 1:30pm
NSA Conference Center, 1500 S. Priest Dr., Tempe, AZ
Prepaid registration (by 5 pm Wed., Apr. 8): $30/members, $45/guests
At-the-door registration: $40/members, $55/guests.
Did you know you can bring your spouse/partner/staff member at the member rate?
No refunds after the early registration deadline.
Please notify us if you require any special needs for the meeting.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Thank God It’s Monday!! Quadruple Your Business During Challenging Times with Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC, CPAE
You’re in for a treat with Roxanne Emmerich Roxanne@EmmerichGroup.com. As a result of this presentation, you’ll be able to position yourself as the answer to client recession issues who can bring results. You’ll also get a start on an iron-clad plan to stir up interest in what you do and be picked first. And you’ll find out how you can book every deal for double your fee while creating a ROI of ten times that amount.
Roxanne knows how to deliver. She grew a financial services firm from zero to $35 million in less than a year and in one-third of the average industry break-even time frame. In addition to writing 4 books, her expertise has been featured in more than 1000 periodicals, most recently, CEO Report, Woman’s Day, The Wall Street Journal, Ticker, Info World, HR Executive magazine, ABA Banking Journal, AirTran Arrivals, Continental Magazine, and Business Week.
Roxanne’s accomplishments are as exciting as she is. Twice voted the Entrepreneur of the Year, she has spoken to a thousand audiences, including Merck, Pfizer, Time Warner, American Bankers Association, MPI and Women of Vision, and Society for Human Resources Managers and Executives. She’s been honored by University of Wisconsin as one of its Top 10 Distinguished Alumni. She holds both the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designations, and is a member of NSA’s Speaker Hall of Fame. In addition, she’s past chair of the Highest Certification Council, past president of NSA-Wisconsin chapter, and past president of Wisconsin’s American Society for Training and Development chapter.
VOICE OF EXPERIENCE: Develop a Powerful Personal Brand That Sells YOU with Debbie Allen, CSP
Are you holding yourself back from the success you deserve by not promoting your personal brand effectively? If so, you may be missing out on thousands of dollars in lost speaking opportunities.
- Build a powerful personal brand that gets others talking about you
- Discover your uniqueness and market yourself more effectively
- Develop a world-class reputation and get more bookings
Debbie Allen,debbie@debbieallen.com The Shameless Success Expert, has taken a fledgling business from disaster to success—made almost every sales and marketing mistake in the process—and lived to tell about it. She has built and sold numerous successful companies in diverse industries. Today, she shares her insightful business building strategies that will get you noticed and attract more prospects now!
As an international business speaker, Debbie has presented before thousands in 12 countries around the world. Debbie has written 5 books including Confessions of Shameless Self Promoters and Skyrocketing Sales, published in numerous languages. She’s also been featured in dozens of publications, radio talk shows, and in 4 motivational movies including The Opus and The Compass. From the National Chamber of Commerce, Debbie has received the prestigious Blue Chip Enterprise Award for overcoming business obstacles and achieving fast growth.
TALENT TRIAGE PANEL
Joan Koerber-Walker, Alan Rigg, Marcia Reynolds
BUSINESS BUILDING SESSION: Building the Ultimate Speaking Business: Planning Makes the Difference—Jim Rhode, CSP
The easy part is developing and presenting the speech. The hard part? Marketing and managing your business profitably.
Jim Rhode, CSP, rhode@smarthealth.com has 35 years of speaking experience and will share the secrets he has learned and encourage you to “manage-your-bottom-line.”
By attending this business building session you will learn:
- The three angles of successful speaking
- What to offer from the platform
- The benefits of a strategic annual plan
- How to determine the optimum fee schedule
- Factors that increase fees
- Develop the ideal annual schedule
Jim’s philosophy is summarized by this proverb: “Any enterprise built by wise planning becomes strong through common sense…and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.”
Jim has developed and presented hundreds of seminars and workshops on practice administration and professional marketing for over three decades. The thousands of progressive physicians and dentists, spouses, and staff members who have heard Jim speak agree he provides a stimulating, yet practical future orientation.
