From Our Chapter President (2026-2027)

November 2026

This might come as a surprise to many of you but… I used to get in trouble, a lot, when I was a school aged child. Turns out that I had a knack for doing so both in school and at home.  I am grateful for some of the discipline because it helped me to stay on the right path. But one of the areas that plagued me the most was my propensity to express myself.  Yup… I got in trouble a lot for speaking.  Now, decades later, it turned out I was only developing a long-term business plan.

1. We Have the Strangest, Most Wonderful Job in the World

I remember how nervous I was to be the closing keynote speaker for the NSA Thrive Conference.  I mean, we’re talking about a major nerves management moment. I also remember someone I cherish coming up to me afterwards and just simply muttering, “you gave me goose-bumps it was so good.”

I don’t know about you (or maybe I do), but I have a tendency to spend way too much time focused on the negative. What’s wrong with my business. What’s wrong with my leadership. What’s wrong with me. Our brains often give negative experiences more attention and psychological weight than equally intense positive experiences. Researchers call this the negativity bias. And that is the key message I would love to share with you today.

Our brains don't necessarily give us a balanced picture of our lives... or our speaking business. They give priority to information that might help us detect problems and avoid danger. In their influential 2001 paper, Bad Is Stronger Than Good, Roy Baumeister and colleagues reviewed evidence across relationships, learning, emotions, and everyday experiences. Their conclusion was that negative experiences frequently exert a stronger influence than comparable positive ones. This helps explain why one critical evaluation after a speech can overshadow dozens of compliments.

We need to remember something remarkable about our business. Folks, we have a profession where people pay us to talk, applaud when we're finished, and occasionally invite us back to do it again. My mother and teachers spent years trying to get me to stop talking so much.

So, my question for you is this: What if gratitude isn't simply something we should feel when business is good? What if it helps us navigate the times when business isn't?

2. Three things gratitude can do for our brains and our business

Lesson One: Gratitude helps us notice what's going right

In three experiments, psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough (2003) found that people assigned to consciously record things they were grateful for generally reported greater well-being than comparison groups. Improvements in positive emotions were among the most consistent findings.

We get consumed by what is not going right or what might go wrong that I have to remind myself that someone, who trusts me, paid me money to fly somewhere and to say something they think will be of value to someone else. So what if that was four months ago and we haven’t been booked since? Gratitude is what we chose to focus our attention on no matter what our Calander looks like. It is our way of telling the brain what we want to NOT lose sight of. 

Practical challenge: At the end of each week, write down three things about your speaking business that you're grateful for. At least one should have nothing to do with money. You’re gonna’ wanna’  write this next one down on a Post-it note and maybe put it on your laptop.

Gratitude doesn't make an empty calendar full. But it can keep an empty calendar from convincing us that our lives are empty.

Lesson Two: Gratitude can help us become better colleagues, not just happier competitors

This is where your chapter's Each One Reach One theme fits beautifully.  We all know that professional speaking can often feel like a lonely business. Whether you are struggling in your home office to find the next engagement or gone three weeks out of every month to live in a hotel and sleep on planes. Yet, almost everyone of us has experienced the gift of someone else pouring into us with advice, a kind word, an introduction, shared a resource or maybe it was just a hug. When we deliberately fill our cup with gratitude, it enables us to pour a little into someone else’s cup. That’s the beauty of the magic that occurs at our events, isn’t it?!?

Practical challenge: Identify one NSA Carolinas member who helped you this year. Thank them specifically. Then find a non-member or a newer or struggling member you can encourage, introduce to someone, or help move forward.

Because, the best way to express gratitude for the ladder someone helped us climb is to reach down and help someone else climb it.

Lesson Three: Gratitude doesn't mean pretending everything is wonderful

Some of our members are having an awesome year. Some of our members are sitting on the struggle bus.  I know of a few who have shared with me they will have to pursue full-time employment elsewhere. Gratitude does not make those challenges go away.

Between sales calls, AI, social media demands, pricing uncertainty and the rate of learning we have to do to keep up with the next “guy”, many of us are concerned that our biggest speaking event of the year might be the speech we give at the Thanksgiving Table. And we are concerned that even then, they are going to ask us to shorten our remarks significantly.

But friends, here’s the thing. Gratitude doesn't require us to ignore what's difficult. It invites us to remember what's still good.

