Speakers' Academy Information Center

You will attend the Chapter meeting from 8:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m., and Academy Only sessions from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for a full day of the best, clear and concise tips and tools to start or enhance your speaking/writing career!

Welcome to the Speakers’ Academy Information Center!
 
I'm Beth Ramsay, the Dean of NSA-Central Florida's Speakers’ Academy for 2009-2010, and want to ask you a few questions:

What if you could be a part of an elite group that would be with you while your career blossomed? Would you be willing to put forth a little effort? Would you be willing to reap the benefits?

“I am so proud to be a part of this incredible group!  They keep me motivated and inspired.  This Academy has been a wonderful growth experience!”  - Sandy Mullen, 2008-09 class

The NSA-CF Speakers Academy isn't just a foot in the door; it's a hand up, a mentor, a mini-mastermind, your own private network, a training class, a practice session, and the key to building your speaking business to where you want it to be.

“The NSA Speaker’s Academy changed my business. It actually helped me create my business from the ground up. Before the Academy, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a professional speaker. I did not have a company name, a website, an elevator speech, a book, a video and a DVD for sale. The Academy helped me reach all of these business goals.  Also, through networking at the meetings, I was able to get my first paid speaking gig. I would recommend the Academy to anyone who loves to talk to an audience and has toyed with the idea of doing it as a career.” - Karen Card, Relationship Coach, Speaker, Author, 2007-08 class

Whether you are a beginning speaker or a moderately busy speaker who would like to take your career to that next level, the Speakers Academy is for you!  Listed below are some of the many learning benefits of the curriculum:

• National Speakers Association: Who we are and why this link is the key to your success
• Getting the “GPS” to map a successful Academy experience, and off to a successful career!
• Creating a fast start for your speaking business:  Cut through the information jungle and blast through your learning curve
• How to successfully answer “So what do you speak on?” or “What do you do?” and close the deal
• Learn how to secure the clients that you want, and maintain the customers you have once you have them
• The business side of the business: how to build your roadmap for a powerful business model
• Tools and techniques to reach out and make those connections with your audience
• How to build a presentation that connects with your audience and the mechanics behind the most impacting presentations
• Making internet marketing work for you:  decipher the internet jungle and make it work to your advantage
• How to successfully use PR and media:  harness the power of public relations and the media from those who do it for a living
• Prepare to make your sales pitch: getting to the decision makers
• Creating a marketing plan:  it’s your “yellow brick road” that gets you to the Wizard!
• Product development:  how to create multiple, passive income streams to add to your bottom line
• Working with meeting planners and bureaus – how to and when do you know you’re ready?
• How to effectively use humor, props and platform mechanics to put that razzle-dazzle in your presentation.
• … and we’re just getting started!

Six Ways to Get Started Today!

1. Check Out the “Press Room” page on our web site. Here you will find Articles you can use to spark your imagination, structure your back-office, and refine your approach to the speaking business.



2. Check Out the “Find A Speaker”page on our web site, and click on the “Topic” tab. Here you will see that we have a variety of experts in our Chapter who speak on the very things you may need to gain insight on. Use the contact information to get their websites. Often our members put tools, tips, links and advice right on their site, specific to their subject matter expertise. It is like having a virtual library just in time for the topic with which you need help.



3. Check Out the “Links and Resource” page on web site and click on “Resources for Speakers”. Here you will find templates you can download to get organized in your office and with your clients.



4. Come to the Meetings! You can register right now for the next meeting, by going to our Online Store. What you should expect to get from the meeting is practical, real-world advice from people in the field who know what they are talking about – because it is working for them. If you come with a pad of paper and a pen and take notes, you will leave with valuable information you can use to improve your speaking business.



5. Become a Professional Member or a Chapter Associate, and gain access to the Lending Library. One advantage of being a Professional Member or a Chapter Associate is having access to our Learning Library. Our Chapter ensures that we have on hand, a comprehensive collection of recordings of all presentations at the National Convention each year. The CD’s date from 2002 all the way up to the present. This valuable benefit allows you to check out a collection of CD’s to listen and learn from each month.



