the speaker's bureau

Betty Garrett

The "WOW" Factor
Summer 2010

BETTY GARRETT is the founder and president of Garrett Speakers. She is also an author. After loosing her husband, Gene, to esophageal cancer in 2004, Betty wrote From Hiccups to Hospice: A Survival Guide for the Cancer Caregiver, a how-to manual for caregivers tending cancer patients.

MPG:  What attracted you to this industry?

My goal in life was to work for an airline so, in 1967, I moved to Dallas from Monroe, La.  I pulled out the Yellow Pages, called American Airlines and got a “not so friendly” receptionist.  I called Braniff, they were hiring, and I ended up working for Braniff for 16 years.

When they went belly up, I decided that it was time to try something new so I went to work for Mary Kay in their travel department and that is how I got into meeting planning.  One of Mary Kay’s national sales directors wanted us to help with some of their small meetings and I said, “Why not?” 

In 1987 Meeting Planners International moved their headquarters to Dallas.  I applied and was hired as MPI’s manager of education.  My job included identifying speakers and trainers for their conferences.

Give us the “executive summary” of Garrett Speakers.

When I left MPI in 1993, I decided that it was time to work for me so I opened our bureau.   My first client was Dow Chemical Company and Hattie Hill was the first speaker that I hired. 

As a bureau, I find out the client’s meeting objectives and search for the right speaker to meet those objectives.  Once the client decides on the speaker, we send the contract and the logistics so the meeting planner never has to worry about their speaker.  Garrett Speakers is one-stop shopping and there is no charge to the planner.  It’s a turnkey relationship so that the planner can go perform miracles doing other things.

What trends are you seeing in this industry as they relate to speakers?

We are seeing much shorter lead times in the bookings. 

2009 was tough.  There were a lot of cancellations.  Meetings had just gone by the wayside.  When the economy goes south, the first thing to be cancelled is travel and meetings.  In 2010, we are seeing some bookings and some optimism that the economy is going to come back.  I don’t think it will come back like it was, but at least we are booking speakers. 

We now quote a lot of speakers’ fees that include their airfare.  Another new thing I’m seeing is that speakers are bundling their products to audiences.  For example, they used to sell their books, tapes and CDs by themselves and now they have a package price that includes their fee plus the cost of their book.

There seems to be a cycle in the type of speakers that are in vogue and it’s come full circle.  Clients are now looking more for content versus motivation.  When times are tough, they want to get more content not just presentation skills.  When times are more relaxed, motivation and inspiration become more important.   

Often speakers can provide their audiences with a “significant emotional experience.”  Has this happened with any of your clients?

Mike Eruzione was the captain of the U.S. Olympic hockey team at the 1980 Winter games when the U.S. team beat the heavily-favored Russian team.  RIA Thomson was my client and they were looking for a speaker for their sales meeting. Tracey Smith was RIA’s meeting planner.  She wanted something different, someone with name recognition, but she didn’t have a huge budget.  We decided on Mike Eruzione and it became magical. 

Mike came in, told his remarkable story and then autographed hockey pucks for the group.  That night they all went to a hockey game at the American Airlines Center.  It just so happened that it was the anniversary of the U.S. Olympic team’s victory.  The center got wind that he was in the audience and their camera came up and captured him with the RIA Thomson group.  It was one of those events where the stars lined up.  Everyone is still talking about it.

Good speakers add the “wow factor.”  There are so many things that a planner can do to get more bang for the buck and that’s paying special attention to the objectives of the meeting and how you want people to feel when they walk away. 

Do you believe that technology may be putting the face-to-face meetings industry in jeopardy?

You will never, ever be able to replace face-to-face meetings.  Technology has become a little more reasonable to do with the smaller meetings, but you will never be able to replace face-to-face. 

Meetings are just too powerful for you to have a speaker and have your attendees have access to this expert.  You can’t replace that.  Technology is great and you can use it to enhance the on-site meetings.  Social media enhances the attendees learning by being able to text a friend and tell them about the terrific speaker they are about to hear. 

What advice would you like to share with meeting planners relating to selecting speakers?.

When your boss comes to you and says, “we need a sales meeting,” find out specifically what it is the boss is trying to accomplish.

Although is sounds like a cliché, there is a “new normal.”   Innovation, like the social media phenomenon, is one of the changes.  The other is collaboration.  Collaboration is using the social media with the new workplace trends.  It used to be that if people worked out of their home, that was the exception, but not anymore.

The more information you can provide your speaker or the speaker bureau the better.  Don’t feel like your department is threatened.  We can become strategic partners helping extend your reputation so that you become the hero that your boss couldn’t do without.  

Archived Articles >