This week the Washington DC area will play host to one of the year’s most important events to the speaking industry: the National Speakers Association Annual Meeting, Influence 2015. NSA is a professional speaker organization that supports the pursuit of the commercial public speaking industry. The organization is relevant to our conversation as many of the speakers highlighted on this site jump-started their careers with the help and guidance of the NSA. Our posting last week covered the 10 most booked corporate and association speakers. While not everyone agreed with our selections, it is tough to argue that the 10 speakers listed are not among the most popular on the speaking circuit. Of course it is easy to look back at a 12 month period and analyze what happened but the real challenge is to look down the road and predict what will happen over the course of the next 12 months. The great hockey player Wayne Gretzky calls this “….skating to where the puck is going to be…”
Listed below are 10 speakers you should have your eye on over the next 12 months. These speakers are already some of the most popular on the circuit – based on market inertia, their work with the NSA and other industry happenings, we feel they are all candidates to make the list of the 10 most booked next year:
Our final speaker to look out for over the next 12 months is a symbolic selection that just will not look good on a baseball card: Mt. Everest.
While speakers who use the mountain as a metaphor for success in business and life have always been popular on the professional speaking circuit, we feel the interest in Everest-related speakers will peak with the September 25th release of “Everest”. The film stars Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright, and Josh Brolin, and is based on Jon Krakauer’s best selling book Into Thin Air. Look for speakers who share their experience on Everest to be in high demand over the next year.
Closing Thoughts:
No one goes from being a fresh face on the circuit to speaking at 100 meetings during the course of a year – the speakers listed above are already among the most popular and on the circuit. The Speaker Experts feel that based on the previously listed criteria, they are the names to watch out for on next year’s 10 most booked speakers list.
Gary McManis & Jay Conklin
The Speaker Experts 