NSA Northwest 3^rd Annual Meeting Planner and Speaker Collaboration – January 7, 2011 at the Columbia Tower Club

After introducing our meeting planners, we went around the circle to learn about our attendees.  We had CSP’s (Certified Speaking Professionals), NSA Board Members, Affiliates and guests. As we introduced ourselves, the planners commented on what they remember and who said it. They keyed into strange, out of the ordinary items like an animal dentist and reference to cockatoos and rattles or something.

STAND OUT PERSONALITY

Personally, in the past I received heaps of advice to conform to the square box by well-intentioned peers. Of course, I’ve received oodles of accolades for paving my own path, etc, but the negative voices always sound like the loudest roars.  For a long time, I resisted and stayed committed to my Fun Specialist Brand (13 years). As the economy tanked, I changed to the Meeting Maximizer, with the help of our smart and creative NSA Northwest peers. However, with this title, there is no expectation for me to be fun. My core is fun and there is no stifling it, but it may not always be on a bright marquee flashing in Vegas lights. Throughout this meeting, the planners hammered in they are looking for personality. If we counted how many times they said it, it would be in the 20s-30s. This idea, which usually is an obvious one, shouts out at me to share my true colors – let them shine, don’t tone them down to match everyone else.

Why are reality shows still popular? We get to see the raw differences of the personalities – that’s interesting.

Don’ts

• Do not call a planner. It’s all about the referrals. Get in front of them by knowing their circle of influence.
• Check the company ethics before you give a pricey gift
• No form letters or form emails

Do’s

• Must have online videos, good quality, keep it 3-5 minutes – resource Total Effects Video
• Videos – mic the audience
• Put your NSA credentials and other associations on your materials
• Send handwritten notes
• Gifts for independent planners is great
• On marketing materials the “you and I” ratio should be weighed heavy with “you” benefits
• At the end of your speech invite people to follow you on your social media
• Ask for a testimonial for the planner after one week after the event
• Get testimonials from others on site using your camera. The personalcameracrew.com is a perfect way to capture these.

Do you use bureaus?

• These 3 planners don’t use bureaus. They prefer to work directly with the speaker.

Do you prefer a flat fee for travel or to get receipts for reimbursement?

• Prefer receipts, not a flat fee for travel. The client may have discounts with the vendors.

How do we get testimonials?

• Must use evaluations to get information, then summarize these and give them to the planner and then request testimonial.

Jolene Jang, The Meeting Maximizer

President, NSA Northwest, National Speakers Association

We discussed the following:

Here is the link to the past event information.

Meeting Planners

• Melissa Jurcan, International Special Events Society (ISES)- Western Region Vice President
• Audrey Fan, eVeunes, Event Producer
• Paula Quinn, Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP) -Director of Elementary Programs &
  Professional Development

Do’s and Dont’s from Jolene Jang

Here are beautiful notes from Ron Rael

Questions Answered:

How can a speaker be “found”?

Today the speaker needs

• A niche that stands out.
• A personality that stands out.
• Be or do something memorable.

How do you like to be approached by a speaker?

• Referral, first and foremost
• An E-mail that is customized and personable – no phone calls
• Be seen at an industry meeting or event such as MPI
• A handwritten note
• Follow-up after a personal meeting
• Via referrals from multiple sources

How can a speaker create visibility to meeting planners (i.e. get in your radar)?

• Speak for free at events held by MPI, ISES, Washington Executives, SHRM, PCMA, local chamber of commerce events
• Reach out to your local contacts in a particular industry or have a connection such as via a hotel’s event planner

How can a speaker jump-start your referral process?

• Follow up a personal meeting with a note
• Use Linked-in referrals
• Through a request for a testimonial

Tip - Send the meeting or event planner a recent self-evaluation of a conference (if the client did not provide one their own)

How can a speaker make use of social networking?

• Tweeting information
• Have a fan page on Facebook and Twitter
• Ask people to comment what they like about me
• Get targeted meeting planners to follow me
• Follow or fan key meeting planners
• Publish testimonials or ask audience members to comment on fan page or choose “I like” or “I recommend” on Facebook or Linked-in

Tip – Capture a flip video of a fan’s positive comments and put it on my website or send it to a meeting planner

What does a good speaker website have?

• The Speaker’s website and meeting planner materials need to be audience-focused (not me-focused)

Tip – A meeting planner never conducts a Google search on a blanket topic but the planner will search about the speaker after he/she has been considered or recommended as a presenter

When you visit a speaker’s website what sorts of things help you decide?

