Posts Tagged ‘Colin Powell’

The Speaker Experts Take WSBDirectConnect for a Test Drive

Posted: June 2, 2015 in Be In The Know, Finding Your Speaker Bureau, Meeting Planner
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Washington Speakers Bureau has recently partnered with eSpeakers to create an online directory of speakers in the $10,000-or-below fee range. The service is designed to be a resource for meeting professionals with speaker needs and a limited budget. WSBDirectConnect suggests that meeting planners use their directory as a shortcut to contact both up-and-coming talent scouted by WSB, and seasoned professionals who have been speaking for years instead of a generic Google search. The Speaker Experts were intrigued by this =concept so we decided take the WSB cyber-speaker “dealership” website for a test drive.

In order to report our findings, we borrowed a format used by our favorite Washington Post “On Wheels” Automotive columnist Warren Brown.

racing cam

Ride, Acceleration and Handling: The site gets high marks in all three areas. The speaker name recognition acceleration lacks the performance of a 6.2 Liter Hemi V-8 Challenger Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice engine, but it compensates with nimble handling and elegantly outfitted options in every speaker category.

Engine Transmission: WSBDirectConnect appears to be equipped with supercharged, intercooled bandwidth that provides the driver with a blend of quick video-search capability, switching comfortably from speaker to topic area and back.

Safety: This is not a “full service” bureau site so you will not have the standard airbag, insurance and safety features enjoyed by those working with a “full service” bureau. However, the driver can feel comfortable that all of these speakers have been vetted by WSB and have undergone rigorous evaluation and inspection.

Head Turning Quotient: The site is turning heads within the speaker bureau industry as the luxury brand leader enters the mainstream shopping center parking lot market.

spark plug

Price: Per advertisement, the price as tested for these speakers is $10,000-and-under.

Capacities: This is perhaps the largest collection of speakers in the $10,000-and-under range on the Internet and certainly the best curated with ample room to add more.

Mileage: When utilizing speakers in the $10,000-and-under fee range, it is possible to receive more “contractual” mileage out of these speakers than their luxury brand counterparts. It is not uncommon for speakers in this fee range to add secondary sessions and other “value-added” components at no additional price.

Bottom Line: The Speaker Experts work for a speaker bureau and on the surface a site like this could be seen as a “threat” to our industry; however, TSE do not view the emergence of WSBDirectConnect in this manner. “Full Service” speaker bureaus are not going to be the solution for every group looking for a speaker – there are organizations and executives who have the time, preference and desire to research, vet and hire their own speakers. For those that fall into this category, WSBDirect Connect is a neat specialty tool to have in your meeting planner tool box. Overall, we are very impressed with this site but feel that technology will never fully replace the human connection of working directly with an industry expert from a world class speaker bureau. A speaker bureau agent you can trust will be your universal tool to research, consult and vet speakers. Learn about finding such an agent in our blog post “Ten Questions to Ask Your Speaker Bureau” (Part One and Part Two).

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin

There are Associations for Everything…

Posted: April 6, 2015 in Be In The Know
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…even speaker bureaus. Starting today, C-Level executives from the worlds’s leading speaker bureaus will converge onto New Orleans for the International Association of Speaker Bureaus‘ (@iasbweb) 2015 Convention. Like any trade or professional association, they will discuss topics ranging from external threats to the industry, legislation effecting speaker bureaus, as well as trends and technology that will impact speakers and the meeting world – they might even have an adult beverage or two! But when you put a group of speaker agents into a room, the topic ultimately leads to speakers: who is being booked the most, what type of feedback agents are hearing, who is the next big speaker, the list goes on.

So what does this meeting mean to those buying speakers? The Speaker Experts suggest you look to the speakers that these industry professionals have secured to address their most important meeting of the year. While The Speaker Experts have no idea what criterion IASB uses to select their speakers, we do feel it is safe to say that a group who makes a living finding and booking speakers would only select world class speakers to address their membership.

Here is the line-up of speakers for the IASB 2015 Convention:

Keynote Speaker: Lt. General Russel L. Honore

Honore R-Photo

Note of disclosure, Honore is represented by Keppler Speakers-where The Speaker Experts work.


The leader of Task Force Katrina and one of the world’s foremost experts on leadership and preparedness, Lt. General Russel L. Honore (@ltgrusselhonore) is a combination of John Wayne, General Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell. He still lives in New Orleans and is a popular speaker with groups meeting in The Big Easy.

Featured Speakers








The Speaker Experts have done a lot of work with General Honore, Terry Jones and Corey Perlman – we find them all to be both world class speakers and professionals on and off stage. We have “lost” enough business to Ronan Tynan over the years and have heard so many great things that we feel comfortable putting him in the same space. As for the rest of the speakers, though we have little if any experience working with them, the fact that they were chosen for this event commands attention and consideration. You can bet we will do our homework in finding out more about these speakers in the future. Check with your preferred speaker bureau to see if any of these speakers are a good fit for your next meeting.

Side Note: A Speaker Experts Tip of the Microphone to former Keppler Speakers Associate and blog follower Wajid Syed. Wajid worked as a sales assistant at Keppler from 2001-2002, leaving the firm to pursue a law degree and future career in sports management. He ultimately joined Sean “Jay-Z” Carter’s firm Roc Nation Sports last year.The Washington Post report from earlier this week indicates Wajid signed American tennis phenom Francis Tiafoe to the Roc Nation Sports roster. Tiafoe is the next great hope for American tennis and he is in good hands with Wajid. While we only worked with Wajid for a year and a half, we learned a lot more from him than he from us. Keep an eye on Wajid and Tiafoe.

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin