About Us
Working With Us
Additional Representation
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For Speakers
About Us
What We Do
Our Clients
Our clients include the world’s leading corporations, major event planning and event management companies, banks and private equity organisations, healthcare institutions, world-famous universities and other organisations.
They value our expertise, experience and integrity in finding the right speakers for their events and conferences. We have worked hard to earn their trust and their loyalty and are proud to be associated with them.
Why Work With Us?
We represent and promote the interests of professional speakers.
Every day we receive enquiries from leading organisations and conferences. They turn to our experience to help them choose speakers for their internal events, executive retreats and client events.
We always recommend speakers who most closely match our clients’ requirements.
If you have experiences to share and value to offer organisations and business audiences, find out more about how to register as one of our speakers in the next section.
Additional Benefits
Here are two additional reasons why registering with us makes sense for you.
Access 'bureau-only' enquiries
Many larger organisations prefer to work through bureaus, preferring the extra layer of protection and reliability that doing so gives them. If you are not available to book through a speakers agency, these engagements are simply not available to you.
Bypass 'preferred supplier lists'
Some corporations operate preferred supplier lists and will not do business with companies or individuals who don’t make the grade.
The process to be included on these lists is often difficult and laborious; requirements can include minimum levels of public and private liability insurance, turnover and financial details, quality assurance certification such as ISO 9001 and many others.
Many speakers cannot fulfil these requirements but, as an agency we can. When you work through us, we are able to put you forward for these types of engagements.
Speaker Registration
All the speakers we represent have achieved success in their fields.
They may have overcome immense difficulties and formidable challenges, led successful teams in fields as diverse as business, sports and exploration or have innovated, inspired, catalysed change and ushered in new eras.
Often they are leading experts in their field, considered as authoritative voices and thought leaders and regarded as key people of influence.
Whatever their background, without exception, they mesmerise and captivate audiences. They share insights, knowledge and experience. And they elevate thinking, change behaviour and transform entire organisations.
If this is you and you have a message and experiences to share, use the button below to register with us today. Or read about exclusive representation in the next section.
Common Questions
Here are the most common questions we receive about speaker registration.
Do I need to pay to register?
We do not charge speakers to register with us or to be on our roster.
How do I register?
You can register with us using the button in this section and completing the registration form that appears.
This will take approximately 15 minutes. If you don’t have time now, we recommend you bookmark this page and return later.Â
What happens after I register?
Once you have completed your registration, we will review your details. Please note: we receive many registrations every week and it is not always possible to respond in full. We also cannot always respond to questions regarding your registration.
If we feel we can successfully represent you, one of our senior agents will contact you to arrange a phone call. The purpose for the call is to explore how we will work together.
If, at the end of that call, you and your agent agree to work together, your details will be stored on our speaker database. We currently maintain details on nearly 4,000 speakers worldwide. We often draw from this when selecting speakers for our client enquiries.
Your agent will also discuss adding your profile to our website. This is a great opportunity to get in front of our visitors. At the time of writing, we receive more than 77,000 unique visitors to our website each year. Many of these visit to find speakers to book for events. If you and your agent agree that this is appropriate, a member of our website team will get in touch with you to collect all the information required to do this.
How do enquiries work?
Every day we receive requests via our website. Some organisations ask for specific speakers while others ask for our help in selecting the right speakers for their events.
In both cases, we confirm availability and fees and provide the client with detailed speaker biographies along with any other relevant details.
When we are asked to recommend speakers, our existing roster of registered speakers is our first port of call. If you are one of the speakers we recommend for an engagement, we will let you know and confirm that you are interested and available to speak. If the client wishes to proceed further, this may involve a pre-booking conference call.
Once we receive a firm invitation from the client for you to speak, we send our contract to the client. Once they have signed this to confirm the booking, we send you a separate contract between you or your company and Speakers Associates. This intermediary arrangement protects all parties and ensures that everything runs smoothly.
What about fees and expenses?
There are several models for handling speaking fees currently used by speaker bureaux.
Most commonly, we add our commission onto your fee, although we will discuss this with you prior to your first booking. Alternatively, some speakers prefer that agencies quote a standard fee for them and instead offer a percentage of that fee as commission. We are happy to comply with these arrangements as required.
Travel, accommodation and expenses are usually in addition to the speaking fees we quote clients, unless otherwise specified. You cover your own expenses and invoice us separately for these post-engagement.
