GLOBAL SPEAKING FELLOW: APPLICATION OVERVIEW & PROCESS

A Global Speaking Designation

(December 2023)

The Global Speakers Federation (GSF) is the world-wide professional body serving the interests of their member speaker associations, advancing speaking globally, and connecting the professional speaking community globally. In alignment with the GSF mission, working with member associations, and in response to the expanding international nature of the needs of global speaking members, international clients, and global audiences, GSF has established the framework for a designation that recognizes professional speakers successfully presenting at a global level.

The Global Speaking Fellow is conferred by the individual’s home association on members who hold the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation or the Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association (FPSA) and who have sustained a successful speaking business across numerous global geographical regions. The designation Global Speaking Fellow indicates recognition by peers and clients of global speaking competence and experience. For purposes of this document, the notation “CSP” in subsequent sections includes approved equivalent designations of the GSF member associations including FPSA of PSA UKI, CSP of PSA, and CSP of NSAUS. APSS and VSAI also confer the CSP designation and are expected to be reviewed by the CSP Equivalence for approval in 2024.

Support for high-level professionalism in the global speaking profession promotes the wider use of accomplished professional speakers and expands the credibility and value of all global speakers. Bringing value to the global meetings industry supports effective partnerships between speakers and those who hire them and it fosters confidence in the markets of GSF member associations and emerging speaking associations. This confidence plays an increasingly important role as a driver and facilitator of the adoption and high-quality implementation of high standards in those regions of the world with emerging markets for professional speaker services.

This designation comes from the alignment of GSF organizational Values, Mission, and Strategy. The GSF Three Pillars Strategy document (Appendix A) provides the tactical direction for the work of the Federation and is based on the following foundations:

Values: Growth and enhancement of the speaking profession is best served by continually enhancing the talent, ethics, and business acumen of individual associations and practitioners.

Mission: The GSF is a global framework for independent speaking organizations to collectively serve the interests of their individual members while advancing and connecting the professional speaking community worldwide.

Strategy: The GSF is a mechanism of affiliation through which independent associations for professional speakers around the world can serve these interests by providing members with greater access to professional education materials and access to one another’s educational programs.

This designation is a leading indicator that a professional speaker who has earned the Global Speaking Fellow is competent in the core competencies unique to global speaking. The competency structure was developed with the input of global speakers and global meetings industry professionals and is designed around the professional skills and behaviors demonstrated by a successful global presenter.

Since its formation in 1997 (and official launch in January 1998), the GSF has been serving its member associations with a mechanism for sharing resources and providing affiliation among independent speaker associations around the world.

In 2012, the GSF leadership advanced a strategy to deliver educational content unique to the work of a global professional speaker. Leadership began developing the body of knowledge around a successful and sustained global speaking professional working across international regions and continents. This body of knowledge advances the professional development opportunities of those seeking to expand their speaking business on a global scale and provides the framework to evaluate competency in the field of global speaking. Originally called CSPGlobal, the first class of 23 recipients was conferred during the 2013 Global Speakers Summit in Vancouver. Subsequently, after discussion, the GSF Executive Council approved to change the name to Global Speaking Fellow in January 2016.

Support of high-level professionalism in the global speaking profession promotes the wider use of accomplished professional speakers and expands the credibility and value of all presenters. To that end, the GSF has undertaken the work to identify the competencies and standards of a professional global speaker, to promote the high standards, to recognize those who achieve the standards, and to foster collegial and supportive networks within the community of CSPs working on a global level.

Successfully working across continents as a global presenter requires business acumen, specialized knowledge, and mastery of key competencies unique to presenting in global markets. The key competencies of a successful global speaker and the component elements of these competencies are a part of the body of knowledge and educational content developed exclusively by the GSF. The GSF seeks to deliver educational content and tools that will improve the success of global professional speakers, reduce risks for international clients, and increase value for global audiences.

With the input of global meeting professionals, international bureaus, global speakers, and research data that explored the standards for conferring global designations by associations across professions and industries, the GSF identified four core competency areas of global speaking:

These competencies provide the framework for evaluating mastery of a speaker’s capabilities in global markets. The measures of continued success in global markets, the input of those who hire professional speakers, and the assessment of the knowledge the speaker conveys are combined to determine an applicant’s grasp and capability within the competencies. Only the top-rated competencies are utilized in the evaluation of the applicant’s suitability for the designation. The full list of identified competencies appears in this document (Appendix B) and may be utilized to create an educational curriculum that can be made available to speakers interested in pursuing work as an international speaker. Each competency has several components that were developed by key professionals, under the guidance of an education committee, into modules to help professional speakers learn from the experience and insight of others. Each competency list is arranged in order of importance as determined through surveys and interviews. Those competencies ranked highest are a part of the Global Speaking Fellow assessment criteria.

