The conclusion of the Democratic National Convention this evening in Philadelphia will mark the end of a highly-impactful 40-day convention cycle for the professional speaking industry. The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are bellwether events for the speaker bureau industry. Executives from the large Washington, D.C. and New York-based speaker bureaus will attend both of these conventions in order to position themselves as candidates to “sign” governmental officials at the highest executive branch levels to speaking contracts after leaving office, identify the emerging party leaders (See Bill Clinton DNC Speech 1988 and Barrack Obama in 2004), and solidify relationships with existing media clients.
However, these two conventions really only have a business-impact on a small portion of the speaker bureau industry. The real convention of significance to 90% of the world’s speaker bureaus was 
The National Speakers Association – Influence 2016, held from July 23-26, 2016 at the JW Marriott in Phoenix, Arizona. The National Speakers Association is a professional speakers organization that supports the pursuit of public speaking as a business. Among the 3,500 NSA members are some of the best and most in-demand speakers, consultants, coaches, and trainers in the world. Being selected by your peers to speak on the main stage for this organization is a prestigious and important designation. Frankly, to be featured as a General Session speaker at this meeting means you are the best of the best. This year, The Speaker Experts were not surprised to see these four speakers up on the NSA Main Stage:
Waldo Waldman: Former Combat Pilot, Businessman, and Authority on Leadership Sales. Author of Never Fly Solo.
Scott Stratten: Disruptive and UN-traditional Sales, Marketing and Branding Expert. Host of UnPodcast
Roger Crawford: Disabled Tennis Champion. Author of Playing from the Heart and How High Can You Bounce?
Connie Podesta: Actress, Playwright, Counselor, Comedian, and Author of 10 Ways to Stand Out from the Crowd
The links provided above will take you to each speaker’s website, where you can view streaming video and gather background information. A note of caution: while these four speakers are among the world’s elite, they are not the right fit for every organization and desired outcome. The Speaker Experts suggest you consult your preferred IASB member speaker bureau to determine if they are a candidate for your organization.
Conclusion
The world of professional speaking is a complex and multi-tiered industry. Three conventions took place within the last 40 days that will have tremendous impact on this trade over the years to come. Obviously, the RNC and DNC are huge media events, whose ultimate outcome have dramatic and lasting effects on our daily lives, but it just might be the NSA Convention that has the most impact on the world of professional speaking.
Gary McManis & Jay Conklin
The Speaker Experts 