Finally, in most cases, either you or the client will make the necessary arrangements for flights, accommodation and transport. If you wish us to handle this for you, we charge a small administration fee. Simply let your agent know and we will take care of it.
I am already registered. How do I update my profile?
If your profile is already on our website and you want to send us an updated bio or make alterations to your profile, please send an email to updates@speakersassociates.com.
Your updates will be sent to our profiles team and your agent will be in touch to acknowledge receipt and to let you know when the changes have been made.
Exclusive Representation
We offer exclusive representation to speakers with the potential and the desire to grow their speaking business.
What does exclusivity mean?
Exclusivity means that you work with one speaker bureau. That bureau handles all of your speaking enquiries and engagements on your behalf. Your bureau will also liaise with other bureaus around the world. This ensures that you receive the coverage that you need across multiple agency websites without having to deal with multiple agencies.
There are a number of benefits of working exclusively with one bureau. These are described in this section. In addition to these, your exclusive agency will proactively recommend you for incoming enquiries that they receive.
Is exclusivity for you?
Every successful speaker understands that building a thriving speaking business is a team effort. This is why exclusivity works best for speakers who want to focus their attention on growing their personal brand and the authority of their thought leadership.
When you choose to work exclusively with us, you get your own dedicated agent and a range of support services to help you achieve your speaking goals. You will also be joining one of the most prestigious groups of professional speakers including some of the world’s most prominent economists, academics, politicians, futurists, thought leaders and renowned authors and scholars.
Enquire about exclusivity now or explore the unique benefits of working exclusively with us in the following sections.
General Exclusivity Benefits
These are the general benefits of registering exclusively with a speaker bureau.
Appeal to professional event organisers
Many event planners like the benefits associated with hiring a speaker who works exclusively with one bureau. They know that the bureau has immediate access to the speaker and that enquiries and logistics are often dealt with swiftly.
They also know that the bureau’s agents are likely to have seen you in action and can give an honest appraisal of your capabilities and skills, or can suggest an alternative if you are not available.
We handle fee negotiations on your behalf
Negotiating your own fees can be difficult. Many speakers who approach us for exclusivity are looking for help in this area.
We have more than 30 years of experience in the speaking industry and, over that time, have negotiated hundreds of successful speaker contracts. Often we are able to procure higher fees than our exclusive speakers could achieve on their own.
Additionally, we have become a trusted partner to many major organisations. They are happy to share their speaker budgets with us because they know and trust us to recommend the right speakers and obtain the best deal for all parties involved.
We ensure you get paid more quickly
Cashflow is important to you. You want to be paid promptly and on time and yet many organisations that hire speakers have payment terms of 30 days or longer.
When we organise an engagement for you, your contract is with us and we pay you within 72 hours of satisfactorily completing that engagement.
You don't need to deal with complex contracts and legalities
We deal with all the legalities including your speaking contract for each engagement and the contract with the client. Not only does this protect you, it ensures consistency and that all parties are aware of their obligations and commitments.
The Benefits Of Working Exclusively With Us
We work hard to help our exclusive speakers achieve their goals. This section describes several of the most important benefits available to you when you work exclusively with us.
Premier website listing
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 02
We list over a thousand speakers on our website and, once you register with us you will also have your profile listed on our website.
However, as an exclusive speaker, your profile will be set to appear amongst the top listings for each of your speaking categories and can be fully customised with your own layout and design.
Cobrokering with other agencies
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 03
Speaker pack production
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 04
Finally, we will produce an unbranded media pack which we will distribute to other speaker agencies for them to use with their clients.
Literary agent partners
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 05
Writing and publishing a book should be an essential goal of your speaking career: many event planners and organisations will not even consider a speaker who does not have one or more books to their name.
Whether you are already a published author or planning to write your first book, we have partnered with leading literary agents who can help you obtain a successful book deal with an established publisher such as Penguin Random House, Wiley, HarperCollins, Palgrave, Pearson or Bloomsbury.
Professional video production
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 06
As a professional speaker, your video showreel is one of your most important assets.
As an exclusive speaker, we will introduce you to one of our professional videographer partners who specialise in producing speaker showreels and with whom we have negotiated exclusive discounts.
