Greetings! I hope you are as excited to start this new year as a member of NSA-IL as I am to be your 2011-2012 President.

This message continues our dialog about NSA-IL’s Five Year Plan and your Board’s vision of taking our association to a new professional level. I am proud to say that many items on our Five Year Plan, created in 2010, have already been accomplished and have been coming together sooner than we imagined. We are excited and confident that the vision outlined below will greatly enhance all our members’ professional speaking business.

Here's the plan means and an update of where we are as of September 2011.

1. Increase Membership - sustaining minimum of 125 members over the next five years. Our goal is to increase our membership and affiliate program to 125 members within the next five years. Higher numbers of members and affiliates means a greater pool of ideas, wealth of knowledge and creativity, as well as greater revenue to put towards marketing NSA-IL and getting our members names in the marketplace. Having a significant professional presence in the marketplace means access to more professional experience, more information available to members, more community for all members and more speaking jobs for our working professional members. It helps sustain the professional relationships that we have with MPI (Meeting Planners International), PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association), and the CCTB (Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau). The challenge for our Association will be finding those professional speakers who meet the National criteria (see NSA National website atwww.nsaspeaker.org). Though there are many incredible speakers in Illinois, many do not qualify for or meet our membership criteria. We are looking for the best of the best. You can help by sending your professional speaking friends to us and to NSA National so that we can meet this objective. As of September 1, 2011, we have 52 qualified members.

In 2011, our Affiliate program was introduced to give those speakers who are on the way to meeting NSA criteria to be a part of our community. Last year we welcomed 8 affiliate members into our fold. 

2. Secure a Minimum of 5 sponsors of our events. We are actively soliciting sponsorship/vendors that are appropriate resources for your professional speaking business. Sponsorship income is used to offset the cost of the marketing efforts to promote our members and gain recognition in the marketplace. You can help by sending your favorite vendors and suppliers to us. Those may include your videographer, your book publisher, your audio visual creator, your makeup artist, your image consultant, your voice coach...the list goes on and on. There are 3 different levels of sponsorship available to these vendors, all designed to provide you the member with the best resources and to provide the vendors with access to the best speakers to do business with. Sponsors benefit by having unique access to our members to get their product to you.

3. Secure a permanent office location and staff.  Having a permanent location for NSA-IL makes us more credible as a professional association. The location can be utilized by all members of NSA-IL. We met this goal on July 1, 2011 when we secured our new home in Palatine, Illinois. We encourage you to come and see the new site and meet our staff. Call the office to schedule an appointment when you are in the area.

4. Increase member communication. You need the most relevant, useful information which will help make your professional speaking business more successful. We want to be your resources and access to information. At a time when companies are cutting back the dollars they are spending, communication, sharing best practices, especially ones to help your business run smoother, is our commitment to you. I will send a Presidents letter detailing the current state of association affairs, every third Friday.  Our seasonal publication "The Podium" is a new tool we will use to communicate with you and share tips from the pros.   You can submit your best ideas or articles to us.  Ideas and articles may find their way to either the President’s letter, The Podium or the website.

5. Create a Speaker Showcase once a year. Our members always need exposure to the hiring communities.  We are committed to getting exposure for our members to those professional meeting planners and corporate providers who hire speakers.  We are committed to doing this on a annual basis.  We met this goal when we held our Speaker Showcase at April 28, 2011. We are in conversation with the meeting planners as to what dates will be most effective and will draw the most meeting planners in 2012. We look forward to solidifying dates for 2012 and bringing even more value to our members as we showcase our local talent.

6. Solidify dates/programming for Fab. Fridays one year in advance. We know you want your NSA-IL experience to be as predictable and dependable as possible so that you can plan your professional speaking calendar around your NSA-IL dates. We have secured dates for all of our educational events through June 2013. Check the website and mark your calendar now so you can participate fully and maximize your investment in your professional association.  Now that the calendar dates are set, we are better able to  secure the most sought after speaking  talent for our educational programming. Could that be YOU? If you have a topic which will enhance member skill or business, contact the office and you will be directed to our Program Chair or Special Event Chair who can make that happen. If you have a suggestion for someone you would like to hear, let us know. We can make that contact and hopefully arrange for them to be on the program. And, starting in January 2012, we will meet monthly to provide you with the most opportunity to grow your business.
 
7. Investigate Venues for Fab Friday.  Because it is the fiduciary responsibility of the Board to make sure we are getting the most return for your dollars, continual investigation in the marketplace as to our venue had to be part of the discussion. Your Board determined and decided that for the remainder of 2011 through June 2013, Maggiano’s in Oak Brook will continue to be the host venue for our Fabulous Friday Meetings.
 
This is an exciting time for NSA-IL. Your 2010 - 2011 and your 2011-2012 Board of directors have taken an aggressive stance to make sure that we have a clear direction which will enhance the professional speaking industry in Illinois. We are very interested in your feedback and ideas to accelerate the position of NSA-IL in the market- which ultimately will lead to more paid speaking opportunities for you.

As your 2011-2012 President, I am available to you to discuss your ideas to make our Illinois Association the best in the country.  Please feel free to email me directly at brigid@brigidduffield.com.

May your speaking business rise to meet your talents. May your voice be always heard in the back of the room. May your message be clear and warm the hearts of those you have the privilege to speak to. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
 
Brigid A. Duffield President, 2011-2012 NSA-IL