Practical challenge: Identify specific time in your weekly schedule where you are dedicated to focusing on business improvement including sales strategies etc. And specify specific times where you will be focused on gratitude.

How will you respond when someone asks how you are doing?  My go-to response when under stress is to say, “everything that matters is going well.”

In closing: it is a privilege to be in this profession. We get to travel, meet remarkable people, learn continuously, share ideas, help organizations solve problems, and sometimes influence lives in ways we never fully appreciate.

And through NSA Carolinas, we have something else worth celebrating: a community of people who understand the joys and occasional absurdities of earning a living with a microphone.

As President, I am so honored to support a remarkable leadership team who have taken the task of “loving upon you” so very seriously. I am moved to tears to watch how they have used their unique talents to create a community we can all be grateful for. And now, my friends, I am asking you to do three expressions of gratitude:

1.Thank a client who trusted you with an audience, especially one you haven't contacted recently. Make it a genuine thank you rather than a disguised sales pitch.

2. Thank a fellow speaker who shared advice, encouragement, or an opportunity. Tell them specifically what their generosity meant to you.

3. Reach one person who could benefit from the NSA Carolinas community. Invite them into a conversation, a meeting, or a mentoring relationship.

Folks, we may not have the easiest profession in the world. But we certainly have one of the most meaningful. We get to make a living by helping other people think differently, feel differently, and sometimes live differently. What an extraordinary privilege. And if you're reading this as a member of NSA Carolinas, I want you to know how grateful I am that we're on this journey together.

John Edwards, CSP
President (2026-2027), NSA Carolinas

October 2026

Dear NSA Carolinas Members,

YOU ARE TRYING TO BOOK MORE BUSINESS THE WRONG WAY

Other speakers are trying to figure out how to book more business. And so many of them are doing it wrong.

While so many speakers, authors and consultants are beating the pavement using traditional approaches to booking more business, I want to offer you another way to think about your future success. You might want to get your coffee and make sure you are sitting down for this. These are provocative approaches to our business, and I can’t really take credit for these ideas because they come straight from the lates research that I could find.

Stop Trying to Solve YOUR Problems.

It’s not about you! At the September 10 and 11 CEIR Predict 2026 conference, new industry performance data presented by Tourism Economics showed that the U.S. exhibition industry had reached 95.1% of its 2019 performance level in early 2026. Yet only 46% of individual events had fully recovered, and attendance remained 7.1% below 2019, the largest recovery gap remaining.

“Wow John… really? That was a lot of potentially boring data that I now have to re-read four times to get my brains to understand.”  Yeah- I get it so no worries. Let me boil it down; It means that the industry itself is recovering faster than people's willingness to spend their time attending everything they used to attend.

People still value being together so evidence shows that events are not the problem, it’s just that attendees are now much more selective about what they will attend. So, if you want to be valuable to your clients, stop working so hard to solve your problems and focus instead on solving theirs.  You can do this in three ways.

1. "Good content" becomes less defensible. If attendance is harder to earn while information becomes nearly free through AI, a speaker who primarily transfers information faces increasing pressure. Expertise still matters, but the experience surrounding that expertise matters more!  Wait. Stop. Sit with that one for a minute. 

2. Interaction and/or engagement becomes part of the product. This reinforces the earlier Freeman, Forrester, and Talkadot findings we discussed in the last newsletter (might be a good read to look up if you missed it). The competitive question may increasingly become, "What happens in the room because you are there that couldn't happen by watching a video?" That's a very different standard than before.

3. Speakers may need to help planners justify attendance itself. I think this is THE sleeper opportunity. A strong speaker proposal might eventually say less about my keynote and considerably more about why someone will be glad they left their office, got on an airplane, and came into the room.

So, this subtle shift in how we position ourselves and our value to our clients may make the difference between fast food meals and steak dinners in 2027. Here is what I suggest you do immediately.

1. Get into a Mastermind group of 3-6 other speakers and start discussing how in the world do we pull this off.  Our theme this year is, Each One Reach One. Who do you know who desperately needs this NSA community or the Mastermind Group you are forming? This business has always been about group success and sometimes that is the only way to get there from here.

2. Ensure that you are paying as much if not more attention on your “wow-factor” from the platform is evolving. Your information from the stage is now only a part of the package. Your ability to create an engaging EXPERIENCE for audience members is both your marketing, branding and rebooking angle! That’s why I am leaning into as many NSAC events as I can especially the one’s where I get to learn and observe some of our most experienced professionals. 

