Public Speaking Articles

Why I’m Still Happy with Dr. Willie Jolley CSP, CPAE

Willie shares why he’s still happy and helps you reflect upon your “why” of “Why I’m (Still) Happy.” He also sings a song that he wrote to lift the spirits of the world during COVID-19.

Why I’m (Still) Happy with Willie Jolley CSP, CPAE: a hall of fame speaker known for motivating and inspiring others to achieve more.

So gather your family around, share this video with friends and co-workers, and share on your social media channels. Pass this “Why I’m (Still) Happy” video along because everybody can use some happy. Join the “Why I’m (Still) Happy” movement by subscribing to this channel and making an inspiring comment of hope and appreciation below. #WhyImStillHappy #TogetherAtHome

Why are these people (still) happy during a pandemic?

Here at eSpeakers, we thought it would be nice to have a little break in the day to hear something that makes you feel good.

We talked to some of our friends (who happen to be the best motivating, inspiring speakers on the planet) to help us out with this project. Together, we’ve created a YouTube channel to share 5-10 minute stories that will make you laugh, give you hope, and encourage you to keep going during this tough time. Won’t that be a nice break?

Watch Jason Hewlett, CSP, CPAE explain why he’s (still) happy

On this YouTube channel, we’ll host live broadcasts on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 pm EST, as well as posting some pre-recorded videos. Just hit “subscribe” while you’re watching this video to be notified of the events and new videos when they’re up. Our hope is that these short, sincere thoughts from talented speakers will remind us of all the “whys” there are to be happy, no matter what else is going on around us.

GET YOUR FIRST 10 MINUTES OF HAPPY »

Our first video comes from Jason Hewlett, CSP, CPAE: a hall of fame speaker known for his heartfelt stories, musical talent, and crazy impressions. He shares a little incident he had with a dog that might make you think differently about your “why”.

So gather your family around, share this video with friends and co-workers and on your social media channels. Because everybody can use some happy.

#WhyImStillHappy #TogetherAtHome

Sincerely,

– Your friends at eSpeakers

Don’t cancel that meeting — speakers and experts can present virtually

All of us at eSpeakers want to send our best wishes to all of you in the meetings industry during this challenging time. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 virus spreading throughout the world, we are seeing event organizers postponing their events, moving events online or canceling their events altogether. These are unprecedented times in this industry!

Use a live virtual presenter to avoid canceling a meeting

Many event organizers with events happening through July are postponing, but many are moving them online. The eSpeakers Marketplace has many presenters on a wide range of topics and fees who are qualified to present live, on-screen for your virtual audience using a tool like Zoom or WebEx. Check out the new filter on the search screen of the eSpeakers Marketplace.

SEE OUR CATALOG OF SPEAKERS WHO PRESENT VIRTUALLY »

Many of our speakers and entertainers already have experience presenting virtually. This search functionality is currently live, and ready to provide you with solutions.

Keep your team motivated…safely

We also see an opportunity to improve organization morale with some of the amazing motivators we have who can present virtually. New work-from-home policies and social distancing are challenging for many employees, creating a more fragmented workforce and straining company morale. Bringing in a talented motivator can do wonders.

SEE EXPERTS WHO MOTIVATE VIRTUALLY »

One additional suggestion we have for you: we’ve seen some organizers who are naturally hesitant to sign on future bookings gain security by incorporating “epidemics and pandemics” into their Force Majeure terms. You might consider that as an added safety net in your next contract.

We’ve faced hard times in the past as an industry, and we’ve battled through them together. Here’s to brighter weeks and months ahead.

Sincerely,

Joseph Heaps & Dave Reed 
eSpeakers and Blackwood Talent & Entertainment

45 Event Terms That Every Planner Should Know

The event industry is growing fast. This is great news for planners, but it can still be stressful for your event planning business. Keeping up with  new industry terms and trends can be intimidating, but it’s essential if you want to show authority and gain trust from your clients and listeners.

With new trends come event planning industry terms and lingo that you need to know to be successful in your business. Beyond the buzzwords comes the tried and true terminology that every experienced planner knows, but someone new to the industry may be unaware.

Having a long list of event terms at your disposal, no matter how long you’ve been an event planner or speaker, can help you understand the in’s and out’s of the industry and encourage you to be a well-informed professional. This becomes especially critical when you’re pitching to new clients and meeting with collegues.

Canceled Speaker: What Do You Do If Your Speaker Canceled?

So you’ve spent months and months planning an event. It’s the biggest ever, you’ve pulled out all the stops and covered all your bases. You’ve planned for every single possible contingency. Especially the biggest one. But then, without warning, you find yourself dealing with a canceled speaker last minute.

A nightmare, right? You’ve printed all the programs and posters with that person’s face all over them. Attendees have bought tickets with the promise of hearing an awesome keynote speech from this particular speaker. And the—admittedly, rare—unthinkable has happened. One of the worst things that could happen, really. Your keynote speaker canceled and it feels like there’s no way to redeem yourself.

