Ready with Supporting Materials

The best speakers have all their supporting materials readily available: Undoubtedly, before your scheduled event, you'll need a biography, an introduction, a write-up of the presentation, and perhaps a photo of the speaker. The seasoned pro has such items and others readily available. These aren't things he or she has to go round up; most professional speakers offer such elements on the Internet so that you can examine them at will.

When these materials are not readily available, it may a sign that something is amiss -- a speaker without a portfolio is like a firefighter without a hose.

Certified Meeting Professional

The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) credential was developed to increase the professionalism of meeting professionals in any component or sector of the industry. The Professional Convention Management Association offers comprehensive information on the topic.

A Speaker to Count On

What Makes for a Speaker You Can Count On?
* The speaker bills the client only for agreed upon reimbursable expenses and within three days following the event.

* The speaker never engages in inappropriate language, off-color jokes, or unprofessional behavior, either on or off the platform. The speaker pledges to you the highest standards of professionalism at all times.

* The speaker recognizes that trust is the essence of all effective long-term relationships and pledges to approach each situation by listening, reflecting, and seeking to follow the path to the highest good for all concerned.

* The speaker maintains consistent fees, whether booked by you or himself. The speaker absolutely never raises client fees for bureau-generated engagements. The speaker follows your direction regarding all product and ancillary service sales, keeps you informed as to purchases made, and promptly submits any agreed upon commission of the gross amounts of such sales.

* In addition to being excellent on the platform, the speaker serves as your emissary with the meeting planner, all meeting planning staff, and all attendees at all times.

No More Off-the Shelf

Today, every audience requires at least some form of a tailored presentation. There are no more off-the-shelf programs that fit every audience every time, even when the topic is as generic as management, leadership, or stress. The speaker has to take time to know the audience, what they're specifically facing, their daily challenges, and so on.

The true professional speaker will spend more time asking you about your audience than conveying the essence of his or her message, at least at the outset. Be wary of any speaker who claims to have just the right message but who does not ask you a lot of questions.

Top Bureaus, Great Results

As a professional speaker, I have had the privilege of working with many outstanding bureaus. Among the many traits that excellent bureaus have in common, these seem to show up often: they return phone calls properly, keep advised as to the status of held dates, gather comprehensive background materials from the client, collect fees as originally negotiated, and have a well-developed follow-up procedure in practice.

Think of using speakers bureaus in this way: You use a lot of professional services in your organization and your life, including attorneys, accountants, bankers, computer consultants, and tax advisors. The essence of any good professional is that the price you pay for his or her services is more than justified by the benefits. As it turns out, dealing with speakers bureaus works exactly the same way.

Speaker Ethics

Open up the National Speakers Association Directory and you'll see thousands of speakers, most eagerly awaiting the opportunity to work with you. Log onto any major search engine on the Internet, type in the word "speaker," and you'll get 100's of hits. It's not difficult to identify speakers on all topics, from all geographic locations, of either gender, in all shapes and sizes, and at varying prices.

Of the 11,500+ speakers in the profession today, however, how many have a well-developed, written ethics policy and operating procedures that succinctly define their working relationship with bureaus? The answer: less than one in ten.

A Working Model

The following 19 provisions, drawn from my own Code of Ethics and Operating Procedures can serve as a working model. You can use it to determine what to look for when adding another speaker to your line-up of speaking professionals, whom you feel confident in recommending to clients:

1. We will not take on any speaking engagement if we have any doubt that Jeff Davidson is less than the best speaker that the client could retain for the engagement. When we say yes to a lead that you provide, you can be assured that Jeff is qualified and capable, and intends to give a presentation that exceeds the client's specific needs.

Fees and Expenses
2. Our fees are consistent with what you would pay if you booked Jeff directly. We never raise client fees for bureau-generated engagements.

3. If you pre-arrange a quantity purchase of our products, we agree to offer you a 20% commission on the gross amount of products sold. We follow your directions regarding any product sales.

