What is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)?
The Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, conferred by the National Speakers Association (NSA), is the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform skill. Fewer than 7 percent of NSA’s 3,500 members have earned the CSP. The CSP designation is earned through demonstrating competence in a combination of standards:
- Professional platform skills
- Professional business management
- Professional education
- Professional association
Meeting Professionals: CSPs Make Your Job Easier!
Professional speakers who have earned the CSP designation bring a proven track record of experience and expertise to you meetings and events. Every CSP must:
- Consistently receive excellent ratings from clients on evaluations of
- Knowledge of subject and
- Professional presentation skills
- Server a minimum of 100 different clients within 5 years
- Present a minimum of 250 professional paid speaking engagements within the same 5-year period
- Maintain membership and subscribe to the Code of Professional Ethics
- Submit testimonial letters from clients served
- Submit professional prepared promotional materials
What Meeting Planners Say About the CSP:
“CSP is an insurance policy toward the meeting planner’s success. The CSP designation is a qualifier in the mind of the astute planner.”
– Brad Plumb, North American Speakers Bureau, Inc
“You know CSPs have achieved a certain discipline that puts them in a category all their own; they have passed the test of longevity; they have proven themselves. It makes a difference today and will continue to make a different in the meetings industry.”
– Marolyn Wright, Program Resources
“I always consider the CSP designation the hallmark of professional excellence. The CSPs that we have selected never disappointed our audiences.”
– Barbara S. Sadek, The Society for Human Resources Management
“It’s truly an indication that a speaker has achieved a higher level of professionalism. It’s something we look for first. I reduce my risk by hiring someone with a CSP.”
– William Bess, Mfgrs. Representatives of America
