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• THE SPRING 2019 SPEAKERS ACADEMY PROGRAM

  • Start
    March 09, 2019
  •  
  • End
    April 27, 2019
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    Northern Illinois University Naperville, 1120 E. Diehl Road, Naperville, Illinois 60563

  Registration is closed

  Each session contains essential information, ranging from improving platform skills to marketing and running your business. Participants will get the tools they need to succeed as professional speakers.

  
  

  All sessions are held on Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. in Room 164 at Northern Illinois University Naperville, 1120 E. Diehl Road, Naperville.
  

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• WEBINAR: WRITE THAT BOOK with The Chunky Method

  • When
    April 16, 2019
  •  
    7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Location
    ZOOM link will be sent in Registration Confirmation

  Register

  You know a book would take your career to new levels. But with all the demands on a speaker's time, how do you find time to write one? Have you been chipping away at the same manuscript forever without much progress? Do you need a system that can get you to completion with success and satisfaction? Wrangling a fickle muse to meet a deadline—or just to get rid of that looming blank page—is a life-skill for every speaker who wants the advantages being an author can bring.

  Allie Pleiter, the bestselling author of over 40 books, shares the nuts and bolts of how to manage your writing muse. You'll learn how to set goals and deadlines that reflect your personal writing style and speed--and smart ways to get faster when you need it. 

  Join the thousands of other writers who have mastered the writing process using Pleiter's popular Chunky Method. With a useful mix of the practical, the inspirational, and the nitty-gritty real life of it all, this workshop gives busy speakers the tools they need to make the writing magic happen.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzSlJ7g22Fs&feature=youtu.be
  

  What others have said about The Chunky Method Workshop:
  

  Implementing the Chunky Method has charged my writing with confidence, quadrupled my productivity, organized my days, and enhanced my enjoyment of life. Allie is my hero! — Linda H.

  "I was overwhelmed, but now I feel fantastic” — Michelle S.

  I feel empowered. I feel much more in control of the process now. I feel good that I have a plan and schedule that work with me. I feel like I am going to achieve success, and in a timely manner instead of a scattered one. Thank you again for some of the most valuable, and applicable information I've received in over fourteen years of conferences and online classes.” — Becki

  

  About the Presenter. 

  Allie Pleiter

  Award-winning bestselling author Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction working on as many as four books at a time. She teaches creative people how to be consistently, dependably productive while teaching high-performing professionals how to create the vital content today’s marketing requires. The author of over 40 published titles, Allie has spent a decade in the publishing profession with over 1.4 million books sold worldwide. In addition to her own writing career, Allie maintains an active writing productivity coaching practice and speaks regularly on faith, the creative process, women’s issues, and hervery favorite topic—The Chunky Method of time management. Visit her website at www.alliepleiter.com to learn more.

  

  
  

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• How To Collaborate With Speakers Bureaus & Meeting Planners to Grow Your Business Faster

  • When
    May 10, 2019
  •  
    8:30 AM - 11:45 AM
  • Location
    To Be Announced

  Register

  Finding a speakers’ bureau to represent you or a meeting planner to hire you can be an ambiguous process. How do you get their attention? How do you keep their attention long enough to get speaking gigs? Those questions and more will be answered at this event.

  This event will demystify the process and feature industry leaders from both sectors. This is a unique look behind the scenes of the hiring sections of the speaking industry. You’ll learn how to create collaboration partners and learn about creating collateral, when and how to raise your rates and more.

  The format will be unique; the event will feature fireside chats with the experts instead of presentations. The audience will be involved with the conversations throughout the event.

  You can expect to learn:

  • ·       The biggest mistakes speakers make when approaching speakers’ bureaus and how to avoid them.
  • ·       How to collaborate and form relationships with meeting planners by adding value instead of just creating one-off transactions.
  • ·       How to get more speaking gigs by creating a narrow focus with less offerings.
  • ·       How the selection process for speakers’ bureaus and meeting planners works and how to leverage that knowledge to get bookings.
  • ·       Answers to your specific questions that you can ask at the event.
  • .     How to make yourself more attractive to speakers bureaus and meeting planners

  
  

  About the Experts.

  

  Mark J. Carter (Moderator)

  Mark has 15+ years’ experience in the Chicago events industry. He was a member of Meeting Professionals International, Chicagoland – the world’s largest chapter at that time - where he served as the Marketing Co-Chair, Director of Marketing and eventually Vice President of Marketing. While with MPI he also booked top level speakers for their conferences and managed negotiations for the speakers.

  Mark has a passion for helping speakers and authors. A couple of his favorite projects in those worlds were running book launches and tours for New York Times Bestselling Business authors and building a conference with the founder of TED where he managed logistics for 50 world class speakers.

  Outside of the event space Mark follows his other passion, mentoring. He recently launched the inaugural mentoring program for Loyola University’s Business School and is currently launching one for Columbia University’s Career Design Lab in New York.  He connects the two worlds by bringing in speakers and experts as mentors in video interviews, podcasts and events.

