Frequently Asked Questions

How can NSA help someone with a full-time non-speaking job get more involved with public speaking for pay?

• Come to the local chapter meetings.
• Attend the National Workshops and conventions.
• Volunteer to help the local chapter.
• Do gigs on an "honorarium" level while you are working.
• Get your organization to pay for your convention (it is your professional development).

Would you talk about the Ethics of NSA - platform, standards, and professionalism?

• The Ethics Committee is dedicated to promoting the highest level of standards in our organization. The membership application includes the Ethics statement to which a new member agrees.
• The NSA Membership application can be accessed by going to: http://www.nsaspeaker.org/pdfs/membership_app.pdf.

Once you qualify for membership - 20 paid speeches - do you have to re-qualify each year?

• You only have to submit qualification documents and forms once. Once you have been accepted as a professional member, you only need to meet the qualifications and renew your dues each year.

How do you establish fees for corporate work?

• Getting involved with NSA Northwest is a great place to get a feel for what other speakers are charging for services.  For antitrust reasons, fees can't be shared from the platform but nothing prevents you from sharing this in personal conversations.
• The NSA website - http://www.nsaspeaker.org/2005_survey.shtml has the 2005 Member Survey.  You can get a sense of what ranges our national members are charging by going through the survey.

I gave 23 three-hour presentations to classes at Western State Hospital this past year with a co-presenter. Do I need to document this? 

• To become a member of NSA, you do need to document your speeches with date of speech, client name, verification (contracts, canceled checks), and fee. The only exception would be if you speak as a part of your salaried position.  (In that case, a letter from your employer detailing your speaking presentations is all you need)
• The NSA Membership application can be accessed by going to: http://www.nsaspeaker.org/pdfs/membership_app.pdf

Do paid teleseminars count toward membership?

• Yes

When you do seminar series (5 sessions) - does it count as one or five?

• It counts as 5 - if it is a separate topic with a separate audience.

If you are relatively new to NSA National or to the chapter, how do you not get lost in the crowd?  When I come to meetings it seems that everyone already knows each other.

• One of the great benefits of NSA/NW is the friendships that develop.. This is a place where long-time friends gather and catch up. The downside is that new people may feel it is hard to break in. Here is how to do it:
  1. Notice the Board Members are spread out over the room and are there expressly to be ambassadors to our newer Members, Affiliates and Guests. You can always join a Board Members table group.
  2. Sit with and get to know others who are new as well. Plan to leave each meeting with at least two or three 'dates' for coffee and start getting to know folks.
  3. Volunteer! Relationships develop when people do things together.
  4. Plan on attending National Convention or Winter Workshop. Get a roommate from the chapter if you'd like to get more chapter-connected. Or consider a roommate from National if you want to branch out.
  5. Going to the National Convention lets everyone know you are a 'serious' player in this business. The long-time members are more likely to provide advice and ideas to someone who is working hard at this business rather than to someone who is only thinking about it at this stage.

NSA Northwest is great at putting information up directly but National is slower - how long does National Website take to update one's profile?

• Thank you! Our chapter desired to give members the ability to immediately update their member profile on the website. 
• NSA - the National Website - actually does allow members to update their profile.  Here is how you do it:
  1. Go to the NSA Website - http://www.nsaspeaker.org - log in with your User Id and Password, go to the Member Center- and update profile (you can change your bio, add a new photo, etc.)
  2. Or you can go to the website - http://www.mynsa.org - log in with your User ID and password, and you can make edits, change your photo, etc.
  3. If you need to obtain your USER ID and Password, you can call NSA at 480-968-2552  - Kathleen Brigham, Member Relations,  would be happy to help you.
  4. Lastly, you can email NSA at info@nsaspeaker.org and they would be happy to update your profile as well.

I don't live in Puget Sound -- I want to start something locally. Would NSA support it? 

• We welcome people to begin a chapter in their local region. In order to start a chapter, NSA requires that there are 20 nationally-qualified Members who are interested. We encourage you to create a master mind group. Find others through Toastmasters and look for people presenting at local community colleges. Start meeting once a month and plan to carpool to the NSA Northwest meetings 6 times a year.
• You can always call our NSA headquarters - (480) 968-2552 for more specific questions on how to start a chapter. Beverly Babb is a great contact for questions.