No Cheap Talk

REVIEW SUMMARY
Trend. Big-name speakers
Industry. Education
Key. Despite the popular draw of big-name speakers, it's hard to make money from the trend.

Retirees of Ford Motor Co. are a tough crowd to please.

Get a bunch of them together like The Speakers Assembly of Southwest Florida did on Feb. 19 and the grumbling about the state of the U.S. auto industry will sound like a Ford Mustang's low throttle growl.

But Alan Mulally, Ford's CEO since 2006, waded into the crowd with ease, shaking hands with dozens of former employees munching on sandwiches in the courtyard of the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa in Bonita Springs.

In his speech and answers to pointed audience questions later, the swaggering executive won the crowd over using the occasional profanity and drawing wild applause when he reminded the audience that Ford had not been bailed out by the government.

Mulally isn't the first captain of industry to make a stop on the Gulf Coast in recent years. For example, General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt and Wells Fargo Chairman, President and CEO John Stumpf both spoke to the Forum Club of Southwest Florida in Naples.

More are coming this year. Boeing Co. Chairman, President and CEO James McNerney Jr., Exelon Corp. Chairman and CEO John Rowe and Publisher Steve Forbes will be making speeches on the Gulf Coast this winter season. Besides business leaders, current and former political figures will be making appearances too, including Sarah Palin, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

But these speakers won't be addressing audiences at the region's university campuses, the traditional venue for big names. Instead, they'll be talking to various nonprofit organizations that provide intellectual stimulation to retirees' craving for such continuing education.

Many of these nonprofits predate the region's newer universities and filled a niche for intellectual enrichment that didn't exist in towns such as Naples. Now, there are six organizations that bring big-name speakers to Naples and its surroundings. In Sarasota, the nonprofit Ringling College Library Association brings in speakers to raise money for the school's library.

In some cases, the speakers get nothing more than their travel and accommodation expenses paid. But what they get in return is exposure to a mostly retired crowd whose influence reaches deep into the nation's corporate boardrooms and who have plenty of money to spend on political campaigns and charitable projects.

Tough business

Despite the demand for high-profile speakers from retirees who come for the winter season, it's difficult to make money in this business. One of the few for-profit entities, Naples Town Hall Distinguished Speaker Series, switched to nonprofit status in May 2009.

“Speaker fees have gone up dramatically over the years,” says Rick Borman, president and producer of Naples Town Hall, which was started as a for-profit business in 1983 and acquired by the Borman family 10 years later.

After switching to nonprofit status last year, Borman says he was able to double his budget to $1 million in 2009 because corporate sponsors are much more likely to participate with a nonprofit organization. Corporate sponsors can now draw from either their marketing budgets or their pool of charitable money. And Borman earns a salary after years of meager profits.

Borman says a profitable speaker series needs to fill 3,000 seats from a vastly larger population base than is currently here. “Once you have that, you can start thinking about making money,” he says.

Corporate sponsorships of Naples Town Hall, which this year is bringing Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, among others, rose from $10,000 a year ago to $25,000 now. Sponsors get all sorts of perks, from exposure during the event to special access to the speaker at a closed reception. Borman says 1,000 people will fill the Ritz Carlton Beach Resort in Naples for his speakers. Last year, Naples Town Hall made a big splash by hosting brothers George W. Bush and Jeb Bush together.

Borman belongs to a group called the Talking Heads Executive Forum, which meets to discuss trends in the speaker business. The group also helps its members cement relationships with agents who pick and choose venues for some of the most sought-after speakers.

Corporate sponsorship is also critical for the Philharmonic Center for the Arts' presentation of a speech by Bill Clinton on March 8. Myra Janco Daniels, the founder and CEO of the Philharmonic, says she's budgeted $200,000 for the event. The sponsor's name has not yet been announced, but this is the first year that the art organization has scheduled a big-name speaker series.

Daniels says she's certain Clinton can fill the 1,475-seat hall and sell the three-speaker series for $338 per person. The two other speakers are Publisher Steve Forbes and naturalist Jane Goodall.

Another speaker group, the Quest Educational Foundation in Naples, says some speakers adjust their fees lower because the organization uses the net proceeds to help between 200 and 300 area students through high school and college. About 500 subscribers pay $995 each for the three-speaker program held at the Ritz Carlton Beach Resort. Plus, four sponsors pay an undisclosed amount to help pay for speakers with a conservative bent. Speakers for this season haven't yet been announced, but Mitt Romney was one of Quest's star speakers last year.

Even travel costs can adds up. For example, some speakers demand travel by private aircraft rather than commercial service. “Sometimes we get a break,” says Quest Executive Director Pam McKenry.

No-fee speakers

While Naples Town Hall, Quest and the Philharmonic pay speaker fees, other groups attract big-name speakers without having to pay more than the cost of their travel and accommodations.

For example, the Forum Club of Southwest Florida counts on its own members to arrange speakers, which have recently included business leaders such as GE's Immelt, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig and Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn. “We thrive because our members know these people,” Krier says.

The Forum Club, which last year celebrated its 25th anniversary, has a waiting list of 375 people who can jump to the head of the line if they propose a speaker who is acceptable to the program committee. Otherwise, it takes about six to seven years to become a member of the Forum Club, whose membership is capped at 400.

Besides paying only for speakers' travel and accommodations, the Forum Club prides itself on attracting speakers who are currently employed and haven't yet jumped onto the full-time speaker circuit. “They're in the trenches doing the work,” says Ellie Krier, executive director of the Forum Club. Of all the speaker organizations, the Forum Club often has the greatest number of business leaders in its annual lineup.

Despite the strong demand for membership in the Naples-based club, a season of 10 lunches costs $350 plus annual dues of $195. New members pay a $500 initiation fee.

The success of such gatherings luring unpaid but well-regarded speakers prompted another group to form last year called the Searching for Solutions Institute. Mirrored on the Aspen Institute, 452 people paid $2,000 each last year to hear 52 speakers on a variety of topics for a two-day conference in Naples. The next conference will be held in March at the Ritz Carlton Golf Resort.

Naples resident Randy Antik and 19 others put up $50,000 each to start the institute. In addition to attendees, the event included sponsors such as CVS, General Electric, Harvard Business Review and the National Geographic Society. Speakers included Dean Ornish and Susan Eisenhower, who presented on a wide variety of topics such as health care and education.

“We bring world-class speakers as a way to learn about a subject and get in a conversation,” Antik says. The idea is to get people to speak between breaks during the conference and long after the gathering is over.

Searching for Solutions doesn't pay the speakers any fees, but it does pay for their transportation and lodging. “We're putting an audience in front of them,” Antik says. “You're reaching donors, people who can open doors.”