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Like investing
in a college education, a new car or a mutual fund, the money your organization
invests in hiring professional speakers for conferences and trainings
is a hefty one—in dollars, in time and in what you expect in return.
In other words, it's critical to generate an EXpected and REspected
return on you investment.
To that
end, you'll find below seven methods for retaining the most value and
education from speakers at all levels, so you maximize your investments
and convert the dollar value of speakers into an increased "lifetime
value" of your association member or employees.
ONE:
Web Sites as Learning Centers.
Maximize your speaking budget by turning the World Wide Web into an
inexpensive, easy-access resource center for your employees and members.
Nearly any speaker—from the most thigh-slapping to the most didactic—uses
material that lends itself to a Web posting. What better way to continue
learning fostered by a dynamic speaker than to post updates and "advanced"
members-only modules on your site? Moreover, participants whose schedules
or locations occasionally prevent their attendance at meetings are just
a few clicks away from receiving additional value for their time and
money spent. Posted modules can include bibliographies, new research
relevant to workshop topics and highly instructive participant-submitted
examples of how they are implementing principles taught by a trainer.
Your webmaster
or webmistress, and some speakers themselves, are often well-suited
to create the necessary files to make such material available on your
site.
TWO:
Creative Customization.
Most speakers are exceedingly willing to provide the most customized
program possible to enhance participants' experience. The hallmark of
a truly relevant, effective educational program is the extent to which
it directly meets personalized needs. To ensure high levels of pertinence,
provide speakers with as much information about your organization as
possible, such as newsletters, annual reports, histories and publicity
materials. Ensure you understand each other's expectations, have a clear
set of established outcomes and that the speaker draws from your industry
when using examples and developing interactive exercises. Insist on
no "canned" speeches!
To further
customization and for the most positive outcome, plan a meeting or phone
consultation with the speaker soon after the booking, and touch
base a couple weeks before the engagement to eliminate potential surprises.
A final
suggestion for ensuring tailored content (and saving time) is to ask
the speaker to contact a few select attendees (or all attendees if practical)
well before the program to learn their concerns and needs. This also
gives the speaker an opportunity to network with participants, and may
itself be a large enough incentive to generate a lower speaking fee.
THREE:
Handouts That Get USED.
As you plan and consult with speakers, be sure they develop a customized
handout or workbook, even if you are offering a short program of two
hours or less. The most effective take-home materials allow participants
to review, relearn and revisit concepts long after the educational event,
and provide a tangible reminder of an otherwise ephemeral learning
experience. Speakers should also include in their agenda an action plan
for helping the audience implement concepts on the handouts. After all,
how many handouts and booklets have we received, only to find them years
later—buried in file cabinets??
FOUR:
Negotiation Savvy.
Except for death, taxes and stock market volatility, most everything
in life is negotiable. Speakers and trainers are interested in working
with you both to generate revenue and gain long-term exposure for their
products and consultation services. That's why the price a speaker initially
quotes is often negotiable. What, then, can you give speakers—at
low- or no-cost—in exchange for lower fees? Consider:
- The
chance to sell their books or other learning resources to your group,
singly after the engagement or with a group order
- Use
of your mailing or attendee list so they can remain in contact after
the engagement
- A second,
possibly more advanced, appearance at a future conference or training
session (see Item Seven for more details on this subject)
- The
opportunity to serve as a training or consulting resource to select
members and/or employees during the year.
- A referral
to a regional director of your branch office or to the Executive Director
of your national affiliate.
FIVE:
Money-Generating Certificate Programs for Associations
One common large-scale method for significantly boosting the value of
your association and maximizing your investment in speakers is to provide
a certificate program. Such partnerships are often arranged in conjunction
with a group of speakers or an educational entity with the resources
and time to customize and regularly run such an offering for your members.
While increasing the association's stature and services, certificate-program
alliances also boost the association's revenues, as often a portion
of each member's certification fee is paid back to the association in
exchange for making the offering available to its members.
The American
Society of Training and Development, for example, offers a Human Performance
Improvement certificate program, and the Society for Human Resource
Management makes available an HR Management certification.
SIX:
Well-Read Newsletter and Journal Articles.
A common—and often free—practice is to offer speakers the
chance to publish a pre-engagement article in your organization's newsletter
or journal as a way of introducing themselves and their topics to your
audience. To enhance the level of learning after the talk, consider
a follow-up article as well that summarizes and updates members on new
information related to the speaker's topic.
SEVEN:
Revenue-Generating "Premium" Training.
Offering advanced training programs can help your organization
better educate members and employees and be more competitive. Only when
participants are truly involved with material for at least a few hours
at a time does real education take place. So, if your mission and participants'
interests allow, consider offering an advanced training or seminar.
If the educational program is distinctive enough, you may find people
willing to pay a premium for such training. Once again, you can try
to negotiate a discounted fee with the speaker, as she is gaining more
business from your group than she would without the advanced course.
The American
Society of Association Executives, one of hundreds that provides premium
training, offers within its "Pathways" program a highly customizable
series of workshops for members based upon their distinct experience,
learning style and objectives within association management. Another
example: for its Principal and Principal-Affiliate members only, the
National Association of Industrial and Office Properties offers a range
of advanced programming, including a "Running a Private Real Estate
Company" seminar out of Harvard Design School.
Invest
wisely in your speakers—and enjoy increases in retention and your
bottom line.
Download
a printable version of this article.
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AMPLIFIED! Contact us to learn how:
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