and i'm thrilled that you're here now i'm excited yeah i'm excited to talk about some things that we're talking about today i've been learning along along our process of kind of you know getting into this material and getting into what you really do so tell me about next stop speaker management tell me about this world well i've been a speaker it for twenty years i got into it when i was in college i used to run the entertainment board and  i love the industry because it has a chance to affect change i just decided a couple years ago to start my own speaker management company has saw a lot of speakers who  they have the opportunity to really spread a great message and to make some nice change out of it but they needed someone who understood the industry he had to help them build the marketing materials help them direct their content help them build relationships within the industry in and build their brand recognition which today the business side of it is important yeah yeah yeah i mean as as you know we've been talking and i've been learning about this i mean the value of being represented really right and and and managed and marketed if you have a gift or talent around speaking you know it seems like a kind of a pivotal critical thing to have if you're looking to grow in the industry  a little bit because we were we were talking about speakers and presenters and keynotes and i run an organization called the n g o s and we do know conference every year and so we're always  in this place of being out there reviewing people's presentations and content and who's talking about why didn't you know what's really important and we're always weighing out this you know kind of content versus charismatic presentation and obviously we're we're looking for all of it to be in one writes because sometimes somebody will write a great book but on tour or in a presentation you just do it they can present the material so what makes a good speaker i think i think it has to start with understanding an audience first i go from the outside to move in i think understanding what's important to an audience and then presenting a message which can do more than just maybe just entertain them on the surface but the more effective speakers that i know are able to get inside to their the mind their heart because that's where change is affected for speaker and you have to be good at just presenting of it's ok to be a little fearful to have when you get up and speak and sometimes that actually fuels additional energy right but you have to have a willingness to tell stories the stories need to resonate stories are better than facts most people who complain about seeing public speakers it's because there's a point slide down and it does more harm than good presenting information can be done in a way that people really understand it you know and as a speaker you really want to feel audience is getting what you're saying i don't have there are people who talk about topics that i never knew someone talked about before eight right so that's not a particular topic isn't the issue but doesn't align with what the audience needs their values what they're looking for right right so just imagine yourself sitting in an audience at the event you're talking about and they came in to talk about something that you had no interest in whatsoever oh yeah right now of course you know and so it it there are a lot of aspects to it that can fall flat yeah yeah i mean and i think because again i have seen some brilliant people with with fantastic content that was very relevant  to our audiences needs get up and not be able to to really convey that and you know as you mentioned not tell stories be very factual you know of the tension really it's that of public speaking they got in their way as well because not being comfortable with the audience right at the end of the day you have to make your audience comfortable if your audience is uncomfortable because they know you're fearful that news that's that's certainly absolutely i decided in starting my own company that i only wanted to work with speakers that really intrigued me create a passion for what they're talking about and can really move the world forward  even if it's just one person at a time and an audience talking about areas of of leadership is leadership changes yes right leadership has aspects that will always remain the same and have aspects that are radically changing faster than people can understand them and so finding the proper balance and we're not talking about people who are stealing other people's material in deciding to change change the wording so it sounds like it comes from them i'm talking about real thought leaders who are exploring new areas areas about decision making the new techniques for new decision making or taking a look at really the difference between trying to motivate somebody to get something done and inspiring the passion within somebody to get something done and the radical change that happens but you know in technology which is changing dramatically and people are saying yeah with the everything all the talk about artificial intelligence and drone technologies and and bio genetics and crypto currencies and and people like oh my god like where do we stand what should we be doing how do we understand this world right but even some things just basic things like teamwork with all the effects that are going on in business to now with the major changes you know and teams are constantly reconstructing right so how do you form a cohesive team in a short period of time yeah in change because change is happening so asked and topics it's like a rollercoaster so the topics will appear and they disappear there evergreen topics which stand the test of time you know leadership and and teamwork and the future technology those kinds of things and there are those that pop up and then they disappear right and the big trend for a little while virtual reality is one the trend very highly maybe three four years ago sure specially when the tendou came out with their think yeah but avatars yeah so net now it's artificial intelligence is trending but it's within the pocket of technology and people want to know how does it how is it going to affect the future work right is my job at stake in the future how do i all fit my workforce for the future which industries are going to be dramatically impacted think i can keep going so yes i mean it it's also because you know what you're talking about and again i'm going to i'm going to generalise within a business audience right what you're talking about is interesting across the board i mean it effects every business it affects you know at times every facet of life depending on how far you take it well and i think for speakers the difference is do you have interesting information that's the first step of the second step is can you make it relatable to the audience tonight are they finding real value in what you're saying yeah you know have you picked out the right stories that really matter to them because hearing something and truly absorbing it yeah and accepting it and making a change