Back to Business

After a hectic week, it's time to get back to looking after some of my media clients for a day or two. However, I have made use of meetings at the BBC and Sky News to promote the PSA, and let people know what we do. The general view of paid speakers is that they have to be celebrities or recently-retired politicians, so it's been useful to talk to journalists about what expertise there is within the ranks of the PSA. At both meetings, the subject of Tony Blair's recent speech in China came up, where he was reportedly paid almost a quarter of a million pounds for one speech (though the currency conversion may have been a bit off). Apparently some of his audience were not impressed, although I'm sure he's used to that.

I also had an excellent meeting with Roger Harrop, who is helping to organise next year's PSA Convention, which will take place almost a year hence, on 7th-9th November 2008. These events have a long lead time, and involve a lot of work for a dedicated team. As President, I'm fortunate to have brilliant organisers on the case - Bob Ferguson as Conference Chair, and Roger Harrop as President-Elect.

I've been overwhelmed by good wishes in the week or so since I took over the Presidency, and I'm trying to get back to everyone to thank them personally. If I haven't contacted you yet, please accept my thanks via this blog - I promise to be in touch soon.

Tomorrow, I'll be starting my round of the Speaker bureaus to tell them how the PSA is changing, and why they should have more PSA speakers on their books.