A member of the Society for Advancement of Management and past president of the National Speakers Association, he was honored with the prestigious Arizona Entrepreneur of the Year award for 1990. Jim’s professional speaking engagements have taken him to all 50 states and 15 foreign countries. In addition, he is the publisher of Practice Smart: Dentistry’s Marketing and Management Newsletter and co-author of Marketing for People Not In Marketing and Celebrate Marketing.
Les Taylor heads the 2008-2009 Program Committee, assisted by Maggie Hunts, Debra Exner, and Celeste Bumpus.
Please Pre-pay for Meeting Attendance
To streamline check-in at our monthly meetings, please prepay for your meeting attendance. Members and guests SAVE $10 when they prepay by 5pm on the Wednesday before the Saturday meeting.
Register Now
Prepaid Registration (by Wed., April 8 at 5 pm): $30/members $45/guests
Did you know you can bring your spouse/partner/staff member at the member rate?
At-the-door registration (available as space allows) $40/members $55/guests
Please Support Our Meeting Sponsor – Lynwood Johnson Merchant Services
Lynwood Johnson, with MLS Direct Network of Greater Phoenix, has provided excellent merchant services to businesses around the Valley and the nation since 2003.
With a full range of business payments resources besides credit card processing, Lynwood specifically enjoys working with eCommerce, wireless, and small- and medium-sized retail clients who appreciate value-added services.
At our April meeting, Lynwood will demonstrate an exceptional wireless terminal that will take your back of the room sales to new heights. Don’t miss it!
Susan Ratliff Susan@exhibitexpertsaz.com chairs the 2008/2009 Sponsorship Committee
Congratulations to Maggie Hunts!
She won a FREE meeting attendance by completing an evaluation form at March’s meeting! Submit your evaluation at the next meeting to participate in a drawing for a FREE meeting.
Board Member Spotlight
To help answer your questions about what your Board is up to, this monthly segment profiles a single board member in an interview format. This month features Alan Rigg, Immediate Past-President alanrigg@8020sales.com
Neil: Alan, you have been on the Board for a few years. What major changes have you seen in the speaking business during that time?
Alan: I’ve noticed that people are more interested in having telephone-based meetings or speeches like teleseminars or webinars. I’ve actually been doing that kind of work since my business started because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time on airplanes. Certainly now I find it offers real value to clients looking to save some money. We’re also seeing the growth of social media like Facebook and Twitter. My personal jury is out on those tools because, while I know how to use them, I haven’t gotten to that point in my plan yet. I’m curious as to how they’ll cause people to say “I want to hire you as a speaker.” Now, YouTube where people see snippets of speeches can be helpful, but these others—I’m not sure.
Neil: What opportunities do you see on the horizon for people in the speaking industry?
Alan: As a result of this downturn, organizations are less willing to open their wallets, but we also have a demographic change with more Generation Y people into the workplace. Reportedly, they tend to have shorter attention spans, perhaps less ability in the areas of critical thinking, and an interest in multi-threading. As a result, we need to look for lots of different ways to convey our information. As an example, I’m working on a membership web site providing a variety of information to help sales people and sales managers do what they do best. I’m going to have recorded webinar content as part of what I offer, but I’ll break them into short segments. The same content will also be available in PDF for people who prefer to read, and in video for people who prefer more engagement with their content.
Neil: That sounds like a great approach. Alan, in your final year on the Board, I think I can speak for our membership when I say “Thank you” for all you’ve done. What are the most important things you’ve learned while serving on the Board?
Alan: Before I joined the Board, I didn’t have much appreciation for the fact that running our chapter is a lot of work. We have to strategize and prioritize activities that will advance the chapter, yet we can only do so much at one time. But if you don’t have people to execute the plans, you go no place. That’s where the participation of chapter members is so valuable. So many wonderful people are willing to get the work done. Being part of this process has added value to my business because I think I’m so much more able to get things in those areas after my four years. Thank you to NSA-Arizona and my fellow Board Members for teaching me!
Neil: Well said! Alan, thank you for your leadership.
Candidates Program
The Wealthy Speaker: FIRE!
Please join us LIVE on Saturday, April 25, 2009
8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
We are continuing our year-long series based on the Ready, Aim, Fire approach from The Wealthy Speaker: FIRE! You have picked your lane, prepared your marketing, and now it’s time to roll it out to your market.
