During an uncertain year that has impacted all businesses, professional speakers from around the globe are gathering in Las Vegas, December 17-19, 2025, to learn how to grow their speaking businesses with new ideas, contacts, and strategies.
The event, SpeakerBizCon 2025, is the first of its kind and is produced by Australian-based MainStage Speaker Business Academy. Fees to attend begin at under $1,000 for the event held at The Venetian Resort.
“This is a chance to master the business side of speaking with secrets from the world’s most in-demand keynote speakers,” says event organizer Michael Arnot, co-founder of MainStage Speaker Business Academy and the founder of Encore Speakers, an international speaking agency representing world-class speakers.
“This conference will help speaking professionals understand the misnomers and the myths, and sometimes the downright lies, about the speaking industry,” says Arnot. “The speaking industry isn’t complex, but it is very different from anything else.”
Proving his point are two of the conference keynote speakers, Darren LaCroix and Tim Gard, unlikely success stories who continue to adapt and promote their speaking efforts.
After a failed business in 1992, LaCroix took a dare and took the stage at an open mic night at a Boston comedy club. He bombed miserably.
Less than nine years later, LaCroix outspoke 25,000 contestants from 14 countries to become the Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking. Since that victory, he has delivered keynotes in every state in the U.S. and 44 international cities.
In his 30 years of professional speaking, LaCroix has weathered the 2001 tech bubble recession, the Great Recession of 2008, and the global COVID-19 pandemic. But he says nothing compares to what is happening right now.
“What is different this time is not just the change, but the speed of it,” says LaCroix. “It is accelerating. People are people, but they expect more and have shorter attention spans. Speakers need to change what they do and how they do it. They can either change with change or be left behind.”
Gard, a former federal government welfare fraud inspector turned world-renowned humorous keynote speaker, also believes speakers need to keep adapting.
“Today more than ever before, we have to be consistently seeking leads, following up in a timely manner, and actively marketing every single day,” says Gard.
Gard’s speaking skills have earned him the elite status of enrollment in the National Speakers Association’s Speaker Hall of Fame, and he is one of only a handful of people to receive the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation from the same organization.
Both Gard and LaCroix will share how they derive income from multiple streams, not just keynote speaking fees.
“Professional speakers don’t just speak,” writes John LaRosa, president of Marketdata LLC. “They have multiple streams of income, including: speaking gigs, books, e-books, audiobooks, consulting, personal or business coaching, royalties and licensing, webinars, podcasts, seminars, membership programs, online courses, and retreats.”
According to Salary.com, the average motivational speaker salary in the United States was $78,169 as of July 2023. ZipRecruiter reports annual salaries as high as $298,000, and the top 25% earn more than $120,000. Speakers like Tony Robbins, Dave Ramsey, and Deepak Chopra earn in the millions.
Professional speakers are not coming to SpeakerBizCon 2025 for vague inspiration about boosting revenue, says Arnot.
“Pro speakers want real, actionable business strategy that grows their speaking income,” says Arnot. “SpeakerBizCon 2025 will give them new ideas, new contacts, new skills, and new confidence – a powerful plan to grow their business faster than ever before.”
Henry DeVries is the author of 20 books and the publisher/partner of Indie Books International in Oceanside, CA.
Henry DeVries
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Former columnist, Forbes.com (www.forbes.com/sites/henrydevries)
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Author of the Marketing With A Book For Agency Owners
Author of Rainmaker Confidential, Marketing With A Book, Bringing In the Business, Persuade With a Story! and How To Close A Deal Like Warren Buffett
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