3. Design an approach to marketing that will help you to solve your client’s attraction problem. If you can help them bring in more attendees, then you become more valuable… and referable.

Listen, I get it. There is so much competing for your attention, your strategy, and 100 people telling you how to approach your business.  Well, 101 if you include me. There is also a lot of fear about the rapid emergence of AI. I’ll leave a deeper dive into that topic for another newsletter, but I will finish with this:

AI isn't killing the speaking business. It is raising the price of being ordinary.

John Edwards, CSP
President (2026-2027), NSA Carolinas

September 2026

Dear NSA Carolinas Members,

Hey- what happened. I feel like I just woke up from a nap and all of a sudden… it’s officially Fall season. Given how fast stuff has changed lately, I am surprised that I was surprised. At least some of the changes have been super-positive.

As a Chapter, we have welcomed (as of the time of this writing) 50 new members so far this year.  That brings our total up to 346 family members!  Way to go team!  Additionally, your Board of Directors approved and launched our first scholarship program to help those in need cover some of their costs for the upcoming October Retreat in Myrtle Beach.  Oh, how wonderful it will be to utter the words, “Honey, I’m going to a work-thing at the beach. Wanna come with?”

I’m so excited about what the Programming Team has put together for this event. They are committed to tackling our toughest challenges in the speaking business. Not only during this retreat but the slate of offerings that will follow.  And, oh boy, it is just in time!

Our business has always undergone some form of change over the decades that I have been paying attention. But something is different about this year. The definition of what clients are buying is really changing.  According to the Freemen Report, keynotes MUST become more captivating than ever. The report reveals that only about half of attendees went to the event’s primary keynote and only 47% said the keynote contributed to the event ROI.

To take this one painful step deeper, 59% said they prefer an industry expert and only 18% said they prefer a motivational speaker.

Ouch.

That. One. Hurt.

Listen. Some of the news is good news. The Forrester survey shows that event planners intend to increase workshops, roundtables and structured networking. So, as I look across a broad set of research, I come away realizing that the demand level for speakers is still there but the outcome clients want has shifted.

There is a shift towards greater interactivity. Audiences want to participate and engage instead of just consume.

Audiences appreciate motivation but more importantly, they want something they can use.

That’s why I have started providing Field Guides, and other “take-home” resources for almost all of my presentations.

So, take heart and fear not.  If you focus on outstanding content coupled with engaging front-of-the-room presence, you will create an experience for your audience. Let’s think about what we do in terms of creating experiences vs giving presentations because those who can do that well will be the most successful this year. The research is also warning us to stay dead centered in our swim lanes. Ok, that’s me taking liberties with paraphrasing.

Stated plainly: Your specific expertise has become more valuable than broad capability.

So yeah, we have to make adjustments because we are selling services to clients who have already made adjustments because their business is changing rapidly. According to PCMA, over 75% of event professionals said their business model changed last year verses about 25% who said the same thing one year earlier. That rate of change for our clients means that they no longer tolerate mediocrity, but instead demand excellent experiences.

And finally, be you. 

Maritz’s research shows younger audiences want someone to talk with them rather than talk at them. They are looking for speakers they can trust and that trust is based on your authenticity.

The market isn’t telling us to become better speakers; it is telling us to become better at creating experiences that drive outcomes.

John Edwards, CSP
President (2026-2027), NSA Carolinas

August 2026

Dear NSA Carolinas Members,

Hello again friends. August is the month where we celebrate Professional Speakers Day and reflect on the challenges and rewards of serving in this amazing industry. I want to take a moment and applaud each of you for the courage and conviction that it takes for you to navigate building a successful speaking business.

And what an honor it is to be in this NSAC family where abundant generosity flows like a mighty river. From the superstars who step up to lead our group mentoring cohorts to the volunteers who put so many hours into all aspects of serving you in this chapter, you and I are surrounded by superheroes. 

Unfortunately, I do need to remind us of something that is especially important.

While the superheroes continue to pour into our success, it is our responsibility to respect their intellectual property (IP). As they share their thoughts, structure, content, and processes with us, we must in turn ensure that we are not using anything that someone else created without their explicit permission to do so. I am not an attorney nor did I ever play one on TV but, it is important to remember that we also cannot use a derivative version of their document, content, or any other created form.