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Arriving Well in Advance

It might be semi-comforting to retain a speaker who's very busy. After all, if many other groups are hiring this speaker, he or she must be good, right?

If the speaker doesn't arrive the night before, or at least two to three hours in advance of the presentation, watch out. Professional speakers arrive in advance, work out the room logistics, meet with the production and audio-visual personnel, walk the room, give equipment a test run, and in general make themselves thoroughly familiar with the meeting venue.

No matter how good the speaker may be, if he or she expects to get off a plane, jump into a taxi, and make it to your site with moments to spare, be on guard, for you may get a performance that is not quite up to par or doesn't fit the needs of your audience.

The Pre-speech questionnaire

Does your conference speaker have a pre-speech questionnaire, which is usually a document of two to four pages that he submits to you far in advance of the presentation? While you may look upon this document as busy work, it's actually a key tool in ensuring that the presentation comes off as planned.

The professional speaker has taken the time to craft a document that includes questions that will help him/her to better know your audience, your organization, what you're trying to achieve, and what message you want to have delivered. Most importantly, it helps the speaker to understand what participants should know and how you'd like them to feel by the end of the presentation.

If needed, the speaker should be prepared to cover this form with you on the fly, over the phone. Often, this will be the most convenient way for you to handle this task, and the speaker needs to be accommodating in this area.

Don't Offer a False Front

Dr. Dean Ornish once said that the elaborate effort to support a false front is one of the most stressful things a person can do. In the context of speaking, that means be yourself: you'll have more energy and you'll connect better with the audience.

Your Exhausted Audience

Whether you plan meetings or speak at them, here's a long term development that you can't ignore: Only 3 per cent of professionals get eight hours of sleep every night of the working week. According to Travelodge's 2007 sleep study, company directors are the most sleep-deprived of all, with 8 per cent getting under four hours of rest per night. The typical audience today is exhausted

Travelodge's survey included more than 5,200 individuals from 30 different careers to discover more about how work affects rest. Those in the travel industry, such as cabin crew and pilots, found it hardest to get to sleep: 86% struggled with sleepless nights. Teachers were the most likely to stay awake because they were worrying about their work (39%).

What are the top 10 most sleep-deprived professions? In order:

* Company directors (averaging 5.9 hours of sleep a night)
* Ambulance crew/paramedics (6 hours)
* Tradesmen (6 hours)
* Leisure and hospitality workers (6 hours)
* Police officers (6.1 hours)

* Factory workers (6.2 hours)
* Nurses (6.3 hours)
* Engineers (6.3 hours)
* Doctors (6.4 hours)
* Civil servants (6.4 hours)

Your Reputation is at Stake

Every time you retain a speaker to address your group, in many respects you're putting your reputation on the line. What if the speaker is ineffective? What if the speaker bombs? Worst of all, what if the speaker offends - or grossly offends - members of your audience?

You don't want to take a chance, and no one can blame you. You want to select the best possible expert for the program in mind whether it's a conference, convention, annual meeting, quarterly meeting, executive retreat, roundtable session, or any other arrangement. You want to be able to know, with confidence, that your staff or members, executive team, top management, owners, shareholders, or other constituents will be not simply satisfied with your selection, but pleased.

Now envision this. The evening before your special event, the expert presenter you have retained calls to say, "Hi. I arrived a few minutes ago and went immediately to the meeting room. I checked out the facilities, and everything seems fine. I'll be back at the room well in advance of my presentation tomorrow, rested and ready to go."

You put down the phone and think to yourself, "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Here is a speaker who takes care of the little things. Here is a meeting pro."

Next, imagine arriving at the meeting room, seeing that your presenter is already set up and is graciously greeting any early arrivals. Now you're thinking, "Here's somebody who goes the extra mile."

If I may toot my own horn for a moment, I go the extra mile every time.