You be the Star!

Another great year has come to an end for the Florida Speakers Association, and as your executive director I would like to thank Ken Okel and the rest of our board of directors for a job well done. Although our membership numbers were slightly lower than years past, I believe that the association provided a greater value with added benefits to its members and has weathered the economy quite well.
As association executives for other professional and trade associations our staff at the Association Source are reporting memberships back on the rise after some trying economic times. With that said, we hope you will join us again this year and renew your dues for the 2011-2012 membership year. Please contact our office at info@florida-speakers.org to renew.

As Gaby Cora takes the reigns this July as president of FSA, the board of directors and committee chairs will be creating an aggressive plan to incorporate more benefits & services to our members. As ideas for these new benefits are being explored and added to the list, if you have any thoughts of what else we could add to your membership packages, please let us know!

Ricky Atkins
Executive Director
Florida Speakers Association

What Is The Spirit of NSA Day?

To honor NSA Founder Cavett Robert, CSP, CPAE, and continue NSA's legacy of sharing and giving, November 14, 2010 will be our 4th Annual Spirit of NSA Day, a national day of advocacy encouraging NSA members to support one another. This year, and on every November 14 going forward, the day serves as a reminder to NSA members, encouraging them to:

· Focus on giving back

· Provide genuine support to speaking colleagues

· Take time to connect, help, mentor or refer business to other members without any expectation of reciprocation

Help the legacy continue and build a bigger NSA pie by participating in Spirit of NSA Day on November 14, 2010!

How you can participate in Spirit of NSA Day:

· Provide peer to peer encouragement

· Introduce a colleague to a potential client

· Refer business to a colleague

· Mentor an emerging speaker

Click here to read stories about those who helped their colleagues or emerging speakers. Click here to read the stories about how someone made a difference.

Upcoming NSA meeting and Offer

The NSA UNconference will take place on February 18-20 in Atlanta, GA.

The entire UNconference is focused on how to make you more money in your speaking practice - that's right - it is all about the enterprise of speaking. Attendees will walk away from this meeting with strategies to grow their business and ideas to innovate and create new business opportunities that will take them into the future. Attendees will learn to master the craft of speakership and make their speeches more actionable, listenable and spreadable during the opening session. www.NSAUNconference.org

NSA will give every chapter one $100 meeting certificate that they can raffle off to chapter members who are registered for the UNconference.

Why Keep Learning...

Is it possible that a speaker can learn everything that he or she needs to know about the business and no longer need further professional development?  Recently, my housekeeper (okay, that would be me) came across the October 2006 issue of Speaker Magazine.  It’s the publication of the National Speakers Association.  These were the three main articles:

• Speaking with Substance
• Pitching to TV Shows
• Whole Brain Learning

In the entire issue, there is no mention of social media or use of video/virtual presentations.  There’s not a whole lot about client retention, although it could be argued that much of that focus has been produced by our current recession.  A short article about product creation mentions cassette tapes. 

The four year old issue is still a good resource.  And I laughed at seeing some old speaker hairstyles.

My point is that if four years ago, you said that you knew everything you needed to know and stopped learning, you would have missed a lot.  The speaking business is constantly changing.  It pays to invest in your career to stay current.

Ken Okel knows that the path to success is not a straight line.  To find out more about your organization can get around the obstacles that are blocking your success, visit www.kenokel.com

Who Is Ed Rigsbee?

Ed Rigsbee, CSP, has been a professional member of the National Speakers Association since 1988.  Ed is also the author of three books on business relationships, PartnerShift-How to Profit from the Partnering Trend, Developing Strategic Alliances and The Art of Partnering. 

Much of Ed's speaking business comes to him resulting from being a regular contributor to business, trade and professional publications throughout North America.  He has more than 1,500 published articles to his credit.

Ed is an internationally recognized authority on strategic alliances. On October 9th, he'll be talking about partnering with association editors to get paid speaking engagements.

In the meantime, enjoy Ed's story about learning something new.

Click here to learn more about Ed's October 9th presentation to the Florida Speakers Association.

Teleseminar Announcement

We're proud to announce a new member benefit. Starting this July, you'll be able to enjoy our monthly teleseminar series.  The speaking business is constantly changing and this is your chance to keep up with the ever changing landscape.  Our sessions will feature high content along with action steps you can implement right away.

Our first call will be on July 6th at 7:30 p.m.  Dial-in information on the call will be sent out very soon by email. We plan to make the calls available for a future download on our website.

Join us in July as we discuss things you should know before attending this summer's NSA convention.  The meeting puts you at the center of the speaking world and we want to make sure that you'll make the most of your investment of time and money.