Strictly Speaking

Four who command the floor (left to right): B. Joseph Pine II,
Frans Johansson, Patrick Lencioni and Chris Luebkeman

The right speaker can educate, inspire and create a lasting impact on a group and, by extension, a company; finding this person is what speakers bureaus are all about.

There are several advantages to using a bureau, as opposed to approaching a speaker directly, according to Jim Montoya, executive vice president of the Indianapolis-based International Association of Speakers Bureaus (www.iasbweb.org). “It helps to minimize surprises,” he says. If your speaker cancels at the last minute, for example, a bureau will try to find a replacement. Bureaus also can provide useful information about a speaker that a snapshot bio found on the Internet might fail to mention.

“A speaker might typically show up five minutes before the event and leave right afterward,” Montoya notes, “while another might be happy to join in on a cocktail hour the night before. Someone else might charge for autographs, which is something you might want to know beforehand.”

M&C spoke with several bureaus that specialize in presenters well-versed in today’s hot business topics. Note that individual speakers mentioned are generally not the exclusive clients of any one bureau.

BigSpeak Speakers Bureau
Santa Barbara, Calif.
(805) 965-1400; www.bigspeak.com

“Some speakers pump you up, but they don’t necessarily give anything back to the workplace,” says Chris Johnson, marketing director for the BigSpeak Speakers Bureau. “We look to instill long-lasting, permanent change in organizations.” To that end, Johnson says, the bureau’s presenters tend to specialize in topics such as leadership, innovative thinking and environmental sustainability.

And effecting change might require more than a 45-minute presentation. As a follow-up to many of its keynoters, the company offers training, management consulting and coaching via its Leadership Excellence University, which resembles a mobile business school and works on site with clients.

“We often know what it is we need to do to improve, but it’s not always easy,” notes BigSpeak president and founder Jonathan Wygant. “Our university comes in to support making that change.” The staff includes business experts who have worked closely with the bureau’s keynote speakers and can work with groups to implement concepts presented in the initial talk.

For example, Patrick Lencioni, founder and president of the Lafayette, Calif.-based executive consulting firm The Table Group and author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Jossey-Bass), will present a keynote on organizational health and executive team building. In the weeks that follow, his senior consulting partner, Pat Richie, also president of the Danville, Calif.-based Sports Leadership Group, will work with the group to bring the lessons home.

BigSpeak aims to promote experiential learning whenever possible, as with presenter Shaun Tomson, a former professional surfer and currently a busy environmentalist and successful entrepreneur. His inspirational talks apply the principles that helped him succeed in the surfing world to overcoming obstacles in life and business. And if the meeting happens to take place at a coastal location, planners can arrange for private surfing lessons from the world champion himself.

Cornerstone Speakers
McLean, Va.
(703) 744-1200
www.cornerstonespeakers.com

Cornerstone’s roster includes just 30 speakers handpicked by company co-founders Andria Younger (the CEO) and Jane Esparza (Cornerstone’s president). “Our clients appreciate that we want to do more than simply assign a speaker to a stage,” says Younger.

The bureau’s presenters frequently address topics related to leadership, including management issues, employee satisfaction and office communications.

When it comes to addressing the challenges facing women executives in particular, Esparza recommends Carol Muratore, a former division president of a Fortune 15 health-care company and founder of Glen Allen, Va.-based Home Care Delivered Inc., a provider of home medical supplies.

“She is someone who left a large company to become an entrepreneur,” Esparza notes, “so she has wonderful, strategic insights for women, especially those who move from one arena to the next.” Muratore’s keynotes and workshops focus on strategic planning, achieving success in an intergenerational work force and aligning team goals.

Another popular Cornerstone speaker is Frans Johansson, who wrote about the nature of creativity and innovation in The Medici Effect (Harvard Business School Press). In his presentations, Johansson illustrates how breakthrough inventions occur at what he terms the “intersection,” where unrelated cultures, ideas and disciplines collide and create entirely new ones. He provides historical examples of this phenomenon and suggests that companies can innovate in a similar fashion. “Often you will have a talent pool of people at a company with very different backgrounds,” says Younger. “Frans teaches audiences how to use that information to foster an innovative environment.”

Deborah Smith Specialty Speakers Bureau
Brookline, Mass.
(617) 739-9877
www.deborahsmithgroup.com

In her previous role as executive director and conference manager of the Professional AudioVideo Retailers Association, Deborah Smith learned the value of using speakers who clearly have a knack for presenting. Today, as president of the speakers bureau bearing her name, she says, “We never put people in front of an audience just because they’ve written a book or made a video. Our aim is to find speakers that people rave about, remember and use.”

Above all, Smith’s speakers focus on providing practical solutions for companies. “The best speakers will explain how attendees can apply key principles to improve their business operations as well as their personal lives,” she says.

One of Smith’s most popular presenters is B. Joseph Pine II, educator, Fortune 500 consultant and author of Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition (Harvard Business School Press), which highlights the shift from the mass standardization of products and services to mass customization. “Pine’s principles guide companies to create memorable customer experiences by engaging customers in a personal and emotional way,” says Smith.

Doug Argue, owner of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based home theater store, Sound Plus, attended a presentation by Pine and took his message to heart: He designed a new showroom that resembled a living room, complete with pool table. Salespeople met customers at the door with a cup of cappuccino and invited them to play a game of eight ball. “The information I received from the keynote,” says Argue, “made an invaluable contribution to our company’s reinvention, market differentiation and subsequent growth.”

Monitor Talent
Cambridge, Mass.
(617) 252-2000; www.monitortalent.com

Unlike a traditional speakers bureau, Monitor Talent acts as agency, manager and producer for its presenters, who are experts in topics such as leadership, corporate renewal, and fostering innovation and social change. “All of our speakers have day jobs,” notes Mel Blake, managing director. “They run companies; they work in government affairs.”

Monitor’s portfolio includes Peter Schwartz, chairman of the Global Business Network, who lectures on topics such as the impact of global climate change and future scientific breakthroughs; and Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of British intelligence, who speaks about bioterrorism and global security and intelligence.

For a thought-provoking keynote on environmental themes and future trends, Blake recommends design architect Chris Luebkeman. As head of the Foresight and Innovation Initiative at Arup, the global design and engineering firm behind the iconic architecture of the Chunnel and Hong Kong International Airport, Luebkeman devises new ways to incorporate sustainable design into buildings, furniture and even entire model “eco-cities,” communities that produce and live off of their own sustainable sources of energy. Arup’s first eco-city currently is under construction in Dongtan, China, and will be fully functional by 2010.

“As an architect, Chris has a different way of thinking about the world,” says Blake. “His fresh perspective helps companies approach topics in new ways.” As part of his presentation, Luebkeman often conducts interactive brainstorming sessions, during which attendees have the chance to contribute their own ideas about the future of transportation, hotels, schools and other forms of infrastructure. At the close of the session, they are given advice on how individuals can play a role in creating a more sustainable future.