Something had to give! What? You think this can go on forever without someone or something finding a better way to work with Speakers while giving the client a better deal..............
It often takes an individual, an outsider, a stranger to recognise that change is long over due. One who can point to a place and say "THERE" that's where you can change it up!
I had an experience recently where I was talking to someone about The Entertainers and the work we do. I was relating to them that I did not just want to copy other Bureau models, I certainly did not want to contact 4000 speakers indiscriminately, post them onto a web site and wait for the SEO to kick in, get on the blower and tell everyone why we are the best, compete with more established agencies on the usual set of kpi's. In that world, it is all about image and very little to do with who you really are and what you are looking to achieve. Frankly I don't give a damn what other Bureau's or agencies think of The Entertainers, we are more concerned with serving two sets of very important people, Speakers and Clients.
I digress.....back to the story.....
While the person had never worked at a Speaker's Bureau , (Epiphany, I will call her) while young, had been in events for some time dealing with various agencies at a large PCO. After listening to her views on our industry I asked her what changes she would like to see when engaging with speakers. Her answers were remarkable, simple and made so much sense. An avalanche of ideas ensued with the "ha ha" moment arriving just before we finished eating at Big Breaky in Petersham.
"I would love to tell you what that was, but .....I would have to kill you" so the saying goes. Different......yes.....confronting for some....absolutely. Change is always hard to cop.
The old adage "why fix it if it is not broken" seems to be loosing it's grip in the brave new world of social media, data management platforms and a generation of young people who will just not cop what the last forty years or so has dished up. So get used to it Bucko! No doubt recycling will be a part of the shift, however the leaders of tomorrow are looking to make wholesale changes!!!!
In the Bureau/Agency space, if not this year then the next, change, she is a coming! The landscape as we currently know it will be hardly recognisable in the future and you will have to more than to set up a a Facebook and Twitter account and post clever little hooks that everyone "likes"! The nature of the beast predicts it, not me. The beast being the "innovation generation".
If you are listening to the up and coming leaders of tomorrow, one thing is clearly evident, they know there time will come, they are savvy, switched on and what I like is that they talk openly and freely about their ideas. "It's all about Apps' man! Why you trying that old school shit?""It's about mind share". and so on.....
What is hard for a traditional business owner to turn on to, (particularly if we are over 35 years of age) is the fundamental shift in the "head space" around how and why we do the things we do in business and more importantly to a new breed of entrepreneur, how that affects our lives and lives of the people we share the planet with. A noticeable and conscious effort to assimilate both elements into a meaningful experience which is for the greater good. WOW!!!
While far from Utopia and certainly scattered with the usual suspects that life throws up, I believe the fertile ground for the "innovation generation" is a perfect foundation for massive change, which I embrace and welcome.
We have organised two focus groups to give some of these switched on young dudes a platform to express how they would "change it up" if they were at the helm. We listen hard, let them speak, after all they are our future and they understand the "new rules of engagement" better than any author, speaker or journalist or Blogger. What is great is that they are looking for an audience, someone who will listen.
Ignore them at your peril, however my ear is firmly placed to the ground. I can feel and hear the groundswell of change. Nothing can avert that, not even a poorly written blog.
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