I recently saw one of my catchphrases used on another speaker’s presentation materials. As a brain-nerd, I remind myself that sometimes these things can happen unintentionally. Especially if the phrase is “super-sticky” for the brain, it may come back to you in a moment without you recalling where you heard it. There's actually a name for this: cryptomnesia, when your brain mistakes an old memory for a shiny new original thought. Psychologist Richard Marsh found it even happens in casual conversation: someone says "effervescent," and a week later you're using it like you invented the word (source: APA Monitor). And phrases that are especially "sticky" are more likely to trigger this. Content that's easy to process gets remembered and liked more, which is part of why a punchy line lodges itself in someone's head long after they've forgotten whose stage it came from.

So, when I see my own words show up somewhere else, I try to lead with curiosity. In my most recent conversation, that I mentioned earlier, the speaker was not a member of our NSAC family, and she responded with an immediate apology and changed her materials. I appreciated her promptness and commitment to safeguarding our friendship.

Our chapter has experienced a couple of situations this year where someone else’s original IP showed up elsewhere without permission. If you fell into the “cryptomnesia brain pit”, and accidentally borrowed someone else’s IP, then it can be an easy remedy to acknowledge it and fix it. If you are using something that was provided to you in one of our educational sessions, please reach out to the person who provided it to gain an understanding of how they intended for you to leverage the materials.

The good news: your brain is not a criminal mastermind. It's just a slightly overconfident filing cabinet that occasionally hands you someone else's folder and swears it's yours. The fix isn't complicated. Give credit, send a quick note, ask a question. That's it. That's the whole redemption arc.

We're a chapter full of professional communicators. If anyone can handle "hey, I think I accidentally borrowed your line," it's this room. So, let's keep doing what we do best: building each other up, giving credit where it's due, and trusting that a five-minute conversation solves 99% of these moments.

Your hippocampus thanks you. So does your fellow speaker.

John Edwards, CSP
President (2026-2027), NSA Carolinas

June 2026

Dear NSA Carolinas Members,

Hello friends.  I am truly honored and humbled to support your success as President of this amazing Chapter.  When I was originally asked to join NSA over three decades ago, I quickly said “nope.”  I had competed in several Toastmaster competitions, had an undergraduate degree in Communications, worked in Radio and TV, was already getting paid a few hundred dollars to speak, and was ignorant enough to think that this NSA-thing wasn’t really going to teach me that much more.

Then, over the next year, I was exposed to a couple of speakers who were in NSA and one of them was Nido Qubein. That is when I realized that this professional speaking thing has a whole other level in this game and I haven’t even been picked for a team yet.  So, I packed my broken ego into my nearly empty wallet and accepted my fellow Toastmaster’s offer to investigate the National Speakers Association.

I am sooooo grateful for that friend who saw more in me when I thought I had gone as far as I could go.  So many of us share the same story of someone encouraging us to join this team.  And that is one of the reasons why this year’s theme packs strong emotional content for me. No matter where you are in your career, you have the ability to reach someone who needs someone.  The world has become a lonely place, and this business is way too difficult for anyone to do it alone. All of us can demonstrate abundant generosity by simply encouraging each other every chance we get.

This year’s theme is “Each One Reach One.” The theme is about lifting up others in our profession by sharing your thoughts and experiences. Or maybe it is by inviting someone to a Chapter event. Or maybe you are really good at connecting people to others. Or maybe you start a small group of colleagues who struggle with the same things you do so that you all can explore the path to success together. Or maybe… well- I think you get the idea.

And now for a Neuro-nerd moment (‘cause you know I can’t help myself). When we adopt a mentality of Each One Reach One, the National Institute of Health review (2021) states that your brain may register the other person’s need, engage empathy systems, and then reward the act with a positive emotional payoff. I would add that given the high threat environment that our brains endure each day, adopting this attitude will support the well-being of all parties involved.  Another NIH review found that both giving and receiving social support were associated with lower vulnerability to negative psychological outcomes. Research also suggests that prosocial behavior is often linked with better mood and reduced stress responses in daily life. 

So, with each One Reach One… everyone wins. Will you join me in embracing this for our Chapter?

John Edwards, CSP
President (2026-2027), NSA Carolinas