I was recently approached at a speaker bureau showcase breakfast by a potential client who furtively whispered, after watching me on stage, ‘can I book you directly?’

I replied in the affirmative, but then she looked surprised when I followed up with ‘but it’s the same price if you book me direct as it is to go through the bureau who handle all my paperwork regardless anyway’. My answer had the desired effect of shocking her enormously.

Most professional speakers work exclusively through a selection of bureaus. In fact, the best way to book any external conference keynote speaker is via a legitimate and professional speaker bureau. The reasons are simple and straightforward; it avoids any embarrassment about fee discussions, enables a professional working relationship and allows for a seamless experience with full back up and guidance.

As a full time professional speaker, I pride myself on doing what I do best – delivering powerful, meaningful keynotes that affect my conference or event delegates at a deep and meaningful level. I’m purely focused on that… and that alone… which means all the logistics of travel, transport, accommodation and paperwork can be handled by my office… the bureau.

The fee I pay my bureaus is the equivalent of office rent, a salary for an assistant and my diary management. You shouldn’t have to worry about that as a client, and nor do I.

The peace of mind delivered ensures a completely positive and professional service across all elements of your event. My bureaus arrange pre event briefings, full back up and support and the post-event follow ups for myself and the client – leaving me 100% free to focus on what I do best. And that’s what you, and I need.

In my experience, over fifteen years and at over 2500 speaking events, the only time I’ve seen disasters happen is when other speakers have gone it alone. Negotiating directly for the sake of either greed or stupidity. I’ve only had to ever cancel one of those over 2500 events from my side, due to a serious illness, and that event ran smoothly with the bureau allocating a speaker in my place and allowing the client to utilize me at a later date for a further event. No one was harmed or injured or lost anything in the transition.

Then again, as a speaker, I pride myself on meeting the client at the venue on the day of the event, with a cappuccino in hand for them… no matter what time of day I, speaking. That’s the subject of another article; yet suffice it to say that my clients never need to worry about whether their speaker will show up or not… and my bureau and I both have a vested interest in proper procedure and delivery…

Want to know more about better conference results from pre-planning? Contact me at michael@theothermichaeljackson.com I’ll be keen to share my thoughts and to add some value to the entire event – and then I’ll put you onto a bureau who sells me professionally!