Professional podcast production
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 07
Podcasting is a unique opportunity to leverage the power of your voice. As one of our exclusive speakers, we will introduce you to our podcast production partners who specialise in helping entrepreneurs and thought leaders grow their brands by creating their own podcast shows.
They will help you develop the concept of your show and will take care of all the technical details including recording production, editing and publishing.
Platform skills and stagecraft development
EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT 08
Over 20 years we have developed a wide network of the world’s most respected performance, stage and presentation professionals. Between them, they cover everything from accent reduction and voice coaching to stagecraft development and audience control. As an exclusive, we will introduce you to the partners who will help you to continually take your professional speaking to the next level.
Other Ways We Represent You
Beyond The Keynote
Many of our clients go on to work more closely with the speakers that they book.
Sometimes this has taken the form of coaching or mentoring. Other times they have booked workshops or programmes.
We have seen these requests grow in recent months and we now help a number of clients not only with coaching, mentoring and workshops but also with entire organisational development programmes spanning several months and requiring the involvement of several practitioners.
We believe this trend will continue for many years as more organisations seek expert advice and assistance from the people who have been there and done it.
Traditional consultancy, delivered by people who have only limited hands-on experience at the highest levels is no longer sufficient.
And getting results in dynamic, disruptive and fast-growing sectors requires input from practitioners and experts who do have the extensive experience and insights needed to face today’s challenges.
If you believe that you have something to offer and would like us to represent your insight and expertise to our clients, submit your application for the relevant representation below.
Criteria For Acceptance
To apply to be listed under the Professional Coaching service or the Workshops and Programmes service, you must already be registered as a speaker and be on our roster.
How Our Fees Work
Because of the complex nature of some of the organisational development programmes we are asked to create, we will agree our commission with you on a case-by-case basis. As always, our objective is to ensure the best deal for all parties involved.
Professional Coaching & Mentoring Service
Many of our clients have coaching and mentoring requirements. Usually this is for their executives and leaders, although increasingly it is for their emerging talent or entire teams.
If you have experience offering executive or team coaching at the highest levels, our Professional Coaching & Mentoring service gives you the opportunity to provide your skills and capabilities to some of the world’s leading organisations.
Workshops & Programmes Service
More and more organisations want their people to be equipped with the tools, strategies and mindsets to keep them at the cutting-edge. They want workshops and programmes from the best thought leaders, authorities and experts.
In September, we will be launching our Workshops and Programmes service. If you have existing programmes and would like us to represent you in this area, apply below.
Speaker Marketing
As a professional speaker, there are two ways for you to grow profits and improve your bottom line:
Either you increase the number of speaking engagements that you do or you can increase the fees that you charge for each engagement.
If you do both, you will have the greatest chance possible of growing your income and profitability.
How do you do that? What are the keys to getting more speaking engagements and charging higher fees?
We know many successful speakers who are constantly in demand, commanding fees from £10-£25,000 up to £150,000 per engagement.
And we have noticed that there is one thing they all have in common. Regardless of whether they are motivational speakers, sports celebrities or whether they deliver keynotes on leadership, diversity, fintech, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, medical science or innovation, the one thing that they all have in common is this:
They have built authentic personal brands around their authority, expertise and thought leadership that are compelling, contagious and influential
Authentic Personal Brand
Branding is not just for companies and products. As a speaker, having a personal brand is crucial.
A personal brand allows you to purposefully and strategically showcase your authenticity to your audience, your followers and your clients. It is an asset that means people will associate you with your field of expertise.
When you think of smartphones, you think of Steve Jobs. When you think of electric cars, you think of Elon Musk. When people think of your field of expertise, do they think of you?
Your personal brand should clearly articulate who you are, what you do and how you help people. It should make it easy for people to see value in following you, advocating you and listening to you.
What’s more, an authentic personal brand fascinates people. It’s irresistible because it sits at the intersection between what really matters most to you, what you do best and what your prospective clients most want.
Benefits
- Build your authority with power and leverage
- Improve credibility and trust
- Create more media and PR opportunities
- Generate more speaking engagements
To build an authentic personal brand, you need to persistently focus on creating and publishing content around your area of authority, expertise and thought leadership.
This helps you achieve three things:
- Increase awareness of your personal brand,
- Command attention and
- Influence people
When your content is seen by the people who want the value and expertise you have to offer, you increase awareness of you and your personal brand. To reach those people, you need to make sure that your content appears in the right places and in the right format.
