Organizational Policy #6 : TEAM Referral Network does not have outside speakers

You may be asking…why?

Why wouldn’t we want an outside speaker coming into a chapter meeting to speak?

Won’t they provide great information to our members?

Doesn’t it “change up” the meeting to bring someone in to take up the speaker(s) time slot?

Isn’t TEAM all about providing great business education as a part of the TEAM program?

The short answer to these questions is yes and no.

The “yes” part is, certainly most speakers (or those who speak to promote their business) aim to provide great content; and the routine of a weekly meeting could get predictable; and TEAM loves to bring business education to our members.

Let’s dig a little deeper about the “no” part – most chapters take 3-6 meetings off per year due to major holidays. That leaves approximately 47-48 meetings per year.  On average a chapter of 15 has one member as the featured speaker per meeting, that means a member would give their presentation about 3-4 times per year.  This doesn’t include adding new members too, which might make your opportunity to speak closer to 3 times per year.

Your speaker time slot is a big part of what you have paid for in your TEAM membership.  It’s the time allotted for the focus to be on YOU, what YOU do, what YOU need next in your business. Do you really want to give that time away to someone who is not interested in bringing you referrals and may (or may not) deliver good content?

In fact, most outside speakers want to present to your chapter for one reason – they want to SELL you something.  Does it really make sense to give up your marketing and relationship building time to a stranger who wants to sell you something?

TEAM members want to give awesome, compelling presentations.  Help each other grow in their speaker skills by getting as much “face time” with you as possible! Don’t give it away to a stranger.

We really believe in great business education. It’s why we do workshops, Lunch & Learns, Success Series and the annual BIG Event.  We also invite our members to special events produced by other speakers and organizations that we know provide great information and are friends of TEAM.

So, the next time you hear about a speaker who “really wants to come to your TEAM meeting and speak to all your members”… let them know how much you would enjoy introducing them as a visitor at your chapter; that you have a great group of professionals you network with weekly that they can meet and consider joining your TEAM.

Membership has its privileges!