Most international groupings such as MSI encourage their members to communicate electronically - but also recognise the significant value that should be attached to personal contact. As a result, we all run a series of conferences and meetings around the world to enable members to get to know one another better, to share common experiences and to learn from a variety of speakers.
For those of us running such groupings, identifying the right speakers for meetings, particularly in more remote locations, can be difficult. In very simple terms, you either take a risk with a local and perhaps unproven speaker, or you pay a great deal of money to bring in a known 'name'.
At MSI, we have been down both routes ... and an interesting trend is beginning to emerge. Paying large fees to well-known speakers does NOT always guarantee you the quality of presentation that you might expect. Too often, those who trek round the conference circuit simply regurgitate a talk that they have given many times before, not always even remembering to bring their presentation up to date or to make it relevant to the audience in question.
On the other hand, there are a number of new speakers and consultants who are hungry and passionate both about their subject, and also about enhancing their reputation. They tend to be well prepared, committed, animated and fun. They may not be a great crowd puller on your conference flyer - but they certainly deliver the goods. And if, as an organisation, you build a reputation for attracting good, albeit unknown speakers, delegates will come back year after year.
At our recent conference in Beijing, we had an unfortunate experience with a speaker who clearly fell into the first category. The feedback from delegates was not good. All attempts at follow up with him have been ignored. Short-sighted, I would suggest.
How do groupings of professional firms identify good speakers? Well, we often ask one another about our experiences in different parts of the world. Some speakers do very well from this, particularly those that listen to the briefing before the event and then take on board the feedback afterwards. Those that don't have the courtesy to even acknowledge a post-conference e-mail will struggle to prosper.
If you are planning a conference in South East Asia, just let me know ...
James Mendelssohn
(jmendelssohn@msiglobal.org)
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