Free Speech Speaker’s Bureau celebrates 14 years

Sept. 7, 2010 - PRLog -- Free Speech Speaker's Bureau is celebrating its 14th anniversary of service to Chicagoland. Groups, businesses, and organizations from the city and almost every suburb utilize the speaker's bureau which provides an outstanding roster of speakers, all of whom speak for free.

Free Speech was launched officially in the summer of 1996, and the response was, and continues to be, enthusiastic. At the end of its first year, Free Speech represented 36 speakers. Today, more than 200 topics are available.

During the first six months of 2010 alone, more than 250 requests for speakers have been made by chambers of commerce, Rotaries, Kiwanis Clubs, retirement communities, women’s groups, men’s groups, libraries and conventions.

Founded by Ginny Richardson, president of Ginny Richardson Public Relations (GR-PR), Free Speech is just what it says – free. The clubs and organizations pay nothing to engage a speaker. All speakers speak pro bono, and neither Richardson nor her company makes money.

"A few years ago we had to institute a one-time-only new speaker fee of $35 to help promote new topics to the groups via an e-newsletter service,” said Andy Richardson, vice president of GR-PR and director of Free Speech. ”A speaker can stay in the bureau forever, and he or she will not be required to pay this ever again or any other fees for that matter. And of course the groups never pay either Free Speech or the speaker.”

The benefits to groups and clubs are obvious, and Free Speech gives its more than 175 speakers the opportunity to hone speaking skills, make contacts, convey a message, teach, and give back to the community and sometimes all of the above.    

“People who call for speakers for the first time are always incredulous that no money of any sort is expected of them,” Andy said. “Some of them are suspicious and want to know where the catch is. We tell them we do this as community service, and they still can’t believe it.”

Popular topics include:

* The Funniest Comedians of Radio and Television, Larry Bergnach
* Keeping Your Memory in Shape, Jackie Raschke
* Winston Churchill’s Life: An Executive Success Story, Daniel Myers

Free Speech History

Ginny Richardson is owner and president of GR-PR, Ginny Richardson, Public Relations, a Hinsdale firm specializing in social media and traditional media relations. Free Speech is an outgrowth of this PR business.

In the summer of 1996, Ginny received a phone call from a client who asked if she knew anyone who could give a dynamic talk at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. She recommended a friend with an exercise business, a banker with a terrific sense of humor, a motivational speaker she knew, and a camera buff whose talk was titled, “How to Take Better Pictures.”

Ginny had lunch with a Tribune reporter who had become a friend.  She mentioned her tiny speaker’s bureau, and the reporter found it fascinating that no money changed hands.

“My friend wrote a short story that ended up on the front page of Tempo DuPage, a section that’s long gone,” Ginny said. “The day the story came out my phone rang non-stop. It sure hit home the phrase - the power of the press.”

Ginny typed up the growing list of names with short descriptions of each person's topic. This list was mailed, at her own expense, to clubs and organizations in DuPage County.

Today, with a vastly longer list of speakers, Free Speech reaches beyond DuPage and into the city and north, south and far west suburbs. The response from the groups has been tremendous.

“It seems every group needs and wants good speakers,” Andy said, “and not all groups have big budgets for speakers. Free Speech fills that need.”

For more information about Free Speech visit: http://www.free-speakers.org, For more information about GR-PR visit: http://www.gr-pr.com.

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Ginny Richardson Public Relations (GR-PR) is a PR firm specializing in social media and media relations for business, healthcare, not-for-profit, arts and entertainment. GR-PR is located in Hinsdale, IL, a suburb of Chicago.