President's Message
by Rich Gibbons
RGibbons@SpeakInc.com

America’s sub-prime debt debacle has sent ripples of financial turbulence all over the globe.  One is hard pressed to find a news source that isn’t saturated with more and more depressing news about the whole mess.

Turbulent global markets and doom-and-gloom news can sometimes send our corporate market, like a turtle pulling its head inside the shell, into meeting budget austerity mode.  Our service and product can be one of the first things to be cut when corporations feel the financial squeeze.

Now more than ever, our service can demonstrate how truly valuable programming can offer a tremendous return on investment for our customers. Sessions that move thinking and introduce new, effective tools to an audience can make these respective businesses more competitive and resilient during challenging times.

Ours is a terrific industry.  Through speakers who lend unique and expert perspectives, we can help our customers combat tough times and capitalize during the good times.

Speaking of unique and expert perspectives, they will be plentiful at our upcoming convention with our keynote and breakout session speakers and panellists.  Join us in Chicago in April and sharpen your tools!

See you there.

.....

Membership News /
Please Welcome Our Newest Members

Celebrity Speakers Australia
Mr. David Maher
Sydney NSW Australia
612 9251 1333
david@celebrityspeakers.com.au
www.celebrityspeakers.com.au

Promenade Marketing
Mr. Michael Taubleb
Brooklyn, NY
718-789-1136
mtaubleb@promenadespeakers.com
www.promenadespeakers.com

.....

2008 CONVENTION:
Relate - Innovate - Perform!
Program Confirmations
By: Marcia & Darlene Snow,
Blue Feather Management
2008 IASB Convention Co-Chairs

In just a few short weeks we’ll all be packing our bags and heading to the windy city of Chicago for our 22nd Annual IASB Convention!

As we put the finishing touches on our program and connect with our presenters, we are excited that each will remain focused on our 2008 theme “INNOVATE – RELATE - PERFORM.” The combined talent of our keynoters will blow you away with their innovative thinking, the Global session is all about building our international relationships, the Ethics session for ethically handling ALL of our business relationships, and the Technology session will power our performance with the ever rapid speed of technology.

One of the primary reasons we all attend this convention is to network with each other. The Profile Book of our attendees, which was initiated last year, will be included again in your registration packet onsite. It remains a great way to put names with faces as you work the room and meet new friends.

And, of course, there will be plenty of FUN! Tim and Kris O’Shea will rock the house with their special convention coverage, The Blue Man Group is nothing short of an amazing experience, and Ross Shafer as our banquet host, will keep us energized and entertained.

On a side note – here’s suggested conference ATTIRE: Business casual for the meetings is perfect (perhaps a sweater or jacket to accommodate room temperature changes), casual attire for Blue Man Group (they even recommend jeans and tennis shoes), and cocktail attire for the banquet.

We are truly excited and look forward to seeing each of you in Chicago. Be ready to INNOVATE – RELATE - PERFORM.

Marcia Snow, Blue Feather Management 2008 IASB Convention Co-Chair

....

Speakers Bureau 2.0
By 2008 Convention Speaker
Scott Klososky

Technology has radically altered the business models in a number of industries over the last 10 years. Witness the changes in the travel agent business, the music industry, and news services. Each of these is undergoing a massive shift in how money is made and who makes it. For example, Expedia, Apple, and MSN respectively, in each case technology companies are now crowding out the traditional operations for revenue. The Speaker industry is about to enter a phase where technology will radically alter the players. When visionary thinkers risk pointing this out to the current participants, there is a natural backlash as people that have much of their lives and fortunes tied to a current model go to a place of fear and disbelief. In some cases, early pioneers that have not seen success yet will also join the chorus of people that say the change will not come, only because they have not seen it yet. Predicting when the line between the 1.0 reality today and the 2.0 future will be crossed is difficult. Predicting that it will absolutely happen is not a challenge.

What the 2.0 version of the industry will look like, and what the technologies will be that drive that change is subject of the talk I am going to give at the IASB conference this year. I have had a year to contemplate the future of the industry and will be showing live examples of how Second Life can be used to simulcast events, what the back office of a bureau will look like in the future, and how the marketing of speakers will never be the same. As always, I will show the 10 most interesting Websites that bureaus need to be aware of this year.

In addition, we will be reviewing the work of the IASB Technology Committee so that we can gather input on some of the industry standards we would like to implement in the hopes of helping everyone’s business. This is not a discussion you want to be left out of – I promise…

....

Who is Exclusive and
Who is not?
by Jim Montoya, CAE
IASB Executive Vice President

Sometimes there is confusion as to what speakers have exclusive contracts and which ones no longer have exclusive contracts. The NEW IASB Speaker Directory will help in sorting out that dilemma, but it will not be fool-proof.

If any member finds that a speaker is perceived as being exclusive and in reality is not, please let me know and we’ll publish the information in Bureau Talk. It has been brought to our attention that Steve Garvey does not have an exclusive contract and may be contacted at Garvey Media Group, 760-969-2104 or garveymediagroup@aol.com.

....

Membership Renewals Due July 1st

Shortly after the IASB Convention, membership renewal invoices will be mailed to IASB member bureaus. Dues payments will be due on July 1, 2008. This is important information as dues are now $600 per year. However, if payment is received by Tuesday, July 1, 2008, there is a $100 discount making the dues for the bureau $500. Dues received after July 1, 2008, are $600.

The IASB Board prefers dues to be paid by check. However, members may pay their dues with a VISA, MasterCard or American Express credit card. It is asked that credit card payments be made either by fax or by phone as using email is not secure.

....

HOW DO GOOD COMPANIES
GET TO BE GREAT?
by JB Symons, Ph.D.

Have you ever hired someone that did not live up to your expectations?

Jim Collins, in his very popular book, Good To Great, writes about getting the right people on the bus, putting the right people in the right seat and then driving the bus to the right destination. Collins then spends several chapters on each of the above tasks, but most of the book focuses on the “right” people including the use of assessments. So let’s take a look at some assessment tools and their proper use.

When you Google “assessments” you will get more than 2.8 million hits in the search engine. At least 80% of these assessments are what is referred to as 4-quadrant type tools and the most familiar of these are the DISC assessment and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Four-quadrant assessments are all “behavioral” assessments. That means they evaluate how one behaves under certain conditions, such as a Driver, Initiator, Sociable or Conscientious (analytical). Four-quadrants do not assess personality (the source of behavior) and can be very fake-able depending on how well they are constructed.

Psychologists have known for over 60 years that the most important element of matching people to jobs is the candidate’s ability to learn the job. That means there should be some assessments of a person’s thinking or cognitive abilities. (The use of an IQ test for hiring is against the law.)

One additional valuable component to getting the right person on your bus is knowing that the candidate in actually interested in the job or career. Just because I am a good cook and like to cook, does not mean I want a career as a cook or chef.

IASB is sponsoring a project that will help its membership find and keep the right people. We are assessing a sample of top performing bureau sales people and creating a “Success Pattern” that can show us all of the key factors I have outlined above: Thinking or Cognition, Personality (not just behavior) and Interest factors. Lead To Great is happy and proud to be working with the IASB team to develop this powerful information for its membership and assist you in getting those right people for your bus.

Dr. Symons is the president of
Lead To Great…..www.leadtogreat.com