• Customize content for appropriateness and applicability
• Demonstrate sensitivity to culture and manage communication appropriateness
• Work successfully with interpretation professionals and communication technology - both simultaneous and delayed
• Customize delivery style, both in-person and/or live virtual presentations, for place and culture

• Adhere to global business conduct standards and maintain high integrity
• Navigate the unique realities of networking in global markets
• Market and sell services in global markets
• Identify and work with promotion and media relation professionals worldwide
• Understand the expectations and the difference between being hired in a location or sent to a location

• Understand local traditions and how those will impact the event and presentations, in-person and/or live virtual
• Maintain awareness of planner and client expectations that differ from home events
• Manage the nuances of scheduling for events and how to adjust in the moment
• Know the protocol for interacting with attending dignitaries

The Global Speaking Fellow designation is conferred on those who have proven mastery of the core competencies over a minimum of three years, who have received favorable reviews by the clients who have hired them, who have demonstrated sustainability as a global presenter, who have presented professionally in a designated percentage of the macro geographical (continental) regions / geographical sub-regions as defined by the United Nations, or have spoken in 25 separate countries, and who have passed an internal review by an evaluation team composed of Global Speaking Fellows.

Applicants apply through their member association, who, in turn, verify that the candidates currently hold the CSP designation, are a member in good standing, and have no outstanding ethics violations or other sanctions by their member association in the last 60 months. The evaluation is performed by the Global Speakers Federation. Upon approval, the designation is conferred by the member association. The process flow is documented in Appendix E.

The application process is designed to determine if an applicant has met the standards and criteria of the Global Speaking Fellow designation. CSPs who achieve this global designation may display the mark on their collateral materials and notify the hiring public that they are a Global Speaking Fellow with GSF-verified global speaking experience and competence.

Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in each competency area through submitted evidence documenting their attainment of the experience standards, through client evaluations, and through peer verification that they have mastered the competencies. The rigorous multi-stage process is confidential to the participants involved and is managed primarily through online mechanisms. All applicants also agree to uphold the global speaking Code of Conduct. This Code supplements the Code of Professional Ethics provided through the GSF membership associations.

The application and client evaluation process are designed to support the determination of the appropriateness for conferring the Global Speaking Fellow designation on those global professional speakers who have achieved the standards of the designation and exhibited mastery of the global presenter competencies. The final part of the process involves an internal review of the applicant’s submitted materials and video. The internal review is performed by global speakers from the pool of Global Speaking Fellow designation holders.

The application follows a multi-stage process and each stage has a number of component elements that are verified, reviewed, and tested.

Each stage of the application must be successfully completed prior to moving to the next stage. The process takes approximately three months to complete from the date of application submission. The application stages have a number of specific parts and these are listed below.

Part 1: Applicant Information – contact information, CV/resume, areas of expertise, membership information

Part 2: Global Speaking Experience – dates, regions, contact information, fees (note that an independent audit is performed)

Part 3: Adherence to Professional Integrity – signature check on Code of Conduct

Part 4: Link to applicable video footage (or equivalent) of applicant

Part 5: Submission of administrative application fee

All forms for the Application Submission are provided via member’s home association Website or can be obtained at the GSF website submission portal. The forms include detailed instructions to assist in their completion. The Application Submission is completed though the secure GSF website portal, which is usually linked to the member’s home association website.

Applicants may be asked to provide detailed information on specific engagements, in-person and/or virtual, within their application. By submitting an application, the applicant agrees to make available the requested documentation to an independent GSF staff person reviewing the application. The GSF staff person is not a member of GSF and all fee information provided is confidential. All documents will be held securely.

Once Stage One is completed and Application materials are verified, and if a pass is issued, the External (Client) Review Process is initiated.

The External Review consists of a standardized evaluation form that will be sent to a random selection of global clients provided in the Application submission process. The responses to this form are assessed by the evaluation team. Once Stage Two is deemed as passing, the application is moved to the Internal (Peer) Review Process.

The Internal Review consists of the evaluation team assessing the submitted materials and video. If additional questions or clarifications are required, a verbal interview may be scheduled with the applicant.

The information from Stages 1, 2 and 3 are provided to the GSF Global Designation committee who will render a final decision. The applicant and home association will be notified of the final decision. Recognition of the achievement will ideally take place during their home association’s annual convention and/or during a Global Speakers Summit.