Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Faced with tighter budgets and rapidly evolving technology, organizations are expecting a lot more from the speakers they hire for their conferences and other events. On November 2, as part of an expert panel at the Association Executives of North Carolina's (AENC) annual Speaker Showcase, lifelong learning thought leader Jeff Cobb will provide his perspectives on how organizations can work better with speakers - and how speakers can be prepared to deliver more value.

Cobb will draw upon his own extensive experience in the world of continuing education and professional development as well as upon findings by his firm, Tagoras, in The Speaker Report, an independent research report released in late 2011.

"Most speakers can no longer just show up, speak, and leave," says Cobb. "Live video streaming, captured video, and active use of social media channels before, during, and after the event are increasingly showing up as parts of speaker agreements. Organizations want to generate as much value as possible from their events, and speakers who are prepared to support this trend will thrive."

Cobb also predicts that event attendees and employers who underwrite fees for attending events are looking for clearer signs of a return on investment. "Based on our research," says Cobb, "most organizations are not measuring the educational impact of their events. There will be pressure for that to change, and both organizations and speakers are going to have be prepared to show they can deliver high impact content."

The expert panel will be facilitated by Denise Ryan, CSP, President of FireStarter. Cobb will be joined on the panel by Wally Adamchik, CSP, Speaker and President of FireStarter Speaking, Jane Forehand, Manager of Training & Development, NC Association of Electric Cooperatives, and Laura Hamilton, CSP, Executive Director of the National Speakers Association -Carolinas Chapter.

The Speakers Showcase will be held from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM on November 2 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center in Durham, NC. For more information about the event visit http://www.aencnet.org/speakersshowcase.htm

For more information about Jeff Cobb - including his availability for speaking - visit his Web site at http://www.jeffthomascobb.com

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Jeff Cobb is founder and managing director of Tagoras, a firm that provides expert strategy, marketing, and technology guidance to organizations in the lifelong learning and knowledge business. He is co-author of Shift Ed: A Call to Action for Transforming K-12 Education (Corwin, 2012) and author of the forthcoming Leading the Learning Revolution (AMACOM, 2013). Cobb speaks and writes frequently on how new technologies and business models are transforming the global market for lifelong learning.