• Topics that are specific and titles that are creative
• Specific deliverables or outcomes that the speaker will deliver
• A biography including clients and conferences spoken at
• A sample video of 3 to 5 minutes; provide several clips of highlights that demonstrate audience reaction with high quality audio
• Speakers is using social networking
• Industry membership

Tip – Meeting planners see who follows the speaker and reads any testimonials and speaker’s blog

What are the major steps of the meeting planner when planning an event (I.e. where does hiring the speaker fit in)?

1. Secure the date
2. Secure the location
3. Secure the Speaker

An exception to 3): If the event is with a business with mandatory attendance, hiring the speaker is usually later in their process.

Keys to Working with Meeting Planners

1. How the audience interacts with me is crucial. There is more emphasis on this and less on the topic or point or message. I.e. A meeting planner’s worst fear is a boring or blasé speaker.

2. I must identify the specific deliverables that I can deliver.

3. A meeting planner wants to know how the audience feels once they had the experience of my session.  How did they react?

4. Find a way to touch the audience members long after the session is over. This is an excellent way to home in on the deliverable and use as testimonial feedback.

5. My personality needs to shine through everything that I do, say, and write. I.e. My personality should be visible via the website and video clips and materials.

6. In a public forum it is okay to help make others aware of the conference, usually using social media.

7. Please communicate up front all of my expectations such as requirements and conditions. Meeting planners hate surprises or to be asked for things as after the speaker has been hired.

8. In the conference setting is extremely difficult for the planner to sell extreme customization.

9. All associations have national, regional, and local meeting or conferences and almost all of them require many speaker each year.

10. Try marketing in my own backyard or all the major cities on the West Coast.

11. Check out the Washington Sate Convention Center’s website for its 2012 scheduled events. Look at specific associations for their conferences located in their calendar of events for 2012.

12. The current hot topics revolve around “messages of hope.”

13. Invite a local meeting planner to observe me at a local program or at a city that I am targeting.

14. Social Networking

• Lots of people use it as their news source.
• Many ISES use this there as their sole source for news.
• A speaker can friend anything he/she wants to stay current about such as in the industry event or specific association or prospective client.

15. Create a fan page on Facebook

• On Linked-in a speaker can ask anyone to connect to their page. On Facebook, you must obtain the approval of the person.

 16. Meeting planners do not discuss fees among themselves and generally don’t care about the amount of fees that other organizations are charged.

17. Meeting planners prefer to work directly with the Speaker rather go through of bureau.

Social Media is Everybody’s Business!

The 7 Reasons why this is true

1. Tailoring the conversation with the right information, relevant industry terms and appropriate name dropping  to get the job
2. Find up to date ABC company information you can’t find on the ABC company website
3. Get better access to right people you couldn’t access through traditional sources such as phone calls and emails
4. Increase your Search Engine Optimization by boosting your “Social Media Optimization”
5. Peak your connections curiosity and be top of mind
6. Build trust through low commitment interactions
7. Increase credibility to strengthen your brand

Clients and meeting planners find their speakers through the vehicle of Social Media. Meeting planners told us, if you are not “alive” online, you don’t exist. Can you be found?

Do you have a robust online profile? If not, see what you are missing at this workshop? Social Media is a huge resource for every business that needs to compete and prosper in today’s market. Are you using social media to advance your business?

Join us Saturday, November 13th, and learn how to strategically use Facebook and Linkedin to grow your business. Join the members of the NSA Northwest Community and the Social Media Savvy community and tap into their skills as well as collaboratively share your own! Bring your laptops to actively participate.

This session will give you the knowledge, skills and tools to equip you to compete in the market place. In this highly interactive session we will cover:

• Creating and using your Facebook and Linkedin Accounts
• Learning specific safeguards to protect yourself, your business, and your reputation in the online world
• Growing the NSA Northwest Community with collaborative ideas

With the green movement, social media is crucial and serve as your first point of marketing collateral.

Meeting details:

Registration 7:45 am
Program 8:00am – 12:00pm
Location: Meeting at the Coast Hotel in Bellevue, Washington

Early Bird Pricing:

$30 – Members
$45 – Affiliates
$40 – First Time Guests
$75– Returning Guests

*Early bird pricing will be in effect until Saturday, November 6th. After that, please add $10 to the price.

Day of Meeting Pricing:

$50 – Members
$65 – Affiliates
$50 – First Time Guests
$95– Returning Guests

NSA Northwest Event Cancellation Policy

Because our costs are non-refundable for our meetings, our cancellation policy is as follows:

75% Refund –  for cancellations 15 days or more before the event.
50% Refund – for cancellations 8-14 days or less before the event.
No Refund – for cancellations   7 days or less before the event.

Do you want to be newsworthy?

