Burr Ridge's Richardson Celebrates 20 Years of Matching Free Speakers with Groups

To celebrate two decades of service to the community, Free Speech Speaker’s Bureau has undergone a major update - a new name, logo and many more opportunities for both speakers and the hundreds of groups who use speakers. Free Speech is now FreeSpeakers.org - A Pro Bono Speakers Bureau.

“All speakers present programs at no cost,” said Ginny Richardson, of Burr Ridge, founder of FreeSpeakers.org. “This is a community service project that is 100 percent free to groups that have limited (or no) budgets.”

FreeSpeakers.org is a boon for groups who need speakers for their programs but who have limited (or no) budgets. Groups include Chambers of Commerce, libraries, Rotary and Kiwanis groups, special interest clubs, retirement communities, church groups, women’s clubs, men’s clubs, etc.

“What’s in it for the speakers? Certainly not money,” Richardson said. “They want the opportunity to hone speaking skills, market themselves, make contacts, convey a message, teach, give back to the community and frequently, all of the above. The benefit for all speakers is that getting out in the community and in front of audiences can lead to new clients, new friends and new experiences.”

Free Speech was launched officially in 1996, and the response was, and continues to be, enthusiastic. At the end of its first year, Free Speech represented 36 speakers. Today, more than 150 speakers are available. During the first six months of 2015 alone, there have been more than 250 requests for speakers.

There are additional benefits. Public speaking provides invaluable experience in communications; each and every time you speak you improve. No-fee speaking can lead to free public relations since many groups send out press releases about their speakers to the print media who, in turn, reach thousands of readers. Another positive is that a speaker has a grand opportunity to educate the public; and maybe most important, speakers give of themselves.

“I have used FreeSpeakers.org several times for our Chicago-area Mensa group’s monthly gathering. Each may have been free, but each has been as professional as those we’ve hired who had a high fee,” said Vicky Edwards, programs officer, Chicago-area Mensa. “Every one of them has arrived on time, been fully prepared and given a fascinating presentation.”

Humble beginnings

Ginny Richardson, of Burr Ridge, is owner and president of Ginny Richardson Public Relations (GR-PR) a Hinsdale PR firm specializing in social media and traditional media relations. Free Speech is an outgrowth of this PR business, although the two are entirely separate.

In 1996, Ginny received a phone call from a client who asked if she knew anyone who could give a dynamic talk at a chamber of commerce meeting. She recommended four people - a friend with an exercise business (“Fifty Ways to Lose Your Blubber”), a banker with a terrific sense of humor, a motivational speaker she knew, and a camera buff whose talk was titled, “How to Take Better Pictures.”

Later, Ginny had lunch with a reporter from a daily newspaper, and she mentioned her “just-for-fun” speaker’s bureau. The reporter found it fascinating that no money changed hands.

“My friend wrote a short story that ended up on the front page of her paper,” Ginny said. “The day the story came out my phone rang non-stop. Here it is 19 years later, and it’s still ringing.”

Ginny typed up the growing list of names with short descriptions of each person’s topic. This list was snail-mailed, at her own expense, to clubs and organizations in DuPage County. Today, FreeSpeakers.org is run entirely online and with a much, much longer list of speakers. It reaches beyond DuPage County and into the city and north, south and far west suburbs. The response from the groups has been tremendous.

“Many people don’t understand why we, as a PR company, would spend time on a project that doesn’t make money,” Ginny said, “but we are rewarded with loads of contacts and maybe most important – proof that some things in life are free.”

For more information, visit http://chicago.freespeakers.org/. To become a speaker, visit http://chicago.freespeakers.org/become-a-speaker/