6. Register for the Speakers’ Academy through our online store, fill out an application in Microsoft Word format, or an application in PDF format and e-mail it to us at dean@nsacentralflorida.com.

Welcome! We look forward to the opportunity of supporting you throughour Speakers’ Academy, and throughout your professional speaker career.

What is the NSA-Central Florida Speakers' Academy?

What if you could be a part of an elite group that would be with you while your career blossomed? Would you be willing to put forth a little effort? Would you be willing to reap the benefits?

Whether you are a beginning speaker, a moderately busy speaker, or the speaker who travels the globe selectively choosing clients from the many requests, wouldn't you like to take your career to that next level? Listed are a few of the many benefits of the Speakers’ Academy:

~ Learn how to get the clients that you want.
~ Get a grasp on the power of your speaking voice and the damage you may be doing to it.
~ Learn how to keep the customers you have once you have them.
~ Practice new topic formulation and development with your own private brainstorming session.
~ Learn how to negotiate a better fee and wiggle out of tight budget objections.
~ Market yourself to market over and over and over again AND on the Internet.
~ Learn how to run a business out of your office, or your closet, in an organized, professional manner.

The NSA-CF Speakers’ Academy isn't just a foot in the door; it's a hand up, a mentor, a mini-mastermind, your own private network, a training class, a practice session, and the key to building your speaking business to the level you desire.

The Curriculum Includes:

The listing below is simply a snapshot of a Sample Curriculum, focused on helping you develop in each of the 4 NSA Competencies.  While the 2009-2010 Curriculum is not fully completed as yet, if you wish to see the detailed 2008-2009 plan and schedule, please click here. 

We are proud of the value our Academy can bring to your speaking career.  By checking out the current year’s plan we think you too will see the value ahead.

Expertise

• Positioning & Branding: Identifying Your Market Position and Developing Your Brand
• Identifying Your Features & Benefits – How to Build Your Business in One Minute or Less
• From Flyers to Evaluations – Creating Profitable One Sheets
• How to Strategically Plan Your Business as a Professional Speaker
• Speak + Record + Post = Profit; Live product creation workshop
• Working through the logistics of creating Videos, CD’s, Packaging, Storage and Shipping
• Interactive Research: Getting to the Decision-Makers Who Need What You’ve Got
• Preparing for the NSA Platform

Enterprise

• The Reality of Running A Business – Understanding the Financials of Your Business
• Preparing to Make Your Sales – Planning For, Pitching To and Managing Your clients
• Generational Product Development: How to create Generational Revenue Streams from 1 Main Source.
• Whole Brain Prospecting & Marketing – Do you Speak the Way they Think?
• How to Plan for 60 Days of Marketing
• PR and Promotions – What articles and agents can do for you
• Writing and Submitting Your Articles: How to Test your Topics and Get Them In the Editors Door
• Setting Up Your Shop: Tips, Templates and Other Resources That Will Save You Time and Effort
• Marketing Material Show US and We’ll Tell You What Your Prospects Might Think

Eloquence

• Presenting Your Personal Image by Putting your Best Foot Forward
• Creating An Effective Presentation: How to Create an Engaging Presentation for All Your Audience Members
• Stand and Deliver Workshops: 60 seconds of Feedback That Could Change the Way You Deliver

Ethics

• Managing Your Head While Running the Biz
• Getting to the Heart of What you do through Training?  Writing? Coaching? Speaking?  Consulting?

Please address any questions to our 2009-2010 Academy Dean, Beth Ramsay.
Phone: 239-851-2577
E-mail: dean@nsacentralflorida.com or Beth@BethMRamsay.com

Let's get you going toward that next level!

Academy Location and Directions

The Speakers’ Academy will meet at:
Crowne Plaza Tampa East
10221 Princess Palm Avenue
Tampa, FL 33610
813-623-6363

Located off I-75 at MLK Blvd.
From I-75 N, exit 260b, over bridge, hotel on left inside business park.
From I-75 S, exit 260, bear right, immediate left into business park and hotel.