Posts Tagged ‘David Meerman Scott’

The Mt. Rushmore of Speaker Agents: Four Agents Who Changed the Industry (Part One)

Posted: February 10, 2015 in Finding Your Speaker Bureau
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As the story goes, NBA Hall of Fame inductee and player Larry Bird signed with the late legendary sports agent Bob Woolf after interviewing a number of high-powered sports agents and asking them who he should sign with if not with them. Each agent answered Bob Woolf. The Speaker Experts are on the receiving end of this type of question occasionally, being asked “…if you were not with Keppler Speakers and were going to book a speaker, who would you work with?” Our thinking has evolved on this issue over the years, and today the answer to this question now is that it depends. There are really four agents that fulfill the answer to this question, but it depends on the question seeker’s position within an organization, their speaker needs, and desired outcome for the event. The following four agents represent the Mt. Rushmore of speaker agents, and if there were ever a speaker agent Hall Of Fame, they would be inducted immediately. Let’s take a look:

Stern D-Blog PhotoIf I am a CEO in need of a speaker to consult and advise at the highest strategic levels, I would call Danny Stern.

Mr. Stern was President of the Leigh Bureau from 1991-2002 and spent 12 years in the speaker industry prior to that. During his time at Leigh Bureau, Stern signed and managed some of the world’s great strategic thinkers. He consulted with Fortune 500 companies at the highest levels, helping them select speakers that would shape their corporate strategy for years into the future.

Where is he now? Stern is with Stern Speakers, a speaker bureau that represents some of the nation’s leading thought leaders including Clayton Christensen, Michael Porter, Dave Ulrich, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Michael Beer, Nicholas Negroponte, Dov Seidman, Jim Champy, and others. Stern is someone you should speak with if your organization seeks a world class thought leader.

Stern is the George Washington of the speaker agent Mt. Rushmore: invested in the cause and a visionary leader.

D'Amelio T-Blog PhotoIf I am a senior-level corporate executive in sales, marketing, or business development, my first call is to Tony D’Amelio.

Tony D’Amelio started his speaker bureau career with Lordly and Dame in the early 1980s and then spent 27 years with the prestigious Washington Speakers Bureau. D’Amelio worked his way to Executive Vice President by having a keen understanding of the needs of his clients, along with the abilities of his speakers, to perfectly partner presentations. He may be the single most prolific speaker agent in the history of the industry and was a cornerstone to the success, development and growth of WSB for almost 3 decades.

Where is he now? D’Amelio took time off after his tenure with WSB to pursue a different passion: education. He is the founder and co-president of the premiere city-wide college scholarship foundation in Stamford, Connecticut, called Stamford Dollars for Scholars. D’Amelio is still active in the speaker industry today as founder of the D’Amelio Network LLC. His clients include some of the nation’s most requested speakers including Mike Abrashoff, Geoff Colvin, Katty Kay and David Meerman Scott.

D’Amelio is the Thomas Jefferson of our speaker agent Mt. Rushmore: intelligent, determined, industrious and hardworking.

Check back next week when we unveil the remaining two speaker agents who complete the Mt Rushmore of speaker bureau representatives. One is an association specialist whose Abraham Lincoln-type qualities build consensus in the fractured Washington, DC landscape. The other is the industry’s Theodore Roosevelt and the one agent I would turn to if the fate of the world depended the success of one specific speaker.

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin

11 Technology Speakers To Keep Your Eye On in 2015

Posted: December 9, 2014 in Speaker Ideas
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The Speaker Experts interact with hundreds of organizations looking for professional speakers in the course of a calendar year. We methodically track the subject and content requests in an effort to determine the most requested topic for the year. This year’s runaway winner was “technology” – at least 6 out of every 10 organizations we engaged with were looking for a speaker on that particular issue. The Speaker Experts believe this trend will continue to hold into 2015. With this prognostication in mind, we offer eleven technology speakers to look out for in 2015. Many of these speakers have been in demand for a number of years, while some are emerging forces on the speaking industry landscape.

Industry Game Changer
Randolph M-PhotoMarc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix
Media consumption has never been the same.

Medicine & Healthcare
Kraft-D PhotoDr. Daniel Kraft, respected physician, innovator and inventor
A healthcare expert with an eye on future trends.

Social Marketing & Sales
Scott-DM PhotoDavid Meerman Scott, Marketing and Sales Strategist
Generating attention and growing business in real-time.

Technology Trends
Uldrich-J PhotoJack Uldrich, global futurist and popular author
A visionary for capitalizing on future movements.

Cybersecurity & The Future of Things
Payton-T PhotoTheresa Payton, former White House CIO
Offers data-protection guidance in the expanding digital world.

Innovation
Williams-L PhotoLuke Williams, Professor of Innovation at NYU Stern School of Business
The Australian accent makes the theme of Corporate Disruption sound inviting.

Social Media
Erik Qualman, Best Selling Author, social media and technology expert
The “Equalman” name implies he has superhero powers…he does on stage!

Adventure & Exploration
Steltzner-A PhotoAdam Steltzner, Lead Engineer for Mars Curiosity Rover
Assembled and motivated his team to put a Volkswagen-sized robot on
a planet 249 million miles from Earth.

Consumer Trends
Sheryl ConnellySheryl Connelly, Chief Futurist, Ford Motor Company
Responsible for identifying global consumer courses that impact
the company at large.

Humanity & The Greater Good
Diamandis-P PhotoPeter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of X-Prize Foundation
Helps organizations create a culture of innovation and breakthrough opportunities.

Science
Kaku-M PhotoDr. Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist and best selling author
Has the ability to make really complex stuff interesting for knuckleheads
like The Speaker Experts.

When your speaker selection committee lands on the theme or point of technology, it is important to drill down to exactly which aspect of the spectrum they have in mind. The list above represents a select snapshot of speakers within a number of popular technology subcategories.

The Speaker Experts feel that demand for technology speakers will be strong leading up to the third quarter of 2015. Look for a slight market correction during the fourth quarter as organizations mold their meeting themes around the 2016 General Election. Check back with the Speaker Experts later next year for our list of political and policy speakers to consider for your Legislative and Annual Meetings.

Gary McManis & Jay Conklin