President's Message
by Kelly Eger, The Harry Walker Agency
KellyE@HarryWalker.com

It was wonderful seeing so many of you at the convention in Chicago this year. Not only did we achieve record breaking numbers to our membership, we also had incredible turnout at our meeting! I want to take this opportunity to thank Darlene and Marcia Snow, Rich Gibbons, Jim Montoya and Pam Bernard for going above and beyond in putting together such a thought-provoking event full of information I'm sure we all find useful now that we are back, working hard at our desks.

Looking back at our conference, it has become clear that the Association is taking a new shape. With a more varied constituency we are presented with a real opportunity to educate our membership at all levels, while taking advantage of our diverse international community to excel within our industry.

We’ve made great strides this past year, with the revised code of ethics and our increased focus on technology and its application to our industry. They are perfect examples of areas that apply to all of our members: old and new, based within the US and elsewhere around the world. Moving forward, it’s my goal that we continue educating ourselves on these types of issues while identifying areas that will impact all of us in this global economy. By harnessing the 20 plus years of experience the Association has accumulated, and building off of the discussions of our convention, we’ll be looking for opportunities to develop resources that focus on education at all levels.

The goal of our Association should be to act as a true resource for our members. This year we will focus on ways to provide practical tools including:

- best practice suggestions in various areas crucial to running a successful Bureau

- methods for marketing and trend spotting

- hiring and benchmarking tools

- using and enhancing the resources created for identifying and qualifying speakers such as the IASB Directory

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have shown such excitement and enthusiasm in helping to move these initiatives forward. At heart, we are a volunteer organization that relies on the hard work and dedication of our members. It will be our job to make sure that we continue to ignite that passion and enthusiasm within the membership for our long term success.

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Membership News /
Please Welcome Our Newest Members

Business Speakers Consortium
Ms. Faye Woodard
Dallas, Texas
972-231-3293

LID Conferenciantes
Ms. Maria de Soto
Madrid, Spain
+34 91 372 9003
maria.desoto@lideditorial.com
www.lidconferenciantes.com

Speakers Corner (UK)
Mr. Nick Gold
Pinner, United Kingdom
+44 (0) 20 8866 8967
nick@speakerscorner.co.uk
www.speakerscorner.co.uk

Speakers Excellence
Mr. Robert Amelung
Stuttgart, Germany
+49 711 7585 8455
info@speakers-excellence.de
www.speakers-excellence.de

WBusiness Speaker Bureau
Mr. Arthur Chou
El Monte, CA
626-448-1100
achou@academiclearningcompany.com
www.wbusinessspeakers.com.com

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2008 CONVENTION REVIEW:
By: Marcia & Darlene Snow,
Blue Feather Management
2008 IASB Convention Co-Chairs

INNOVATE, RELATE, PERFORM
That’s just what we all did at our 22nd Annual IASB Convention in Chicago in April! Hope you all had a terrific time!

The program was exciting from the pre-conference sessions through to the Showcase on Saturday, where we had the largest turnout ever!

Pre-Conference: Peter Sheahan wowed the bureau owners in a first time session designed specifically for them. It was fun, energized, informative and fast-paced. The regular pre-conference session with Rich Gibbons and Shayna Stillman continued the grand tradition of discussion on current topics on everyone’s mind.

The official start of the conference got kicked off with an overview by President Rich Gibbons and a welcome by Marcia and Darlene Snow, followed by the high energy comedy of Tim and Kris O’Shea with The O’Shea Report! What a welcome and fun addition to our conference! They weaved a thread of comedy throughout the two days, bringing their special brand of warmth and humor. And what did we learn? That speakers must form relationships with bureaus…….just never, never, ever contact them!

Thursday General Session, Global and Fun: Marcus Buckingham was our first general session speaker, bringing eloquence and style to his message of focusing on our strengths……and the strengths of our employees. Every day, ask yourself “do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?”