7 Tips to Save Money When You’re Planning an Event

Event planning has always been a tough industry. And now with our ever more competitive economy and smaller and smaller budgets, planning an event is more challenging than ever. 

Gone are the days of sky’s the limit budgets. Now, clients are expecting their planners to pull off the same events they always have but at greatly reduced budgets. 

Everyone is trying to save money. And if you want to succeed in today’s planning industry, this means you, too.

Celebrating 57 years of the “I Have A Dream Speech”

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
57 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most famous and influential speeches in American history. The “I Have a Dream” speech was effective not just for its words, but also for Dr. King’s impassioned delivery.

It represented the feelings of millions of people fighting for civil liberties. The speech, given by a lesser man in a lesser setting may not have earned the same attention. Dr. King knew if he were to truly help bring about change, he would need a speech and setting that would inspire. The March on Washington and “I Have a Dream” speech caught the attention of a nation, and brought it closer to the much-needed change.

eSpeakers believes in the power of great speeches like the “I Have a Dream” speech, and in great speakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. To honor his speech given 57 years ago, eSpeakers has created an infographic in commemoration of that great moment in American history. You can view the infographic below.

Click this link to see the full inspiring infographic:
Celebrating 57 years of the “I Have A Dream Speech” Infographic

To find great and inspiring speakers for your own event, consider searching eSpeakers Marketplace.

eSpeakers.com Launches Blackwood Talent & Entertainment To Connect Today’s Top Entertainment with the Events Industry through the Largest Directory of Talent.

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 22, 2019 — Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. That saying proves true within the entertainment industry, as indicated by the glowing success of Blackwood Talent & Entertainment’s recent launch of an entertainment industry-specific talent directory. As a division of eSpeakers.com, which has over 20 years of experience in the meetings industry, eSpeakers launched Blackwood Talent & Entertainment to serve entertainers and event organizers around the world. The new online talent directory, which launched on Sept. 10, 2019, at IMEX America in Las Vegas, helps event organizers target top talent for their meetings and events, including entertainers, comedians, musicians, celebrities, athletes, and more. Many entertainers have exclusive representation, but through partnerships with these agencies, Blackwood has made it possible for everyone to hire top talent. 

“Finding, connecting with, and hiring top entertainment online is a challenge for most event organizers, and that’s where our directory technology comes in to save the day,” says Joseph Heaps, Blackwood’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Through our innovative platform, we’re providing verified reviews that are vetted by past clients, collaborative tools that allow multiple event stakeholders to share feedback on potential entertainers, and a no-risk booking as Blackwood Talent & Entertainment works with entertainers who guarantee their work, or they get their money back.” 

This innovative online talent directory will feature stars such as Chris Rock, The Passing Zone, Aparna Nancherla, Sam Smith, Shelita Burke, Katy Perry, and Ellen DeGeneres. “It’s exciting to see event organizers connect and hire potential entertainment in this way, especially considering how difficult it is to connect with or even find out who represents them,” Heaps says. “Event organizers are tasked with executing a successful event, and we know that having the right entertainment on stage can engage the attendees and create a fun and exciting atmosphere. Our goal is to make finding, hiring, and paying the talent easy so they can focus on all the other aspects of the event.”

As the momentum behind finding and hiring entertainment online continues to grow, so does the company behind it. Blackwood Talent & Entertainment is a division of eSpeakers.com. eSpeakers.com is the largest online directory of speakers, trainers, authors, and consultants available online today. Online bookings for entertainment through this technology have surged over the last two years, necessitating the need for growth of a stand-alone branded directory.

For more information, visit http://www.blackwoodtalent.com

Blackwood Talent & Entertainment is a division of eSpeakers.com. With over 20 years of experience in the meetings industry, eSpeakers launched Blackwood Talent & Entertainment to serve entertainers and event organizers around the world. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, Blackwood Talent & Entertainment also has offices in Nashville, TN, and Newport Beach, CA. 

Media contact: 
Joseph Heaps
Chief Marketing Officer
Blackwood Talent & Entertainment
888-377-3214
jheaps@blackwoodtalent.com
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ICCA and eSpeakers.com collaborate on sharing top-quality educational content

7 August 2019

Amsterdam, Netherlands — ICCA is further strengthening its position as the global knowledge hub for international association meetings and attracting high-quality speakers to their events by partnering with eSpeakers, the leading online source of professional speakers for international meeting organizers.

Made up of a number of initiatives, this new collaboration will allow the International Congress and Convention Association to diversify and expand the educational possibilities available to its members at annual ICCA events and online via the ICCA Knowledge Hub, through access to eSpeakers’ expansive and diverse community of thought leaders and subject matter experts. 

eSpeakers will use their community’s resources to sponsor speakers for ICCA’s annual Congress and Association Meetings Programme, and in addition create a branded directory of ICCA faculty members within their Marketplace, the largest directory of professional speakers available on the web. Designed to help meetings professionals to hire speakers directly through the eSpeakers platform, event planners can use the directory to find and filter appropriate speakers by subject, budget, language and other customizable criteria.

