Introduction
Whether you’re an experienced speaker or just starting your speaking journey, organizations for public speakers are an invaluable resource. They can provide you with networking opportunities, ways to increase your public speaking skills and opportunities for personal and professional growth.
By joining a speaking organization, you can take advantage of the resources, events and relationships that the organization provides, allowing you to take your speaking business to the next level. In this article, we’ll highlight three of the most important organizations that public speakers should be aware of.
National Speakers Association (NSA)
Perhaps the most well-known organization for public speakers is the National Speakers Association, or NSA for short. For 50 years, the NSA has been dedicated to providing public speakers around the world with several crucial necessities for life in the public speaking world.
Resources
The NSA provides their members an array of important resources to grow their public speaking skills. Not only do they provide discounts for securing important needs like health insurance and life insurance, they also provide member discounts on software like Zoom and other partner services that many speakers use.
One of the most important benefits NSA Members gain access to is the NSA Digital Vault, a massive library of content designed specifically for those in the public speaking industry. This treasure trove of resources includes everything from contract templates and e-books to recordings from past conferences and webinars from world-famous speakers.
The NSA also offers a wide range of educational courses, workshops and webinars to speakers, providing guidance on improving various aspects of your speaking presentation. These programs are designed for speakers at all stages of experience in their careers.
Certifications and Recognition
The NSA also has two certifications that public speakers can earn – Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Council of Peers Award for Excellence (CPAE). Public speakers can achieve Certified Speaking Professional status by meeting a certain threshold of clients, speaking gigs and income from public speaking. The Council of Peers Award for Excellence is awarded to those who have reached the very highest status in the public speaking world.
These designations are instantly recognizable by event planners and can provide a major boost in getting gigs. Even for those who don’t have the designation, the NSA is a trusted “household name” that any event planner will appreciate.
Networking and Community
The most important thing that NSA provides, however, is community. Networking with other speakers can be invaluable for getting more gigs, but this goes further than just earning more money.
Public speaking can be a lonely life with the lack of traditional colleagues. But for professional speakers who participate in an organization like NSA, the access to others who understand the highs and lows of a public speaking can be an invaluable source of advice, comfort and community.
Conferences
NSA also holds two major conferences a year, called Inspire and Thrive. Inspire focuses on teaching public speakers to connect with and influence others, while Thrive focuses on the business aspect of building a speaking career.
These conferences bring all the best parts of the NSA to one place where thousands of public speakers can gather to attend talks and workshops, network with other club members and share ideas. These conferences are also geared toward being friendly for new members, allowing a seamless integration into the community.
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Toastmasters International
The next public speaking organization you should know about is Toastmasters International. Among the most famous speaking organizations in existence, Toastmasters International is specifically designed to make you a better speaker by giving you a judgement-free space to practice public speaking skills and receive feedback.
Members
While NSA is for those who already speak for a living, Toastmasters International is open to anyone. As Grant Baldwin discusses in his podcast on Toastmasters, the people you’ll see at a typical Toastmasters chapter meeting may be very diverse. Not everyone who is a Toastmasters club member speaks for a living.
Especially when starting out, many professional speakers can be hesitant to ask friends or family for feedback, and Toastmasters International public speaking clubs provide a perfect avenue to meet others who know what it’s like to try to improve as a public speaker and are willing to offer constructive feedback.
Structure
Toastmasters International is structured by local chapter. Their worldwide network of clubs truly lives up to the ‘International’ part of the name. The average local chapter consists of around 20 members, and you can join for the relatively low cost of $45 every 6 months plus an initial $20 new member fee.
Meetings are open to non-members if you want to see what you’re getting yourself into first. These local chapters generally meet once a week, and meetings generally last for roughly an hour.
Practice
Toastmasters club meetings consist of a combination of impromptu and prepared speeches by various members de. Other members will give you feedback on style, delivery and even count your “umms” and “ahhs.” This makes attending club meetings a perfect avenue to develop your talk and learn from the experiences of others to enhance your public speaking skills.
Toastmasters International meetings are the perfect place to test new material, especially to see how various jokes, stories, transitions, introductions and conclusions will land with an audience. If the segment doesn’t work for people, it’s much better to find out in a judgement-free club meeting than at an event you’re being paid to speak at.
Being able to test material and revise accordingly can give you an incredibly important confidence in your material that you wouldn’t otherwise have, and – as experienced speakers will tell you – confidence drastically improves your connection with an audience.
Accreditation
Toastmasters International also offers an accreditation through their Accredited Speaker Program. This certification is designed to give speakers a boost with potential clients. To apply for Accredited Speaker, one must have earned a qualifying education award and have given a minimum of 25 non-Toastmasters speaking engagements within the past three years.
If you earn accreditation, Toastmasters will write you a professional profile highlighting your expertise and skill as a speaker and include your contact information. Event planners or others looking for speakers who are connected with Toastmasters International will be directed to these Accredited Speaker profiles.
World Championship of Public Speaking
Perhaps one of the things Toastmasters is most famous for is the World Championship of Public Speaking, one of the largest speech contests in the world. Thousands of Toastmasters from around the globe battle for the title of World Champion. The event, which is a months-long ordeal, culminates at the Toastmasters International Convention where 28 semifinalists compete for the award.
Canadian Association of Public Speaking (CAPS)
The final speaking organization you should know about is the Canadian Association of Public Speaking (CAPS). CAPS is the Canadian equivalent of the National Speakers Organization, and a membership comes with many of the same perks as an NSA membership.
Eligibility
CAPS is open to all Canadian public speakers who have either earned $50,000 in the last year from public speaking, or spoken at 25 events for at least $1,000 each in the past year. For those who speak in Canada but are also members of a similar organization in another country (like the NSA), there is a dual membership option.
Benefits
Like NSA, CAPS has a variety of benefits for those who become members. These include a series of webinars and seminars and your own profile on the CAPS website and website of your local CAPS chapter.
Like NSA, CAPS members may also receive discounts on various kinds of insurance. CAPS also awards speakers who qualify the CSP certification.
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Conclusion
In this article, we’ve explored 3 of the most significant public speaking organizations that public speakers should be aware of.
For those who are relatively new to the speaking industry or want to brush up on skills, Toastmasters International is a great way to practice speaking material and gain confidence in your material. For those looking for a source of community, NSA and CAPS offer an incredible range of benefits for their members, including various resources, discounts, events, and certifications which give you a boost with potential clients.
The life of a public speaker can be lonely at times, which is why it is incredibly important to seek out a group of people who understand what the journey is like. The local chapter structures of these organizations and their large groups of members provide an avenue to gain that community. The people in these organizations know the highs and lows of public speaking and can provide encouragement, advice and assistance to make your life easier.
