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They say that 10 is a lucky number … well, I don’t know how much luckier I could get, (after all, how many people get to do something they love and believe in and still get to pay their bills every month??) but Speakers Inc. turned 10 in January this year, so stay tuned: if it gets any better, I’ll certainly let you know!!

I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for so long already, and we’re still NOT BORED!

For those of you who don’t know much about us – I had about 13 different jobs before I turned 26. If you’ve seen Graeme Codrington’s awesome presentation “Mind the Gap” – that was me – typical Gen X’er – constantly creating change! And surely the fact that I’m now 35 and am still doing the same job, all these years later, must speak volumes for the dynamism, excitement and teensy bits of stress to be found working with these incredible people and having good friends for clients.

Much has changed on the Speaker Agent landscape of late… Google has come along and changed our lives – forever. It’s so easy to find whoever you’re looking for now, it’s a joke. “So why bother with an agency?” I hear people ask, more and more often.

Well, let’s think about it – how many times has some very smooth, clean-cut, silver-tongued “motivational speaker” sat opposite you and convinced you that he (or she!) is the absolute best speaker ON EARTH for your next conference or gala dinner, and no matter what your theme, he can tailor-make a talk just for you – even if it’s about Purple Mountain Goat Farming in Outer Mongolia! And you’ve believed him, I mean he’s a very good communicator and his brochure is fabulous … Why, it says there, right on the cover “SA’s Number 1 Speaker!!!!” - Why wouldn’t you believe him (or her!)?

And yet  - on the day - he wasn’t quite as good as you believed he would be and his talk about Purple Mountain Goat Farming turned out to be not quite what you thought it would be …

That’s where a good agency comes in.

At Speakers Inc., we don’t represent just anybody, there’s a whole process we go through with the speaker before we’ll start marketing them, not least of which is seeing them actually present a talk (you’d be amazed by how many people market speakers they’ve never seen in action!).

We firmly believe that Rule No 1 of Professional Speaking is that you’ve got to be a Passionate Expert on Your Topic. Anybody who claims they can speak about “anything!!” makes us a l-e-e-tle bit nervous.

In this way we know who will be the best speaker for YOUR event. This – I strongly believe – is our value to you: our experience and intellectual capital. It’s our reputation on the line and we will not put somebody forward who will put that hard-earned rep at risk, not to mention yours!

On an even more serious note, we are fully committed to transparency in the industry, and in line with this commitment, we are happy that you discuss fees with any of our speakers and entertainers – unlike one or two people we’ve heard about. We have nothing to hide (we have never added on 200 to 400% on to a speaker or entertainer’s fee!) – so go ahead, ask any of our guys (or gals) and we know your faith in us will be affirmed.

Did you know, by the way, that we are also the only agency in South Africa to belong to the IASB – International Association of Speaker Bureaus. Another first,  just in case you need more convincing that we believe in honesty, integrity, justice, fair play and the good guys always winning!

Okay – so that’s a bit more than a few words, but hey, I’m not a speaker, so I need to tell you all this somehow … ;)

The Speakers Inc Team are looking forward to working with you in the near future, so here’s to a busy and productive 2008!

Warm regards – as always!
 
Bronwyn 
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