To help in executing your plan, this interactive session will address burning questions including:
- Who are my perfect customers and how do I reach them?
- How do I book speaking engagements? Who do I call? What do I say?
- When do I follow up?
- Why would they hire me? What is my value proposition?
- What is my 30-second commercial?
- How do I manage all of my contacts?
- How do I conduct teleseminars and webinars?
- How do I develop products?
Wow. Just $29 for all that! Registration required.
Call-in details will be sent to participants prior to session.
Questions? Email Michelle May, M.D.mmay@amihungry.com or Vickie Bouffard. vickie@quantumperformancetraining.com
Living Room Forum: April 22
Seminars and Workshops—Latest and Greatest Topics and Trends
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Come ready to discuss what’s happening in the world of seminars and workshops with the dynamic duo, Don and Kathleen Thoren. They’ll address these four key questions:
- What topics are in greatest demand at this time?
- Which of these topics match your expertise?
- How can you identify the people looking for these topics?
- What communication channel can you use to reach these people?
- How can you identify from those who are looking, the ones who are willing to pay to attend a seminar?
- What factual and emotional appeals will motivate them to attend?
- How to structure seminar content for high impact and referrals to future attendees?
Don Thoren, CPAE, has been a headlining keynote speaker for over 30 years, a founding member and past National President of NSA, a Speaker Hall of Famer and Legend of the Speaking World” Kathleen Thoren, MA, is a psychotherapist and has led Intensive Life Skills seminars for over 22 years, is a professional singer, Certified Laughter Leader, and an executive coach.
Cost: $15 members, $25 Guests
Registration and payment required in advance; no refunds. For additional information, call Gwen Henson (480) 968-7443.
Note: Living Room Forums meet on the fourth Wednesday evening of each month September through November (third Wednesday) and January through May. Kitty Wiemelt and Bonnie Maddock co-chair the Living Room Forum for 2008-2009.
Congratulations to NSA-Arizona’s Newest
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS
Maxine McIntyre Hammond, CSP
CANDIDATE MEMBERS
Karen Bruno
Speaker Development Lab
To participate, please contact Maggie Hunts for open speaking slots/scheduling at 602-315-7788.
Click here to find out more about NSA-Arizona’s exclusive Speaker Development Lab.
Larry Colbert chairs the Speaker Lab, assisted by Don Thoren, Maggie Hunts and Bill Johnson.
SAVE THE DATES!
Upcoming NSA-Arizona Programs
- May 9, Alan Zimmerman, PhD, CSP, CPAE
- June 13, Tim Gard, CSP, CPAE,
Upcoming NSA National Events
Mark your calendar for these fabulous NSA events:
- 2009 NSA Convention – July 18-21, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona
- 2009 Fall Conference – November 19-22, 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona
- 2010 Winter Conference – February 11-14, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee
- 2010 NSA Convention – July 17-20, 2010 in Orlando, Florida
- 2011 NSA Convention – July 30-August 2, 2011 in Anaheim, California
For more details, go to the NSA website at http://www.nsaspeaker.org
BRAVO Corner
Barbara McNichol has been named vice-chair of Writers/Publishers PEG for 2009/2010 and Bob Kelly will take on the role of ezine editor for this PEG.
WORD TRIPPER FROM THE PLATFORM
By Barbara McNichol editor@barbaramcnichol.com
Improve how you use words on the platform! Don’t let these pesky pairings trip you up.
Renounce, denounce – “Renounce” means to give up, especially by formal declaration; to disown. “Denounce” means to condemn or censure publicly; to accuse formally; to announce the ending of (e.g., a treaty). “The young aristocrat renounced his title and denounced his family for their refusal to sanction his relationship with a commoner.”
Sign up for Barbara’s Word Tripper of the Week at http://www.BarbaraMcNichol.com. Barbara is your perennial NewsFlash editor.
About This Newsletter
Email your News Flash announcements to editor Barbara McNichol at editor@barbaramcnichol.com or call 520-615-7910 by 15th of each month.
To view back issues of the newsletter, visit our web site at http://www.nsa-arizona.org Click on Newsletters in the menu at right and select the edition you wish to view.
