Managing A Public Speaker Bureau

When health and human services organizations (new, established, or mature) engage in a strategic planning process, invariably the suggestion is made to offer a public speaker bureau to support their mission. As a pro­ fessional in the health and human services field, you probably have encoun­ tered, to some degree, the services provided by an organization''s speak­ ers bureau. You have heard speakers representing organizations or you may have been a staff or volunteer speaker for an organization. Public speaker bureaus are ubiquitous. Providing a public speaker bureau usually makes sense. It provides an easy and relatively inexpensive way to impart useful information to your constituents or the public, or serve as a marketing or fundraising tool. A public speaker bureau can increase your visibility in the communities that you serve or would like to serve. Throughout our score of years of experience in the health and human services fields, we were struck by the lack of attention given tomost organ­ izations'' public speaker bureaus. Again, while most organizations felt the need to have a speakers bureau, relatively little attention was given to the management and evaluation of this service. In fact, few organizations spent quality time determining whether or not a public speaker bureau was, indeed, needed and, if so, what should be its strategic purpose in serving the mission of the organization.