I often blog that the way to a successful speech is via the audience — in other words, start with understanding your audience, and make the speech about its issues.  Solve the audience's problems and they'll reward you with fierce loyalty.  But over the long term, a professional speaker has to take care of at least one other 'audience' just as carefully:  the meeting planners that hire her. 

Your customers are indeed the meeting planners, and you'd better treat them well.  Too many professional speakers play the diva and alienate the folks who hire them.  I once was planning a conference for a client, and booked a speaker — nameless — whose talk was all about, let's say, getting along with other people.  And yet the speaker behaved badly from start to finish, making unreasonable demands of the meeting planners and complaining about everything.  The irony of the mis-match was not lost on any of us.  

Accordingly, the list below is something of an honor roll — it is a list of public speakers nominated by meeting planners as favorites — delivering good speaking value and also nice to work with.  With many thanks to Simon Bailey and Nancy Friedman who located the source for me:  Meetings and Conventions Magazine, July 2010 issue. 

These professional speakers deserve to be celebrated for not behaving badly.  The meeting planner works long hours, puts up with lots of abuse from his or her colleagues, and only gets noticed when something goes wrong.  The last thing they need is poor treatment from the speaker.  

I've removed a few political names from the list, since they're inherently controversial and will certainly alienate roughly half of your audience. 

Congratulations to those who made the honor roll:

Planners' Favorite Speakers

Simon Bailey (achieving individual and organizational brilliance; simontbailey.com)

Tony Bennett (business speaker, individual and organizational effectiveness; tonybennett.org)

Ken Blanchard (customer loyalty, employee engagement, leadership, organizational change; kenblanchard.com)

Walter Bond ("The Accountability Leader"; walterbondseminars.com)

Nancy Goodman Brinker (founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure; premierespeakers.com/nancy_brinker)

Marcus Buckingham (executive coaching, strengths-driven performance, leadership; tmbc.com)

James Burke (science/technology historian, TV personality; k-web.org)

Charles Carroll (chef, culinary leadership/teamwork, career development; chefcharlescarroll.com)

Dr. Lowell Catlett (futurist, economist at New Mexico State University; lowellcatlett.com))

Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire (retired Canadian senator/military official, human rights activist; romeodallaire.com)

Mike Ditka (former coach of NFL's Chicago Bears; mikeditka.com

)

Dr. Sophia Dziegielewski (social work, human behavior, health care; siripro.net/SophiaBio.htm)

Ryan Estis (sales strategies, leadership skills; ryanestis.com)

Durwood Fincher ("Mr. Doubletalk," humorous take on corporate culture, customized for client; doubletalk.com)

Nancy Friedman ("The Telephone Doctor," motivational business topics; telephonedoctor.com/keynotes.php)

Patricia Fripp (executive speech coach, presentation-skills trainer; fripp.com)

Dr. Benny J. Gallaway (marine ecologist; gulfbase.org/person/view.php?uid=bgallaway)

Tim Gard (humor as a business skill, professional enthusiasm; timgard.com)

Christopher Gardner (rose from being homeless to best-selling author/entrepreneur; chrisgardnermedia.com)

Barbara Glanz (improving employee morale, retention, productivity; barbaraglanz.com)

Dr. Al Gobar (real-estate economist; gobar.com)

Doris Kearns Goodwin (presidential historian, political news analyst; doriskearnsgoodwin.com)

T. Scott Gross (performance management consultant; tscottgross.com)

Erin Gruwell (educator, inspirational speaker, author of The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them; freedomwritersfoundation.org)

Jeremy Gutsche (creativity, leadership and innovation strategy; jeremygutsche.com)

Keith Harrell (motivational speaker, "attitude coach"; keithharrell.com)

Lou Heckler (motivational, management training, customer service; louheckler.com)

Regina Herzlinger ("The Godmother of Customer-Driven Health Care," Harvard Business School; reginaherzlinger.org)

