Jane Atkinson

Jane has been helping speakers catapult their businesses for nearly 20 years. As a former speaker's agent, she has represented numerous speakers who have vaulted to the top 3% of the industry including Vince Poscente, Peter Legge and Joe Calloway (all CSP/CPAE's**).

In Jane's role as an agent, she often took speakers from 0 to 80 engagements per year at very high fees. What was her secret? Her ability to choose speakers with high levels of talent (no amount of marketing can overcome a mediocre speech), combined with her marketing formula. Jane worked with them to develop focused and effective marketing materials and then implemented a consistent, long term sales and marketing strategy.

Being able to understand a client's needs is a key in the speaking industry and Jane spent over a decade on the front line selling to them and working through to speech completion.

Jane went on to work as Vice President for International Speakers Bureau in Dallas, TX managing their Exclusive Speakers Division. There she represented celebrities like boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard and President of Washington Wizards Basketball, Susan O'Malley. Also included in the ISB roster were bestselling authors like Gary Hoover of hoovers.com and the Swedish authors of Funky Business, Jonas Ridderstrale, and Kjell Nordstrom.

Spending a total of 6 years under the roof of a bureau gave Jane some keen insights into the industry. Not only did she see hundreds of speaker's marketing materials (the good, the bad and the ugly) but she learned the keys to building long term profitable relationships with bureaus.

Currently, Jane is a full time business coach and consultant dealing exclusively with professional speakers, celebrities and CEO's. Her clients are the who's who and the up-and-comers of the speaking world. She is often asked to speak at National Speakers Association and Canadian Association of Professional Speakers conferences and Chapter meetings. 

“What do I say? For two years I had been challenged and stuck on how to best position myself. Jane not only helped me clarify my “lane”/expertise but made me realize that what I do and how I do it can co-exist and be of equal importance in promising what I deliver to clients. You’re the bomb Jane Atkinson!
Rich DiGirolamo, Marion, CT

Jane's book entitled The Wealthy Speaker: A Proven Formula for Building a Successful Speaking Business has been touted "the bible" of the speaking

Jane has been trained by the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and combines coaching with consulting. The results are a combination of 20 years industry experience with actual coaching technique and structure.

Whether through her Wealthy Speaker materials, private coaching or group coaching, Jane's "Ready, Aim, Fire" process has helped thousands of speakers grow their business faster.

Prior to the speaking industry, Jane worked in marketing roles for companies like 3M Canada, Canadian Airlines, FM96 Radio and Sunshine Village Ski Resort. She also did some work for P&O Cruise Lines in Australia. In 2002, Jane relocated to Canada to be closer to family.  Her hometown of London, Ontario is where she met her husband (September '07) John and lives in her dream house by the Thames River. (You can read more about that on page 8 of The Wealthy Speaker).

Articles About Jane

Read the article in The London Free Press Business Monday.	Read Magic Mouthpiece article in Core Magazine
Listen to Jane's interview by Paul Lawrence Vann of The Wealthy Speaker Radio Show Blog Talk Radio