As more people become aware of your content and consume it, you increase the opportunity you have to hold their attention. They will follow you on social media, subscribe to your newsletter or YouTube channel, buy your book or connect with you on LinkedIn.
Once you have their attention, you can then influence them, over time using your authentic personal brand to convert them from casual observers into advocates. Your goal is to create what Pat Flynn calls ‘superfans’.
Get In Front Of Our Audience
Get your thought leadership in front of people who book speakers in your field of expertise by publishing on our website. Explore the options available below.
Promote Your Podcast Show
If you run a successful podcast show and would like to increase your subscriber count and reach a wider audience, join some of the world’s leading speakers and add your podcast to our forthcoming speaker podcast directory.
Each time you record a new episode, your listing will be automatically updated and our social media team will spread the word and engage our following and clients. Plus the episode will be displayed on our website for our entire audience to consume.
Promote Your Latest Book
If you have recently authored a book, why not get a free book review from our clients? This is a superb way not only to get more reviews but also to get your published thought leadership into the hands of potential clients and establish a connection that could lead to business.
Additionally, later this year we will start publishing audio book readings from our published speakers. Contribute a reading of one of the chapters of your most recent book and we will promote it to our entire audience.
Run Informative Webinars
We recently surveyed our client database to discover what content they want to see on our website. Overwhelmingly, people told us that they want to see informative and useful webinars from leading experts on a variety of topics.
We’re delighted to announce that, early in 2020, we will be launching an ongoing series of webinars on key topics including:
- Employee Experience and Engagement,
- Future of Work,
- Mindfulness,
- Innovation,
- Economics, Europe, UK & Brexit and
- Fintech
If you are a leading expert or thought leader on any of these topics, we would love to hear from you.
It doesn’t matter if you are completely new to webinars or a seasoned professional, we will work with you to develop a great webinar and a joint promotional campaign designed to get your webinar in front of the widest possible audience and convert attendees and registrants to bookings and clients.
Get in touch today!
Write Articles That Reach Your Intended Audience
We offer several ways to extend the reach of your written thought leadership. Every article you write or contribute to links to your speaker profile, raises awareness and potentially brings more enquiries.
Send us your articles to republish
If you already produce articles, republish them on our content hub and reach an entirely new audience.
Write the articles people want to read
We regularly receive questions and requests from articles directly from our clients and website visitors via our ‘Ask The Thought Leaders‘ initiative. Answering these questions and providing the content they request is a surefire way to get your content noticed.
Contribute to articles that we write
We are launching a brand new content hub in the last quarter of 2019. We have a team of authors producing a wide range of articles which are designed to bring multiple speakers and experts together around a specific topic. Become one of our contributors and your thought leadership will sit alongside some of the most popular names in the industry. As each speaker who contributes is committed to sharing the articles they contribute to, this is a great opportunity to gain exposure to the audiences of some of your most popular peers.
Submit unique articles
We are always on the lookout for fresh, new content. Contribute a single article whenever the muse grabs you or commit to becoming a regular contributor and benefit from high visibility.
Generate Awareness With Free Ebooks
Do you have a free ebook that you give away to visitors on your website? Add it to our upcoming Speaker Ebooks Library and let our visitors download it directly from our site.
Compelling, Contagious And Influential
Once you have enough superfans (Kevin Kelly says about 1,000 is all most people need), your speaking business will grow. Note that we’re not talking here about clients, we’re talking about fans. Followers. What the publishing industry calls your ‘platform’.
Why? Because your fans will talk to others. They will like, share and comment on your content. They will influence others to buy your book, watch your TEDx talk or subscribe to your newsletter. Some of the people they talk to will go on to become fans as well and so your platform grows.
As your platform grows, you will get noticed by more and more potential clients. You will become better known.
And, as you become better known, more organisations will want to book you as a speaker. And the more organisations who want to book you as a speaker, the more in-demand you will become.
The more in-demand you become, the more you can choose which speaking engagements to undertake. Become popular enough and you will get to make these choices regularly as you start to receive more requests than you can possibly fulfil.
Grow Your Platform
You need a strategic roadmap that tells you exactly what you need to do with your website, social media, PR and lead generation activities to grow your platform to near-celebrity level.
Discover how we can help you. Book an initial free call with our Head of Marketing and co-founder of The Speaker Marketing Academy, Patrick Nelson.