in your own behavior that two different and how closely do you that that when you're working with the speaker and year you know really managing them in your are you helping them  that particular keynote i do on a more macro level not for each speech presentation because the speakers by this point when they're at the level i'm working with should understand the right questions to ask understand why the conference is being held why are people there who they are sure what are their you know what keeps them up at night those types of things but on the macro level i help them understand general trends the specifics within the trends help them understand how to build these stories i call them modules in fact i have this idea about how speech should be built yes yes and the models and bridges ok the you know how to make it short enough where people pay attention but deep enough that it really affects people right and you understand that block of time right so it becomes you know interchangeable but if you needed to bring whatever you needed to shift where that one speaker versus another because they have very effective stories that they're telling in the store the stories can be facts and figures it could be something happened to them personally or to somebody else or case study of a of a company the bridges or what connect the models so if you have modules if you've ever forty five minute speech you've selected eight modules you need time in between and a bridge so the bridge tells people why they just heard it what was important about it why you're moving into the next story the next module why they should pay attention what they should draw out of it so for speakers the idea is that the the modules belong to you and the bridges belong to the audience if you are going to customize a presentation have a library of modules you've created select the ones that are best for the audience tinker with them if you have to but most of the time it's more organic when you're actually on stage you're just telling stories you can see what's affecting people but the bridges are incredibly porton for the audience because that's when you're signifying this is why it's important to you i just told the story now let me tell you why it should matter to you know the american association of mayors right yeah yeah no i mean it's fabulous because even we were talking you're breaking it down you know you can recall yeah that  i remember seeing somebody was so impactful and this is what i'm thinking about this is why write and leading the audience to the next module and why that's important you know you're really bringing people with you as opposed to just flinging information out at them yeah i mean super valuable so two things i want to talk about wine in this industry why is it valuable for a speaker here as opposed to you know i mean just being out there and kind of opportunistically looking their own stuff while i think it's a great question i think what happens is that since it's an industry that kind of works behind the scenes it's not seen yeah it's most people don't even know that there's a speaking industry or that there are more than two hundred speaker bureaus worldwide or there are more than seven hundred fifty speaker agents who are making their living just selling speakers to colleges universities and corporations and associations a lot of speakers don't need any help whatsoever but that is a very small less than one percent there will well known they're on a big t v show they got a series number one best selling books you know they're celebrities they they were present the united states they can build their own organizations  or have their own assistants handle a lot of that on a sleep unless they just like to have someone who's an agent or manager i think though that a lot of the speakers they work for a living have full time jobs that's a reason you're bringing them in because they they work at google you know they they work for a magazine they they they are an on air personality they are a professor at a university whatever the reason and and that's the expertise is that not the speaking they don't know the business of the speaking right they know and that's why bog them down have them concentrate on the artistry right becoming a great speaker and  n really changing lives and an audience how someone else deal with helping them keep their their materials fresh you know nor content fresh and seeing the shifts in what what people are asking for what the what an audience finds of value and help them help them coordinate that right take that off their plate right right and that's what a manager one manager and good agents yeah will do that right now there's so much competition from the agency business that i do believe a lot of time that they're chasing a transaction versus promoting careers of speakers  o i think that's that's a trend that will be continually affected especially part official intelligence as it gets introduced into the marketplace and it's also i think agents have to make a decision about how they're going to be working with speakers in the future in the value of delivering to the end customer the event producer so it's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds i like the management part of it because  even if artificial intelligence and facts the industry will be feeding the machine right will continue to feed content with videos and and articles and a books and speech topics right because it's a whole different level of presence right i mean you know you see that in terms of it's not just if you're somebody who as you mentioned you know has the as the content has the story to tell potentially has written a book or is thinking about it there's that aspect of it but then there is ok how are you building that brand personality answer for media right how are we reflecting that in which potentially which presentations were accepting and where you're speaking right you start to build it sounds like the whole world's really what i'll give you two example so more than twenty years ago but twenty five years ago  that affected all the sudden people can actually see the speaker they were considering right now with you tube in their meo and the ability to you know post these things for free it's standard a trend that's kind of like that now especially for conferences where people are fighting for audience members it could be a public conference or could be a customer conference where companies say i know there are four conferences you want to attend we can only afford one so you pick and conferences are now fighting to get you to attend so they're looking at speakers who have very large social media presence yes right a lot of and they'll pick their own right they'll say linked in is more important twitter is more important facebook is more important or some combination of that and so this is one of those areas that speakers now have to pay attention some speakers get it and they just love the social media space and they see the benefits that come out of it and some have said well it's a lot of effort i had didn't see a lot of return