great business speakers

Last month, I was approached by BRINK to comment on the future of corporate events in the era of COVID-19. The full article appears below. This article first appeared on BRINK on August 23, 2020. A BRINK interview with Tony D'Amelio, Principal of D'Amelio Network

A career as a speakers' bureau agent After 40+ years as an agent, first in the music business and then for top speakers, I made a career change in 2012 and began managing a carefully chosen group of top experts who speak. In my new life, I work with most every speakers’ bureau on a daily basis. They often ask me, especially now when talent is so hard to find if I know someone who'd make a great agent. Sometimes I do – and I do my best to connect people and help however I can.

A SIMPLE CHANGE MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE It’s not every day you can make a simple change that has an enormous impact on the way you feel and the way you work. At the end of 2016 I did just that. I bought a stand-up desk. Of all the healthy workplace ideas I've tried, this has made the greatest difference. Like so many people, I spend my days sitting in front of a computer. In my case I’m booking speakers for events -- communicating all day with event planners, agents from bureaus, and my speaking clients. I'm a morning person – I start around 5:00 AM with a computer in my lap – sitting on my office couch with a coffee. I move to my desk around 7:30 and stay there pretty much all day – winding up my day at around 6:00 PM. That's a lot of sitting - and I've been working like that a long time.