Following Marcus was our first ever Global general session featuring six International Bureaus, Peter Sheahan to provide a speaker perspective, and Jo Cavender as moderator. Every country has their own issues when contracting outside speakers, but the thrust of this session was to demonstrate the willingness of our bureaus to work together in partnership to foster a broader business base.

Thursday’s evening outing to the delightful Ba-Ba-Reeba was a fun adventure in international cuisine and the Blue Man Group was simply outrageous! The neon lights, the non-verbal communication, the paint, the colors, and the toilet paper made for a total package of fun, fun, fun.

Friday General Session, Ethics, Technology, Awards: Friday kicked off with the expertise of Dan Pink who loves data, ‘cause the data don’t lie.’ He had us thinking with the right side of our brain about giving people something they don’t yet know they’re missing, including designer toilet brushes!

Ethics got reviewed and huge thanks go to Brian Palmer for all the work he and his committee put into updating our code – not an easy task.

Scott Klososky returned for another update in the cool and somewhat foreign world of Second Life, where for real money that you don’t have, you can spend time you never have on pretend clothes and buildings. The catch is that this is where our meeting/speaking industry is headed. Companies are holding meetings in Second Life and eliminating meetings in the real world. We really must stretch ourselves to update our digital plumbing to stay afloat in today’s world. So at SLURL, you can teleport and your avatar can have a mule and do techorating, while sending tweets to the screen-agers. Does anyone even remember carbon paper anymore???

Rounding out the conference was Neil Rackham who had us taking station breaks at our tables to discuss sales topics and positioning.

The Awards Banquet seemed all together normal until one of the waiters started dropping platters of dishes and just causing a ruckus. Poor fellow. We all assumed he would be fired…..but……nooooooo….turns out to be Don Pryor – the World’s Worst Waiter! Added a lot of laughter, even for those who knew who he was.

Ross Shafer was a hoot! Rich Gibbons could barely talk with all the fun being made of him and even Shayna couldn’t help but break up laughing when Ross started poking fun at her. He had us in the palm of his hand and made us laugh with joy at ourselves and our profession.

Saturday Speaker Showcase: Saturday’s showcase featured 12 fabulous speakers who undoubtedly will get new bureau business as a result. Jim Rittenhouse did his usual grand job of pulling it all together and kept the flow going. Benny Williford was the winner of the free 2009 IASB Convention registration – a successful new tool we added this year.

Hugs and kisses to all of our great sponsors who sponsored everything from the keynote speakers to the breaks, from Blue Man Group to educational booths, and from wireless devices to our Awards Banquet. We couldn’t have done this without your huge support. Darlene and I had a great time as your Program Co-chairs and thank you all for your kind comments and kudos. Here’s to a grand 2009 convention in Washington, DC!

Click on the links below to view the O’Shea Reports from the 2008 IASB Convention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDJwn8iqFy4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLgUQktgHPA

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2008 IASB Showcase - Speakers Putting Their Strengths to Work!
By 2008 Showcase Committee Chairman
Jim Rittenhouse, McKinney Speakers

For many years it has always impressed me that the strength of our association is not only due to the network of colleagues and services we enjoy, or merely the robust principles to which we commit ourselves. IASB has the distinction of being the richest resource of practitioners who advance the industry of professional speaking through our efforts with those whom we serve. Each year, the slate of candidates for our Speaker Showcase have indicated they are honored to share (if only for those few moments!) before our membership. Of course they realize the ongoing benefit of your recommendations to clients … of course they enjoy the benefits of revitalizing their relationships with you … but they know that this is a distinguished group of the best in the speakers bureau world.

It was against that backdrop that our Showcase this year was mounted, and I believe the speakers represented were among the best we have seen. Many thanks to those who presented (and I hope we all have had an opportunity to recommend them already!): Rob Bell, Scott Deming, Rene Godefroy, Joseph Grenny, Carl Hurley, Alvin Law, Marsha Petrie Sue,
Steven Shapiro, Sheryl Roush, Phillip Van Hooser, Waldo Waldman, Gary Zelesky.

