Welcome to the Speaker’s Academy Information Center!
 

I’m Ken Donaldson, the Dean of NSA-Central Florida's Speakers’ Academy for 2012-2013, and it is my pleasure to serve you.

I want to ask you a few of questions…

Do you have the desire to make a difference in someone’s life?

Do you have the desire to make a difference in YOUR life?

Do you want to become a Professional Speaker?

The Speakers Academy is an opportunity for you to accelerate the learning curve to becoming a successful Professional Speaker.

 Learning opportunities…

• National Speakers Association: Who we are and why this link is the key to your success
• Chart your own course for speaking success based on your unique goals and aspirations
• Develop the four core competencies of the professional speaker
• Gain powerful and practical insights from professional speakers who are practicing what you are learning
• Learn how to adapt your speaking skills to the strong currents of change dominating the speaking and training environment
• Build lasting relationships with other Academy attendees, NSA Chapter members, and guest speakers.

 

Need a reason to attend the NSA-CF Speaker’s Academy?
Take a look at what the graduating class of 2010-2011 had to say…

Focus…the Academy helped me get more focused… I have a much better idea who I am, where I’m going, what (specifically) I’m targeting and why I’m doing it all.
- Ken Donaldson

Confidence - that is what the academy experience gave me…now I have the legs to walk and do my own thing.
- Wenda Trunzo

It was amazing! Too much to take in. I learned a great deal, but most importantly, I learned what I didn't know about this business. Long story short, it's been a great experience and I've no doubt the academy cut months, maybe years, off my learning curve. Well done! If anyone is sitting on the fence, please feel free to have them contact me directly. I'm sold.
- Michael Cooper

Forming friendships and building our networks through the last year has been a tremendous benefit! The information shared by the presenters to the Academy was excellent and immediately usable. It helped to make me memorable and got several people to come to the next workshop! The academy was a great experience! One I would gladly do again!
- Lori Stephens

The Academy has helped prepare me to start living life as a speaker. Selphenia Nichols-Simmons It is difficult to pick one thing out of the academy, but for me a turning point was during our presentation by Chris Clark Epstein…Chris read what I wrote and circled one phrase and said "This is great and is the whole philosophy behind your compassion research". I was floored, but she was right. That phrase transformed everything having to do with my research and topic of "The ROI of Compassion". What a valuable experience and the Academy provided many more than that!
- Lisa Murfield

1. Check Out the “Member Articles” 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 CDs date from 2002 all the way up to the present. This valuable benefit allows you to check out a collection of CDs 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 Ken@KenDonaldson.com.

Welcome! We look forward to the opportunity of supporting you through our Speaker’s Academy, and throughout your professional speaker career.

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 Speaker’s 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 Speaker’s 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 listing below is simply a snapshot of a Sample Curriculum, focused on helping you develop in each of the 4 NSA Competencies. While the 2012-2013 Curriculum is not fully completed as yet, if you wish to see the Stars of the Academy Faculty who participated in one of our previous Academy schedules, 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 2012-2013 Academy Dean,
Ken Donaldson, LMHC at
Ken@KenDonaldson.com or 727-394-7325             

 

Academy Location and Directions

The Speaker’s 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.