Budgets are tight and getting tighter. Every facet of the meeting planner’s day involves facing an onslaught of details preparing for an event. Selecting sites that fit the bill, building menus, choosing premium items, and coordinating agendas with the input of multiple constituencies and coordinating an endless flood of details are just a few of your challenges. Selecting outside speakers from the oratory multitudes present unique challenges. In about one-third of a second, googling “Professional Speaker” offers almost 9.8 million choices, and you don’t have time to listen to all of their demos, so you pick one and hope for the best.

The location and property are perfect. Catering over-delivers on their service promise. The schedules work, collateral materials exceed expectations, and everyone loves the room gifts. Then it happens – your speaker bombs! Consider the following six ways to effectively use the web to help you find qualified speakers that meet your needs.

Search Terms: Be as specific as possible using search terms, but keep it simple. Include terms that identify exactly what you want, including the type of presentation, (keynote, training, motivational, breakout, etc.), location, and industry. Be descriptive.

Speaker Websites: When looking at speaker or bureau websites, look for testimonials, experience, and demo videos. If finding content is difficult, then you might question the speaker’s ability to communicate from the platform. If the speaker blogs, you also see the type of content they deliver.

LinkedIn: This social media site offers a huge amount in a standardized form. General information about the speaker, as well as testimonials, links, and group affiliations all provide insight into a speaker. Testimonials become easier to expand and verify. You can even do market research that provides information from other meeting planners, as well as groups devoted to meeting planners. Networking with other meeting planners develops a massive amount of intellectual experience capital.

Facebook: Another social media networking service, Facebook is traditionally thought of as a “personal” site. However, more businesses are building a presence on Facebook. “Fan Pages” give you an idea of others who may have used the speaker’s services – or a sampling of their friends and family. This site also offers the potential to see professional speakers away from their businesses.

Twitter: Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as “tweets.” Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length – just enough – and it is free. Twitter is searchable, and offers a glimpse into the world of value creation of speakers. Tweets often include links to other resources that may be helpful in your search.

Professional Associations: The National Speakers Association (www.nsaspeaker.org) and their numerous state chapters (for example, the Minnesota Chapter’s site is www.nsa-mn.org) offer directories of professional speakers that provide a buffet of talent from which to choose.  The fact that speakers hold membership in a professional organization does not mean they are a great speaker or will meet your needs, but it does mean they have met membership criteria and subscribe to a code of conduct that provides some accountability. The ability to find and search speakers in one place makes associations an invaluable resource.

The web becomes a valuable tool to help your make finding a professional speaker easier, and with better results.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Michael Roby        Email: mike@michaelroby.com
T: 612.309.8346                URL:    www.michaelroby.com
F: 952-445-6423

“The Strategist & The Shrink” Start Nationwide Tour

Minneapolis, MN, June 4, 2009 — Michael Roby and Dr. James (Jim) Rafferty begin their national speaking tour as “The Strategist and The Shrink” on June 18, 2009. Roby and Rafferty will be speaking at the PrimeVest 2009 National Planning Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, MN. PrimeVest Financial Services, Inc., based in St. Cloud, MN, operates as a self-clearing broker-dealer company.

Roby, a financial services sales and marketing strategist and Dr. Rafferty, a clinical psychologist team up to point financial advisors, broker-dealers, insurance companies, banks, and professional and medical groups in the right direction to grow practices in challenging economic times. Firms learn strategies and tactics that deliver immediate business growth and improved levels of service while maintaining professional ethics and personal sanity.

Roby is a sales and marketing strategist, writer, author, sales & marketing coach and noted professional speaker. Mike serves as lead columnist for “Bank Advisor Magazine,” and his first book, The Ultimate Small Cap Business: Building a Financial Advisory Practice, was published in April 2008. He shares his expertise with banks, broker-dealers, wholesaling firms, and insurance companies by helping them develop sales and marketing strategy, as well as by speaking to and for groups of financial services professionals. Roby is member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), and is a two-time recipient of NSA-Minnesota’s “Member of the Year” Award.

Rafferty is a licensed clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine and Psychiatry at Wright State University School of  Medicine in Dayton, Ohio where he was a faculty member for twenty-five years. In 1991, he began helping service industries, especially hospitals and physician practices, apply psychological principles to better achieve their strategic goals. As part of his consultation business he has served as an executive coach for leaders in industries such as hospital administration, pet food manufacturing, brokerage firms, attorney groups, and heavy  equipment manufacturing. Dr. Rafferty has lectured widely across the United States and is the recipient of The Academy of Medicine Outstanding Faculty teaching award.

PrimeVest Financial Services, Inc. was formerly known as Bankers Systems Brokerage Services. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Saint Cloud, Minnesota. PRIMEVEST Financial Services, Inc. is a member of the ING Advisors Network , and operates as a subsidiary of ING Groep NV. With over 500 billion in assets, ING is one of the largest integrated financial services organizations in the world.

# # #