Find-Speaker FAQ
REGISTRATION
Membership with Find-Speaker.com
For Speakers and Presenters
INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
REPORT CARDS
SEARCHES
OTHER
This is understandable. Let's see if we can help you through it by giving you a few step-by-step instructions. However, first things first. Have you done a general registration yet? If not, this is required before registering as a speaker. On the home page www.Find-Speaker.com, click on "Register" at the top of the page, then follow the instructions.
Now, let's assume you have already registered on the site, and want to register as a speaker.
On the home page www.Find-Speaker.com, there is a column on the left, with a heading called "Register" (Make sure you are signed in with your username and password before you proceed). Choose "Presenter/Speaker", and click to begin the registration process.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to ask us by sending an e-mail to registrations@Find-Speaker.com
Not at all. You would only need to fill out the answers that you feel prospective planners would want to know or would benefit from knowing about you. We have provided many different questions in an effort to accommodate as many different types of speakers as possible, and you should not feel burdened by feeling you need to answer them all.
Registration as a member and as a speaker on Find-Speaker is absolutely free, and includes a web page with your photo, unlimited biographical data with comments from participants, etc.., direct links to your own web site(s), if applicable, and a free enhanced listing with www.FindCE.com as well. [ Sample of Listing ]
*Become a "Featured Speaker": We have designed an awards program that is based on your non-monetary contributions to Find-Speaker.com. We want to reward those who send their friends and acquaintances our way, so the point system works this way.
The speakers are listed on our "Featured Speakers" page ranked by total score accumulated.
How do I change my User Name ?
Otherwise known as your "Login" name, the User Name may be changed by first going to the forums. This happens automatically when you log in, but otherwise you may get there by clicking Speaker Forums in the left column. Next, you will see "User Options" among the options along the top of the screen. Choose this, and you should see your "login" or user name, which you can change. Be sure to save your changes.
We would be glad to help in any way, and if the registration process seems too burdensome or complicated, you may have the support staff at Find-Speaker do this for you.
1. Someone will need to register with Find-Speaker who will be called the "owner" of the speaker being registered (probably you). If this has not been done, go to the home page and choose "Register" at the top of the page, then follow the directions from there.
2.E-mail your information inside the body of an e-mail, or in a Word document or pdf file. Send it to registrations@Find-Speaker.com. Once we complete your registration, you could then enter your credit card information, which acts like a "switch", and "turns on" your registration.
3. If you would like a photo on your page, this must be e-mailed, or you may send the url where the photo may be located. Photos mailed will not be returned nor scanned, so please do not send these via "snail mail".
4. Once you are registered as a speaker, you should be able to edit any details with relative ease, but we are always glad to help.
Should you have any questions about this process, send them to registrations@Find-Speaker.com.
Will my e-mail address be sold?
We highly respect your privacy, and we never sell or rent our e-mail lists. Please see our Privacy Policy for further information.
Again, there are no fees for speakers. Additionally, in order to ensure complete objectivity, Find-Speaker.com is not funded, operated or owned by any corporation or other entity with interests that would conflict with that purpose. It is necessary, therefore, to make Find-Speaker a self-funded resource to enable its continuation, and we have funding resources which do not conflict with the stated objective nature of the site.
Can I use the site without registering ?
Yes. There are, however, some functions you will be unable to avail yourself of. These include posting messages on the forum, grading/rating speakers and receiving e-alerts and newsletters.
What are your rules on rating speakers?
This is a function of Find-Speaker.com that we take very seriously, and strict adherence to protocol is not only expected, but demanded. Variations from this guiding principal will have negative repercussions, which we do not feel need to be detailed here. These are the parameters on which our rating system depends:
1. You do not stand to benefit in any fashion at any time from the grades you will be assigning to the speaker
2. You have not previously graded this speaker on Find-Speaker.com
3. You have personally heard the speaker, and that
4. You are honest in your assessment.
For an explanation of the report card, click here .
If you have any questions about this grading process, you may contact us here:ReportCard@Find-Speaker.com
How do I get those who have attended my talks to grade me on Find-Speaker.com?
There are two ways to get this done. First, you can get them to the site. Secondly, we could get them to the site.
Ifyou do the deed, you would need to contact them in some way, either by e-mail (the best, so they could just click on some links to take them to the right place) or by a more traditional method. If by e-mail, we could provide you with some wording and link help.
Alternately, we could do it for you, but you would need to supply us with the e-mail addresses of the prior attendees, and we would contact them for you.
They would need to register on the site ("Register" at the top of the home page) before they could rate you. This is to avoid "stuffing the ballot" by a single individual.
