Did you know that there is an association of motivational speakers? Can you imagine what it would be like to attend the annual convention of motivational speakers? Well, sorry but you missed it. It was last weekend.
OK, to be fair, it not actually called the motivational speakers association. It is an association of professional speakers. They met in Vancouver this past weekend. I didn’t attend for two reasons: 1) I actually had an audience to speak to while everyone else was at the conference, and 2) well, I’m not actually a member of the association.
I used to be a member. Over the time that I was an active member of the association, I learned that there are some practices of the association that I am in opposition with at a values and principles level. I had a difference of opinion, so I left.
In the association, every member is welcome to work toward his or her CSP - Certified Speaking Professional designation. (It really carries no weight when you’re being considered for a job – trust me.) It is possible to become a Certified Speaking Professional within the first six years of ever being a speaker. All you have to do is make enough money over five years ($250,000-$675,000) doing enough presentations over five years (100-250) and have had enough clients over five years (25-100). Then you do the normal stuff: attend the convention every year (32 Continuing Education Credits), pay your membership dues every year for six consecutive years ($400/yr), get 20 clients to write you nice letters about how good you were (over 5 years) and pay a $375.00 US application fee. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Pass that criteria and you can be a CSP. (Honestly, for the speaker who is doing this full-time, the criteria is pretty simple).
Even though there is a committee who supposedly watches the speakers in action, and even though there is a questionnaire that is sent to clients hiring the speaker asking them to rate the speaker on preparation, delivery, thoroughness and professionalism, nowhere will the speaker ever be asked for what kind of results the client received. And that is where I take issue with a certification of any kind: where the certification is based on everything except the results the attendees experienced.
When I say results, here’s what I mean: if you’re a sales trainer, after you finished your seminar, how much did sales increase? If you’re a productivity trainer, how did productivity increase as a result of your session? If you’re a motivational speaker, how well did your session inspire the attendees to reduce the number of sick days over the next year?
Those are results. Results are what tell the story of whether or not a speaker should be certified as a professional – not how much money they make. Money is a lousy way to keep score.
And it shouldn’t be other speakers who sit on the selection committee for certification standards, it should be the meeting planners who hire speakers who should determine who is certified professional and who is not. (There is an organization called MPI – Meeting Planners International. These are the folks who should be handing out the hardware.)
If you’re half ways decent in marketing, can live with $1000 per speaking presentation (unbelievably low price for a professional speaker – more like a starting speaker), you could find yourself doing 50 presentations per year to charitable organizations and community groups. Do it for five years and you’ve made $250,000 speaking to 250 separate clients and organizations. You ought to be able to get at least 4 nice letters per year from clients and several who say that you were professional. You could do this part-time and still become a Certified Professional. You don’t even have to be very good. And that’s my issue.
Don’t even get me started on becoming a member of the speaking Hall of Fame. That’s an award given by your peers when they think you’re at the peak of your game, even if you’re not. After you get the Hall of Fame, there’s nothing left to earn.
Personally, I think the speaking industry is in too big a hurry to congratulate themselves on a job well done – even if it isn’t well done. Oh, and that thing about getting results for the attendees? Don’t mention that. They’re a little touchy on that one.
No comments:
Post a Comment