Meeting 8:00am-12:00pm

How do you accomplish this? Learn from KUOW’s news director since 2001, Guy Nelson. He supervises the staff of reporters, interns and freelancers in covering the local news each day. How is the news selected? What is the criteria? What makes the stories stand out from the other millions? How can you and your company appear newsworthy? Get into this conversation to understand how to be notable and quotable . ( He also fills in occasionally as host of the daily talk show “The Conversation.”)

Guy Nelson, KUOW News Director

Guy has been in public radio in the Seattle area for more than 20 years. He started as music host at community station KAOS in Olympia, then moved on to KPLU in Tacoma as a reporter. After living in Japan for a couple years he returned to Seattle in 1992 to work for KUOW as host for “All Things Considered.” Guy left public radio for two years to join an internet radio startup but when that venture proved short lived he returned to KUOW in his present position.

Guy has won dozens of regional and national awards for his work as a reporter, producer and editor. Most notably, two projects that he edited for KUOW reporter Patricia Murphy won national awards, one from the Public Radio News Directors, Inc. for best documentary, and one from the Radio and TV News Directors Association for best series.

Outside of work, Guy enjoys exploring the world and studying languages. He’s also an accomplished actor on Seattle area stages and has composed music for several theatre groups and choirs. He has a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin and a B.A. from The Evergreen State College.

Guy has been a journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute in Florida, RTNDA’s RIAS program in Berlin (twice), Stanley Foundation/Reuters Workshop in Beijing, China, and the East–West Center Journalists Exchange in Japan.

Saturday, September 11th, 8:00am – 12pm the Coast Hotel in Bellevue, Washington.

If you were an early bird, one of the first 20 to sign up and be in a drawing for one of the following:

• 1 minute to talk on stage about your business during the meeting
• Buy one, get one free main meeting certificate
• 1 hour one presentation powerpoint coach with Dave Ashcraft

Event Pricing:
$40 – Members
$55 – Affiliates
$50 – First Time Guests
$85– Returning Guests

Day of Meeting Pricing:
$50 – Members$65 – Affiliates

NSA Northwest Event Cancellation Policy
Because our costs are non-refundable for our meetings, our cancellation policy is as follows:
75% Refund –  for cancellations 15 days or more before the event.
50% Refund – for cancellations 8-14 days or less before the event.
No Refund – for cancellations  7 days or less before the event.

What did you learn at the meeting?

Calling all NSA Northwest Professional Members – Join us on Wednesday August 18th for Hot Seat

Did you wish that you had an opportunity for the hot seat when Ford Saeks came to Seattle?  Do you want to take advantage of the innovative ideas, unique perspectives and creativity that comes from group synergy?  Are you in need of a novel twist or a fresh change in your branding? Do you need clarity in your messaging?

Join NSA members for the first ever in-house, HOT seat event.  Space and time are limited to twelve so not everyone will get a hot seat, but everyone will be contributing their brilliant ideas.

Meeting Details:

6pm:       Chat & Munch

7-9pm:   Hot Seats with feedback

Location: Magnolia (Seattle), directions will be sent after registration

Price: $6.00

Please join us for the Annual Summer Party 

• This is a great way to get to know your fellow NSA Members in a casual setting.
• Meet new Members, Affiliates and talk with the 2011- 2012 Board Members.
• Learn about new membership perks.

Here are the details:
Event: Annual Summer Party for Members, Affiliates and their families or guests
When: Sunday July 24th from 2-5pm
Where: Seattle

Cost: $ 5.00 per family
Please bring something to grill and a potluck dish to share with 20 other folks.

Hear from you the NSA nominating chair, Dan Diamond, while he introduces the candidates.

Calling CSPs from NSA Northwest, NSA Oregon and CAPS Vancouver. Calling Past Chapter Presidents and NSA Northwest Board Directors. Join us for a CSP/Leadership gathering with Stephen Tweed, CSP and Past President of NSA.

This open-ended conversation will include a short review of his recent NSA University Webinar on ‘Multiple Streams of Income’. Then we’ll open it up for discussion. Anything goes. Stephen has a very strong presence in a well-defined niche, is a keynoter/trainer/consultant and presents self-sponsored ‘academies’ throughout the United States.

Stephen Tweed’s in-depth experience as a corporate executive, board member, entrepreneur, author, professional speaker and consultant means that he can be a valuable resource to CEOs and executive teams who want to grow their businesses, create competitive advantage in the marketplace, and craft a culture of accomplishment that takes the organization to a higher level of significance.

Stephen speaks at corporate meetings, Executive Strategy Retreats, and association conferences on business strategy, growth, future trends, and competitive advantage.

Seattle – Magnolia Residence

6:30-8:30 pm Free except for munchies money. Register $10 online. The address will be an autoresponder sent to you.