If you already hand out evaluation forms to your attendees, you could always say "If you don't have time or would rather fill out an evaluation at a later time, you can go to Find-Speaker.com and search for my name to rate me. I have listed the web site on the form you have, along with some instructions." The "instructions" would simply tell them they need to register as a member first (free), before searching for your page.
My photo seems pfuzzy!
First of all, you need to learn how to spell fuzzy. It's no wonder your picture is a bit out of whack. OK, when you upload a photo, Find-Speaker.com's intuitive software resizes it to be max 250 pixels wide, in order to keep speakers and meeting planners from uploading a disproportionate photo. We recommend that you use Photoshop or another good image editor to resize the photo to 250 pixels in width. Then, re-upload the newly resized photo. If you still do not like the quality, simply email the photo and we can put it up there for you.
From time to time, we will receive incorrect information from 3rd parties, encounter an ex-employee of an organization with nefarious intentions, or simply make errors in transcribing information about speakers. There is also a possibility that you will need to update your listing, but are unable to do so for whatever reason, whether it is a lost password, a crashed server on your end, or any other number of reasons.
If you find yourself in this predicament, please alert us at errors@Find-Speaker.com and we will attend to your problem in an efficient manner. Keep in mind that we will need to verify that you are the responsible party, as we need to protect the integrity of the information as much as possible. Any information you can provide to ensure us that we can communicate with you about said information would be helpful.
What grading system does your report card use?
Speakers are graded using a variety of indices, but the G.P.A. (Grade Point Average) is actually an average of the grades given to a speaker. The scale ranges from 0 to 4.0, with a 4.0 being the maximum grade (or G.P.A) a speaker can earn. These grades are not given by Find-Speaker.com or its representatives, but rather by those who have actually heard the speaker.
You will notice that we use the report card originally designed for our site at www.FindCE.com. This allows you to take advantage of the same joint card, so that those ratings you may receive from FindCE.com will automatically be reflected on your Find-Speaker report card. Likewise, ratings you receive here will be reflected on the FindCE.com site. Your clients/audience will not be bothered to rate you in multiple locations, and to show the universal relationship we have with FindCE.com, that logo will be used on the report card as well.
How do your searches work?
There are two methods of searching for speakers on Find-Speaker.com.
The first involves the home page "Basic" search, which can be easily found in the upper left corner. In the white box, typing in a word will bring up speakers of interest, but only if the speaker has placed that word in their "description". The "description" is the 3 lines of text you see when a page of search results is displayed. Typing in more than one word in the basic search will also return results, but many more, as this locates any speaker with any of the words you entered in their description.
The second method of searching involves an "Enhanced" search . You can see this inside the column on the left of any page. After choosing this, you will see several parameters on the next page, such as field and keyword.
Is my personal information safe from spammers?
Yes, it is. Your personal profile, which holds a few pieces of personal information, such as your e-mail address, is hidden by default to all but yourself. If you choose to make your profile visible on the message boards, you may certainly do so, but your e-mail address may then be "harvested" and used by spammers.
I registered a while back, and can't remember how to edit my page.
This is very common, so we hope you are not establishing feelings of inadequacy. All you will need to do is remember your username and password you used when first registering, and "Sign In" from the top right section of the home page. If you have forgotten your username, password or both, you may select "Forgot my password" from the "Sign In" screen, and both will be e-mailed to you.
Next, you will need to find your page. There are a few ways to do this. You can search for your information by typing a word or words into the search box in the upper left corner of the home page. When you see it (if you are properly "signed in"), you will see the word "edit" by your name. You are the only one seeing the word "edit", because the computer recognizes you after signing in. Click this, and you have begun the editing process.
The other way to locate your page is by going to the left dark blue column and finding "Edit Your Registrations". Click this, and your name should come up (assuming you are correctly "signed in"). Click the word "edit", and continue.
What do I gain from being a member of Find-Speaker.com?
1. Exposure to thousands of meeting planners looking for the ideal speaker for their meeting.
2. Up to 7700 unique visitors each day and 500,000 hits a week have the potential to give you some incredible exposure.
3. You pay no commission fees. Agreements are made between the meeting planner and the speaker/agent.
4. A listing provides you with, among other things, a web page to which you may direct potential clients, a photo, a priority listing with our search engines and placement on www.FindCE.com at no extra charge.
5. Your report card with accompanying G.P.A allows you to boast, assuming your attendees think highly of you.
Although we have made the attempt, we can't anticipate every question. If this FAQ does not answer yours, please e-mail us at info@Find-Speaker.com and we will make every effort to satisfy your curiosity. If your question would be helpful to others, we may even add it to our FAQ!
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