  Teri Jordan, CAE, CMP

  Teri Jordan is currently the Chief Meetings and Education Officer for the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, where she oversees professional education and conference management, patient education, and industry relations.  She began her career in hotels and has held positions in convention services, catering and sales—perfect for transitioning into association meeting planning.  Teri has held positions of increasing responsibility and scope mainly in healthcare associations. She has managed both domestic and international meetings.  She has worked with Presidents, Nobel Laureates, opera singers and ex-convicts, plus a wonderful variety of members and attendees throughout her career.  She’s been able to practice performing surgery using a DaVinci robot and she has managed tours to Three Mile Island.  And, she’s worked with speakers, which is why she’s here today.

  Teri has served as President of the Greater Midwest Chapter of the Professional Convention Management Association;  on the Board of Directors of PCMA and as a Trustee on PCMA’s Foundation Board.  In 2007 she was named PCMA’s Distinguished Planner of the Year.  She currently serves on PCMA’s Medical Meetings Task Force and the Honors and Awards Committee of the Association Forum of Chicago.

  Don Jenkins, Vice President – National Speakers Bureau, A division of Premiere Speakers.

  Don is a 20 year veteran of the meetings and speakers bureau industry who serves as an advisor and consultant to clients looking to enhance the meeting experience through the effective use of education, program content and design and public speakers.  He has also been a consultant to aspiring speakers who want to know more about the business side of the speaking industry. 

  Before coming to National Speakers Bureau, he worked in operations management, wholesale distribution, and had an eight year stint in the Marine Corps, where he focused on American Embassy security (and met his wife in Finland).

  He has been an active member of Professional Convention Management Association since 2001 participating on committees, boards, task forces and community events at both the chapter and national levels. He is a contributing author to Professional Meeting Management (PMM ) 5^th Edition and a Greater Midwest Chapter Pillar Award Recipient. 

  He enjoys spending time with his wife Aster, who is way to pretty for him, his daughter Sonja, who is way too cool for him, and a close community of friends in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

  Schedule:

  8:30 – 9:00 am: Registration/Networking (Continental Breakfast)
  9:00 - 9:20  am: Opening Remarks & Member Introductions
  9:20 – 11:45 am: Fireside Chat

  12:00 - 1:00 pm: Bonus Session for NSA Illinois Members Only

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• Hosting Big Events with Big Sponsors

  • When
    June 14, 2019
  •  
    8:30 AM - 11:45 AM
  • Location
    TBD

  Register

  Hosting Big Events with Big Sponsors.

  Ever wanted to produce your own event, but weren't sure how to do it? Join Ramon Ray, author, event host, speaker and entrepreneur as he shares his journey in producing 300+ person events with big name sponsors for the past 13 years.

  Producing an event is a powerful way to build your personal brand, strengthen your credibility and generate sales through sponsorships, ticket sales and products sales.

  Ramon has produced dozens of successful events, and will share his tips, strategies and insights on how to do it right. This session will help you organize a small event, with 10 people, but it's especially ideal for those wishing to produce an event with 100 - 200 or more attendees.

  During Ramon's session you'll learn:

  1. How to approach large companies for sponsorship

  2. Ways to market your event, on a very small budget

  3.  Insights on creating an agenda that attracts attention

  4. The team you need in place to staff a successful event

  5. Why a website is so important for event marketing

  and more.

  
  

  
  

  About the Presenter: Ramon Ray

  Ramon Ray loves burnt pancakes, bacon and eggs. He is also a four-time entrepreneur, best-selling author, global speaker and event producer. Ramon sold one of the company's he founded, his third book was a best-seller, and he's in the process of writing his fourth book "Celebrity CEO". 

  Ramon is the founder  SmallBizTechnology.com and Smart Hustle Magazine - two leading resources for all things small business startup and growth. Ramon has been invited as an expert witness to the United States Congress, invited by the Office of the President of the United States to speak at the White House on personal branding and produced many events including the "Smart Hustle Small Business Conference", "Small Business Summit", "Small Business Technology Tour", "Small Biz Big Things" and more. Get to know Ramon better at http://www.ramonray.com

  Ramon has shared the stage with Seth Godin, Daymond John, Guy Kawasaki, Simon Sinek, Gary Vaynerchuk. He's interviewed many of the sharks and contestants on Shark Tank and other celebrity entrepreneurs. He's interviewed President Obama in the President's first live Google Hangout, and was part of the US Delegation to India, led by Ivanka Trump for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Although Ramon has interviewed and shared the stage with many celebrity entrepreneurs, his passion and biggest professional accomplishment is interviewing "main street" small business owners and entrepreneurs and sharing their stories. Ramon is not just an ivory tower geek, but as a former technology consultant, he has hands-on experience in a variety of technologies including social media, mobile computing, computer networks, online software and more. 

  Ramon’s expertise is technology, marketing, sales, business startup and growth and his favorite is personal branding. Over his extensive career, Ramon has written thousands of articles, spoken to thousands of business owners and impacted hundreds of thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs to help their businesses thrive.

  

  Schedule:

  8:30 – 9:00 am: Registration/Networking (Continental Breakfast)
  9:00 - 9:20  am: Opening Remarks & Member Introductions
  9:20 – 11:45 am:  Ramon Ray's Presentation

  12:00 - 1:00 pm:  Ramon Ray's Bonus Session for NSA Illinois Members Only

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