Spring has arrived, and when the weather improves, people’s mood improves and our inbox is flooded again with applications for new speakers. We are not going to encourage that flood. We spend most of our time in getting new assignments for our existing speakers, and have a part-time job in refusing aspiring new speakers at the China Speakers Bureau.
We have developed a set of stringent criteria, so we can save time, our time and your time, and the time of potential clients. What are the basic barriers for entering the China Speakers Bureau as a speaker?
First, you need to be a speaker. If you want to become a speaker, please do not try us. We can help existing speakers to improve their business, we can not turn you into a speaker. On top of that, you need to be a speaker on China. Unlike most other agencies, we deal with China as a subject. Right, our speakers do end up speaking in China now and then, but our clients are mostly from outside China.
Second, as a speakers’ bureau we make a living from a percentage of the speakers’ fee. We know many excellent speakers, who give away their talents for free or a rather marginal fee. There might be good reason for that, since you might have to promote your business, want to get eternal fame or just tell your story to the world. That is not our business. We are looking for speakers who help us to make a living from their speakers’ fees.
Third, we use mostly online content marketing for the promotion of our speakers. That means we can amplify your articles for mainstream media, your videos, your online presence. If you have no online presence, or use the internet only marginally, we can still help you in managing your speakers’ career, but you have to be sure you bring in enough business yourself.
Those are our main criteria. Of course, it helps if you are a wonderful personality who is covering an area regarding China we do not cover yet. But if your key area is just telling how to do basic business in China, and how to give away your business cards, our existing speakers might offer you a lot of competition.
Yes, it is true: we encourage competition between our speaker on quality. So, first look at our list of top-speakers, and see if you can beat them. If that is true, then you might have to get in touch with us.
Related articles
- Most sought-after speakers April 2012 (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
- Top-5 stories for April 2012 (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
- Has China a viable middle class? – The debate (chinaspeakersbureau.info)