i'm pragmatic so why would i spend more time or even money building a following yeah yeah but we're seeing the effects on how speakers are selected right that are now weighing a little bit more heavily than it did let's say a year ago you can have a terrific two terrific speakers and one might be chosen because they have five thousand more followers yeah  it's about you know that conference being able to connect with that person social media world as well right so it's yeah it's really kind of changed everything in terms of that but so is somebody who  is what's maybe a good resource for somebody who believes they want to pursue this or kind of just starting out in this arena would suit what resource would you send them to to learn more it depends on where they're start if they're starting from scratch i recommend toastmasters i recommend finding mentors and national speakers association i recommend practicing your butt off yeah and really learning how to tell your story really be different speakers speak for different reasons they are there to talk about issues ok not solution for their issues they're talking about issues maybe they're talking about their own story and they're hoping people will glean something out of that some are solutions based you know and like in the business arena solution space tends to be more of a focus yeah yeah or or people telling their story with a coach mountain climber  saying like that yeah at colleges they have issues yeah you know and so you have to know what kind of speaker you are you have to know what what is the market audience i'm going for and then i have to then that's when you start creating you can't create the the center should always be the audience right know your audience yeah because from that point then you can start developing a presentation and it never at the beginning should be about money right because audiences don't care how much money you make the speech they care about how that speech affected them when they will refer you to their own organization or somebody else they know that this was an amazing speaker  effect in their lives if they don't then you were in this effect of us you could have been right you know so if so then i think at that point a lot of practice start testing the marketplace seeing if somebody will actually b tons of organizations that are looking for you to command and talk for free and i get that all the time i get people who say oh i have spoken to this one and this one and this one of these events and you know i you know i want to do more and i ask you know so how much did those get how much did you get paid to go out and get paid for them yeah then i don't have a value barometer on it i have no problem i love i do speaking myself for free and  but if you're going to actually charge money for it that's you have to know where your value proposition is yes are you only worth five hundred are you worth five thousand are you worth fifteen thousand are you worth fifty thousand the only way you know is by testing the marketplace and that's where the business side of it comes in yes yes yeah and that's where working with someone like you i mean you're directionally and it sounds like you're working with speakers at this level that pretty much you know where they're where they're they're marketplaces and where their the book has a half life of nine months they were able to get a lot of speaking and short period of time and then once the book disappear so today they they they did not adjust their value they did not build their speaking career for the longevity so they took they took the money and ran right but this is why working with a professional i think can guide you write verses just trying to figure that out yourself i think you  know i'm seeing that as a huge part of the value yeah i wrote is and i like that part of it i sometimes i get a little pushback from people who are like i don't know if i should it just might be i don't know if i should be moving into this topic area or if i do i where is the where do i start with suggestions for right that's not my area of expertise and there comes the cold reality that hit some speakers that what i was talking about was a value and it's not anymore hate and that's it's like a cold shower i don't like it the speaker specially don't like it you adapt and change or you kind of get left and that's the right i mean that's the truth of it so i can see i can see how valuable it is though working with a guide you know professional who's been in the industry for many decades who knows i've been in the industry thirty years and i'm finally seeing more women speakers in the business arena right absolutely it's absolutely a frustration of mine i had i had worked at the college marketplace for six or seven years moved into the business marketplace partly because i saw a lot of change being affected by the right speakers coming in yet the majority of speakers were white white guys you know but like i love that you realize that and then you're kind of putting that towards the front of your agenda which is it's fantastic and you know to again it's you know showing it's a level of expertise that they think you know people not in the clinton new jersey tell me a little bit about that i i grew up with some great parents who believe that you should do more than just sit on the sidelines you know  that service in one way or the other is very important most of my family served in the military my sister served in the army and she cursed worked for the department offense for decades now so my father was in the navy  reserves for thirty plus years both of my grandparents were you know were in the the military i couldn't serve a deaf ear and and everything so i had to find other ways to be of service which i've coaching young people not just coaching them on how to be better athletes but to be better leaders you know i've been involved with my church in helping run some ministries that i thought really affected people and it just felt with this current political environment that we need even more people to step up and i hooked up with people who finally asked me do you is this your time do you want to start there's a there's a place for you now do you want to run are i think a lot of people are a little fearful they don't know where to start i think sometimes you just gotta do it people feel they don't have time for yeah but the amazing thing is the energy you get when you did something right and if you could see how it affected somebody else yeah yeah no absolutely and i think you know i feel like god built us that way right we  get a gift when we're giving of ourselves it's such an incredible gift that so i love that promise i wanted you to talk about i was and let you get away without talking about you so thank you so much for being here it has been wonderful talking about all  this i feel like we just scratched the surface but if people want to get in touch with you learn more connect with you speakers that maybe hearing this say this is the guy i want to get in touch with how do they do that i have a website which is it next up speakers