“This partnership has been born out of our desire to continue to provide top-quality, high-end educational content to our global membership, the leading suppliers to the international meetings industry. When our members attend ICCA events, they expect high-quality speakers and unique education sessions that keep them up-to-date with the latest developments in the constantly-evolving and expanding international association meetings industry – the kind of education they would not receive at any other industry meeting,” said Senthil Gopinath, Chief Executive Officer, ICCA

“Collaborating with eSpeakers allows us to rise to this challenge. By providing us with access to a broader range of subject matter experts and speakers, we will be able to persist with tailoring our educational offerings to our members’ expectations and address the meetings industry’s hardest-hitting topics.”

ICCA and eSpeakers collaboration on educational content at ICCA events will also enhance ICCA’s online channels as part of this new partnership, with speakers on various topics appearing alongside relevant expert content in ICCA’s Knowledge Hub.

Gopinath added: “As part of ICCA’s mission to be the global community and knowledge hub for the international association meetings industry, we are developing our online Knowledge Hub to unlock the expertise of our global community of meeting suppliers and association meeting planners. This online platform currently offers expert blog posts and white papers on specialized association meeting topics, and this new collaboration with eSpeakers allows us to expand the resources available by adding links to relevant ICCA verified expert-speakers while offering a new platform for ICCA members to share their expertise.”

In addition, this new partnership makes ICCA Members eligible to be listed in eSpeakers’ ICCA-branded directory on the eSpeakers Marketplace. This opportunity offers the global meetings industry trade association’s member-suppliers an official platform to be hired as professional speakers according to their topic of expertise and also allows eSpeakers access to the renowned expertise of ICCA’s global membership. ICCA will, therefore, provide eSpeakers with the world’s best range of subject matter experts in all fields related to international meetings, whose expertise is verified by ICCA’s stringent speaker guidelines.

“We’re excited to be partnering with ICCA by rolling out this new education platform and providing a worldwide directory of subject matter experts and speakers that will be perfect for their meetings. We know that hiring the right speaker for an audience can be an important key to the success of the meeting.” Joseph Heaps, Chief Marketing Officer for eSpeakers

Joanne Joham, Regional Director North America, ICCA said: “We are so proud to have eSpeakers join the North America Chapter of ICCA and are convinced that this relationship will benefit all ICCA Members and enhance the educational offerings of ICCA on a global basis.”

The first speaker to join an ICCA event through eSpeakers’ and ICCA’s new partnership will be Scott Parazynski, former NASA astronaut and the first man to have both flown in space and reached the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Parazynski will be speaking at the 58th ICCA Congress, which is taking place in Houston, U.S.A. from 27-30 October 2019.

To find out more about the 58th ICCA Congress, please visit www.congress2019.iccaworld.org

About ICCA

The global community and knowledge hub for the international association meetings industry

ICCA (The International Congress and Convention Association) represents the world’s leading suppliers in handling, transporting and accommodating international meetings and events, and now comprises over 1,100-member companies and organizations in almost 100 countries worldwide. ICCA has specialized in the international association meetings sector since its establishment 55 years ago, offering unrivaled data, communication channels, and business development opportunities.

ICCA members represent the top destinations worldwide and the most experienced specialist, suppliers. International meeting planners can rely on the ICCA network to find solutions for all their event objectives, such as venue selection; technical and strategic advice; assistance with delegate transportation; full convention planning or ad hoc services.

For more information, please contact:

Rebecca Hogg, Marketing & Content Executive,Rebecca.h@iccaworld.org+31 20 398 1912

About eSpeakers

Where The Speaking Industry Does Business On The Web.

eSpeakers.com is a 20-year-old technology and marketing company providing the speaking industry with the tools to do business online. eSpeakers has the largest directory of professional presenters available online and believes that the right speaker in front of the right audience can bring real change. eSpeakers Marketplace is the spot where people who hire speakers access a huge catalog of the best speakers in the world, find the perfect match for their event, connect with the speaker, and hire them — all in a safe environment that takes the risk out of such a significant investment.

Joseph Heaps, Chief Marketing Officer, jheaps@espeakers.com,+1 888-377-3214


“Teamwork: The Best Team Always Wins…The 6 Traits of High Performing Teams”

It’s National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, read what Walter Bond says about “Teamwork: The Best Team Always Wins…The 6 Traits of High Performing Teams” that you can be applied to your life. Teamwork: The Best Team Always Wins…The 6 Traits of High Performing Teams In sports and in business we all have to compete and work together as a team to win. There are bad teams, good teams, and championship teams…everyone wants to win but sometimes just don’t know-how. Winning teams are built one layer at a time. How do you take a group of individuals and make them work together for the greater good of the organization? Great teamwork is most about great team building. Trust, Communication, Chemistry, Commitment, Accountability, and Common Goals are just a few of the topics that Walter teaches in order to make your team stand tall and WIN.

Click here to understand the great messages Walter has to offer your organization.

https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/speaker/profile/1979/walter-bond