How we are changing the world
AT YOUR EVENT:
In what may be the best book ever written about public speaking, Working the Room, published by the Harvard Business School Press, communications expert Nick Morgan begins with the statement:
“The only reason to give a speech is to change the world”.
We couldn’t agree more.
After all, why would anyone spend the time and effort necessary to prepare and deliver a speech unless their goal wasn’t to impact the way the audience thinks and feels about the given topic? And more importantly, why would anyone bother to listen?
But, if you can impact the way a person thinks and feels about a given subject, you may affect their actions. And if you affect their actions, you can effect change. And after all, that’s the only way the world changes – when a person or group of people do things differently than they did before.
Whether it’s in the workplace, at home, or in the community, a great speaker can be the catalyst for breakthrough ideas, actions and results.
That’s why we believe that although a speech may last for 60 minutes, its impact can last forever.
And that’s why our vision is to change the world by helping you put the right speaker in front of the right audience at the right time.
AROUND THE GLOBE:
We believe that as entrepreneurs, we have an obligation not only to our clients and employees, but also to the communities in which we work and live.
That’s why over the years we’ve supported various charities and community organizations including Special Olympics, Ontario Literacy Coalition, Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, Camp Trillium, Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Bloorview MacMillan Children's Centre, Ability OnLine, POGO (the Paediatric Oncology Group of Ontario), and the BC Children's Hospital.
We are currently very active with three exceptional charitable and non-profit organizations:
1. Free the Children
In 2007, we partnered with Free the Children, a children's charity devoted to providing education opportunities and reducing poverty in the developing world. We have adopted a village in the Maasai Mara region of rural Kenya, where many children live in extreme poverty and their families face significant life challenges.
Through our annual showcases, we are proud to have raised enough funds to build a one-room schoolhouse, pay a teacher’s wages for a year, and construct a well to provide our community with fresh water. We have also raised enough funds to send all the textbooks and furniture needed at the school. With the current world food crisis, the United Nations recently had to recently withdraw all funding for our village's food program, so in 2009, we provided a lunch program to all students at our school for almost two entire years. This may be the only meal they eat a day, which also provides incentive for parents to send their kids to school. On our own, we also paid a teacher’s salary for a year and sent “our kids” in Kenya $200,000.00 worth of medical supplies.
Watch Marc Kielburger as he thanks Speakers’ Spotlight for our fundraising efforts:
www.freethechildren.com/thankyou/speakersspotlight/
2. Kiva.org
In 2008, we partnered with Kiva.org, the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to an entrepreneur in the developing world. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva.org is creating a global community of people connected through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
We believe this is one of the best ways to empower our neighbours, giving them opportunities to become economically independent, improve their standard of living, and alleviate poverty for themselves and their communities.
To date, we have made loans to over 3,100 entrepreneurs in the developing world.
You can track our progress at the following link:
www.kiva.org/lender/speakersspotlight3773
3. Pathways to Education
In 2009, we partnered with Pathways to Education Canada, a charitable organization created to reduce poverty and its effects by lowering the high school dropout rate and increasing access to post-secondary education among disadvantaged youth in Canada.
The Pathways to Education Program provides four key supports (academic, social, financial, and advocacy) to ensure that young people will successfully complete high school, continue on to post-secondary programs and become actively engaged in their career development. The program takes a holistic approach, ensuring that the four supports are delivered in a cross-communicative style and not in isolation.
SPEAKERS’ SPOTLIGHT SCHOLARSHIP FUND
This FUND has been developed by Speakers’ Spotlight as a way of directly helping young people achieve their full potential by getting to school, staying in school, graduating and moving on to post-secondary programs. Showcase 2010 was in support of this FUND. Also, every time a speaker is booked through Speakers’ Spotlight, we make a donation to the SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
We feel honoured to make a difference through the work we do, and are excited that as a result of our relationship with you, we can help change the world both at home and around the globe.
