Chapter CSPs

The Certified Speaking Professional designation is earned through a combination of professional association, professional education, professional performance and professional business management standards.

The CSP application process is designed to verify that speakers have met these standards. The easiest part of earning a CSP is completing the application; the hard part is the work applicants do as professional speakers and the energy they put into building their careers. The application provides the vehicle for speakers to document their achievement of the standards.

NSA has only one earned professional designation -- the Certified Speaking Professional.

The CSP Candidate is not a designation; it is a program that provides an opportunity for those who do not yet meet all of the CSP standards to begin the process of earning their CSP. The Candidate program is an interim step to documenting your achievements of the standards.

In Feb.1977, the National Speakers Association (NSA) established the Council of Peers Award for Excellence Speaker Hall of Fame to honor professional speakers who have reached the top echelon of platform excellence.

Admission into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame is a lifetime award for speaking excellence and professionalism. Inductees are evaluated by their peers through a rigorous and demanding process. Each candidate must excel in seven categories: material, style, experience, delivery, image, professionalism and communication. The award is not based on celebrity status, number of speeches, amount of income or volunteer involvement in NSA.

To date, 151 men and women have been inducted into the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame. Up to five new inductees are named each year at a gala celebration held in conjunction with the NSA National Convention. There are currently 123 living members of the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame. Additionally, NSA conferred an honorary CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame award on Ronald Reagan in 1981 and on General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) in 1999.

Chapter Members Who Have Attained CSP or CPAE Designations

• Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE
  
• Jeffrey Hansler, CSP www.oxfordco.com
  
• George Hedley, CSP
  
• Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE www.eileenmcdargh.com
  
• W. Mitchell, CSP, CPAE www.wMitchell.com
  
• Terry Paulson PhD, CSP, CPAE www.TerryPaulson.com
  
• Ed Riggsbee, CSP
  
• Tery Sjodin, CSP
  
• Susie Vanderlip, CSP www.legacyofhope.com
  

More information about the NSA's CSP and CPAE designation.