To maintain the quality of our Showcase and its importance in the life of our Association, volunteer members are KEY. This year’s committee was made up of a wide variety of voices – from speaker managers to seasoned bureau owners to bureau personnel – and I believe we were able to pull together the recommendations and make the choices so instinctively because of the breadth of experience represented. Particular thanks for the 2008 Showcase goes to our colleagues: Angela Cox-Weston (MidWest Speakers); Karen Harris (CMI Speakers); Lisa Laird (TalentPlus); Michele Lucia (ADL Assoc.); Richard Schelp (Executive Speakers); Renee Strom (International Speakers) and Missy Weld (Speakers Network Worldwide). Your association appreciates the hard work and initiative you brought to your task this year.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD IASB BUREAU MEMBERS … the 2009 Committee is already forming, and if you have an interest in being a part of the group, please email Jim Montoya (jmontoya@raybourn.com). Because of my incoming post as President-Elect of the KY Bluegrass MPI, I need to step away as Chairman of the Committee. Please know that it has been an incredible joy to work on behalf of the Association – it has afforded me great opportunities to meet many of my colleagues in the Association, to see the incredible behind-the-scenes work that Jim Montoya and Pam Bernard do for all of us, and be associated with our Boards of Governors each year. Not bad company, indeed. I look forward to seeing you as you make the Showcase an integral part of your experience next year. Warmest wishes!

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IASB Speaker Directory

How Do I Find It? You may access the directory by going to the IASB website, www.iasbweb.org.  Click on Member Section, enter your user name and password and then select “Official Speaker Directory” from the IASB Members Gateway.

            Why Should Speakers “Get Listed?”  To make this tool work for you, we need to use the directory and encourage all professional speakers to “getlisted” in the IASB Speaker Directory.  Consider the benefits for the bureau and the speaker.  1) The speaker only has to maintain information in one location and keep it current.  Then all IASB member bureaus can access that information at any time 24/7.  2) It saves the speaker time and money by NOT sending their PR packet and video to hundreds of bureaus.  3) It saves the bureau time by being able to reference current speaker profile information in one place.

            How Do We Make This Work?  It’s easy!  When a speaker contacts your bureau and asks to send you their new or updated material, just tell them that you use the IASB Speaker Directory and they should “getlisted.” You may send them to the IASB website, www.iasbweb.org and have them click on the “Official, Authoritative source for Speaker Information,” found in the box next to the Directory microphone on the home page.  Or, you may send them to www.iasbweb.org/getlisted.  The cost is just a one-time fee of $49.  There is no cost for the speaker to update their listing at any time.

            Having Any Challenges using the Directory? Send your questions or concerns to Jim Montoya ( jim@iasbweb.org ) for review and response to help make the directory effective for all members.

            Business cards were handed out at the Chicago Convention and are available to insert in mailings to speakers.  The card is an easy way to encourage the speakers you book, to “getlisted” in the IASB Speaker Directory.  Just contact Pam Bernard at the IASB office to request the cards.  They come in quantities of 100.  They’re perfect to include with the checks you send to your speakers.  Pam may be reached at 317-328-7790 or pam@iasbweb.org.

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Doing Business Globally
By Theresa Beenken,
Global Speakers Agency

Our first general session on international business was well received and prompted more questions. Further to the challenges and opportunities raised on doing business globally, IASB was encouraged to continue the dialogue between members.

We’ll start by initiating a Q&A opportunity right here in our Bureau Talk newsletter. Do you have questions about doing business internationally you’d like addressed by members of our international community? Looking for best practices on doing business internationally from experienced US member bureaus?

Submit our questions to Pam Bernard at pam@iasbweb.org and we’ll ask international and US members to respond, and publish the responses in a future issue of Bureau Talk.