Art Holst (former NFL official, speaks on business topics, motivation, change, football; artholst.com)

Lou Holtz (retired football coach, sportscaster, author; washingtonspeakers.com)

Brian Jones (laws of dating, building better relationships; gettingtheloveyoudreamabout.com)

Dewitt Jones (professional photographer, speaks on creativity, passion and vision; dewittjones.com)

Leland Kaiser, Ph.D. (health-care futurist; kaiser.net)

John Kasich (candidate for governor of Ohio; kasichforohio.com)

Don Keady (CEO of Australian Institute of Sales, Marketing & Management; aismm.com.au)

Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender (business success, branding, customer service, generational differences; kizerandbender.com)

Keith Krach (business entrepreneur, technology pioneer; keithkrach.com)

Mike Krzyzewski ("Coach K," Duke head coach, motivational/sports themes; coachk.com)

Paul Laudicina (A.T. Kearney chairman, global business policy isssues; atkearney.com/index.php/About-us/leaders.html))

Allison Levine (team captain for the first American Women's Everest Expedition; daredevilstrategies.com)
 

George Lucas (sales consulting, training and recruitment; lucasselect.com)

Clay B. Marsh, M.D. (pulmonary disease expert, Ohio State University; internalmedicine.osu.edu/603.cfm)

Josh McDowell (Christian faith, humanitarian efforts; josh.org)

Dr. Johnny Miller (motivational/inspirational topics; drjohnnymiller.com)

Mike Mullane (U.S. astronaut, author; mikemullane.com)

Dr. Kjell Nordstrom (business speaker and author on corporate strategy, leadership and globalization; internationalspeakers.com/speaker/546/kjell_nordstrom)

James Oberstar (Minnesota congressman, transportation policy expert; oberstar.house.gov)

Dawn Penfold (meetings industry career specialist; meetingjobs.com/index2.php?aff_id=&page=aboutUs)

Bertrand Piccard (balloonist, topics on pioneering spirit, overcoming stress, finding inspiration; bertrandpiccard.com/eng/index.php)

Charlie Plumb (former Navy fighter pilot/POW; charlieplumb.com)

Aron Ralston (rock climber who amputated his own arm; aronralston.blogspot.com)

Mike Rayburn ("World's Funniest Guitar Virtuoso," blends music and comedy; mikerayburn.com)

Susan RoAne (motivational business topics, how to work a room, connecting with people; susanroane.com)

Patricia Russell-McCloud, J.D. (work/life balance, education, diversity, leadership; prussellmccloud.com)

Mark Sanborn (leadership development; marksanborn.com)

Tim Sanders ("The People-Centric Business Expert," CSR/sustainability, leadership; timsanders.com)

Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation; barclayagency.com/schlosser.html)

Dave Schwensen (communication/presentation skills, personal creativity, humor; davepresents.com)

Bradley Seitz (CEO of Topaz International, business travel topics; etopaz.com/team.html)

Randy Siegal (fostering dynamic leadership; buildyourleaders.com)

Sam Silverstein (creating a culture of accountability in business; samsilverstein.com)

Jack Sims (marketing, business growth, brand awareness; goldstars.com/speakers/sims_jack.html)

Stan Slap (corporate strategist, business speaker; www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers.aspx?name=Stan+Slap)

Michael Tchong (future trends, insipiration; ubercool.com)

Phillip Van Hooser (leadership development strategist; vanhooser.com)

Erik Wahl (artist, presents on untapped potential, leadership, empowerment; theartofvision.com)

Mikki Williams (work/life balance, change, communication skills, creativity; mikkiwilliams.com)

Larry Winget ("The Pitbull of Personal Development"; www.larrywinget.com)

Bill Whitley (attracting and engaging clients, achieving top sales performance; billwhitley.com)

Peter Yesawich (chairman and CEO, YPartnership advertising/marketing/PR agency; ypartnership.com)

Gayle Zinda (cancer awareness, motivational messages; gaylezinda.com)