National Speakers Association
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| Formation | 1973 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Active |
| Headquarters | Tempe, AZ |
| Location |
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Region served
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USA |
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Membership
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3,500+ |
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President
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John B. Mollidor, PhD, CSP |
| Website | nsaspeaker |
The National Speakers Association (NSA) is a professional speakers' organization in the United States that supports the pursuit of public speaking as a business.
NSA is the oldest and largest of 13 international associations comprising the Global Speakers Federation.
NSA was founded in 1973 by Cavett Robert who was born 14 November 1907 in Starkville, Mississippi and died in September 1997. The members hold to a code of helping one another known as "The Spirit of Cavett" and in honor of Cavett's birthday, NSA celebrates the "Spirit of NSA" day every 14 November. Even though he suffered from stage fright in his younger years, Cavett Robert joined Toastmasters International and went on to receive his first paid speech at the age of 61. Cavett's idea for NSA began with just 35 attendees of the Phoenix Summer Sales Seminar in 1969. After years of work, the National Speakers Association was incorporated on 12 July 1973. Cavett Robert's hope was to build a bigger pie so everyone could have a bigger slice. In July 1979, Robert was honored with NSA’s first Member of the Year Award, later renamed “The Cavett Award.”
NSA has its national office in Tempe, Arizona, and 37 regional chapters throughout the United States. NSA's first 10 chapters were officially chartered at the 1981 Convention. Even though many of the names have changed, these 10 chapters still exist today. NSA's professional competencies were adopted in June 1985 and continue to drive all facets of NSA today. These competencies are known today as the four E's: Eloquence, Expertise, Enterprise and Ethics. In January 1991, the NSA staff moved into the new headquarters building at 1500 South Priest Drive in Tempe, Arizona, and have been there ever since. In July 2014, they changed their name to Platform, but abandoned the change for multiple reasons. There was public dissent among NSA members as cited in various blog posts and social media discussions. In addition the brand appeared to conflict with the branding in use by author Michael Hyatt.
In order to join the National Speakers Association, professional speakers must document that they are regularly paid to speak professionally. This may be demonstrated in one of three ways:
NSA holds an annual national convention each summer featuring some of the most successful speakers in the industry, such as Steve Forbes, Sally Hogshead, Erik Wahl, Nancy Duarte, Walter Bond, and Penn Gillette. NSA's first Convention was held 1 June 1975 with 62 attendees gathered at the Scottsdale Camelback Inn.
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Wikipedia