Professional Accreditation, what is it?

NSANZ offers three levels of accreditation.

The requirements for the three levels of NSANZ Membership are as follows:

• Designation of Member (ASM)
  Members with this accreditation have demonstrated their ability to command a fee for speaking. Once awarded, you are entitled to use the designation ASM after your name.
  
  
  
• Designation of Professional Member (APS)
  This accreditation is for members who can demonstrate that they have a number of satisfied clients and that they are able to command professional speaking fees.
  
  
  
• Designation of Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)
  Speakers who attain this accreditation have demonstrated that they have been professional speakers for several years, have many clients and have earned a significant income from speaking.

Professional designation is a means of recognising on-going development and achievement as a speaker, including a speaker’s ability to command the attention of an audience and the skills and knowledge of running a speaking business.

Definitions, criteria, and application forms for all stages of accreditation >>

NSANZ Accreditation / Membership class Update

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What’s changing?
Unlike other professional speaking associations worldwide, NSANZ has two levels of designation - membership status and accreditation status. Having both designations creates confusion, both for NSANZ members themselves, and others within the speaking industry. We are therefore reverting to the use of membership classes only, as per our constitution, in line with other associations worldwide and the current accreditation levels of ASM (Accredited Speaking Member) and APS (Accredited Professional Speaker) will no longer be used.

Why is the change necessary?
The only recognised professional speaking designation worldwide is that of CSP – Certified
Speaking Professional. Other accreditation levels have no formal recognition, even within the
speaking industry. Membership classes are used worldwide to reflect the status of members
within their professional speaking association and help them attain CSP status should they wish to do so. Focusing on the status of a member by way of membership class will bring NSANZ in line with other professional speaking associations worldwide, and allow members to benchmark themselves against other professional speakers more effectively.

What are NSANZ’s membership classes?
NSANZ’s membership classes are set out in schedules A and B of the NSANZ constitution . Currently, NSANZ only has Speaker Chapters (Auckland and Christchurch), therefore the membership levels set out in schedule B of the constitution apply:

• Provisional Member
• Member
• Professional Member
• Honorary Member
• Life Member
• Industry Member
• Associate Member*

* Whilst not set out in Schedule B, the membership class ‘Associate Member’ was introduced in 2007 and applies to individuals professionally associated with an existing member, for example, a business manager, admin support person and so on.

What are the criteria for each membership class?
The criteria for each membership class are set out in Schedule B of the constitution. However, a broad summary of each membership class, and its broad alignment with existing accreditation levels, is noted below:

• Provisional Member: No minimum criteria, however, before renewal of annual membership, the Provisional Member is required to show progress towards achieving Member status.
• Member: Broadly equivalent to ASM accreditation level with proven speaking ability assessed by peers by way of a formal assessment process.
• Professional Member: Broadly equivalent to APS accreditation level with proven speaking ability and significant earnings as a direct result of speaking activities assessed by peers via a formal assessment process. NB: This membership class includes CSP accredited speakers and
  those who have not yet attained CSP status but who can prove they are speaking professionally with a large number of clients for several years or more.
• Honorary Member: For members who do not earn a significant portion of their income from speaking but are regarded as accomplished speakers as nominated by their peers.
• Life Member: For members who have made a valuable contribution to the Association as nominated by their peers.
• Industry Member: For individuals or organisations with a vested interest in the speaking profession eg. speaker bureaux
• Associate Member: For individuals professionally associated with an existing member, for example, a business manager, admin support person and so on.

How will I know what membership level I am / have?
Every NSANZ member will be advised of their current membership level by 31 December 2009. For members who have already attained ASM, APS or CSP status, they will automatically be classified as per the relevant member class as noted above. If you have not yet attained a specific accreditation status it is likely you will be classified as a Provisional Member.

When will the changes take effect?
In order to give every member as much time as possible to be classified at the membership level they believe is appropriate for them and can achieve, a ‘change‐over’ time of at least 6 months has been put in place. The current accreditation levels of ASM and APS will no longer be available or used as of 1 July 2010.

Why the delay in making the change?
In making the decision to focus on membership classes rather than accreditation levels, a
significant amount of research over almost two years was carried out to ensure the membership classes broadly align with similar membership classes of professional speaking associations overseas. In doing so it became apparent that the criteria required to attain Member and Professional Member status were, in some respects, significantly higher than the current NSANZ criteria for ASM and APS status. Therefore, the National Executive believes giving existing members who may already be able to meet the current NSANZ criteria but haven’t yet put an application forward time to do so was important.

Will I be able to continue referring to my ASM or APS status after 1 July 2010?
If you wish to, you may continue to use the acronym ASM or APS as a historic level of
achievement. However, all official NSANZ materials, including the website, will refer to
membership classes and CSP status only.

If I haven’t yet attained ASM, APS or CSP status, how can I refer to my membership of NSANZ on my website, stationery and promotional materials?
From 1 January 2010, when referring to your membership of NSANZ in any way you are required to accurately state your current membership class and / or level of accreditation.

Am I able to use the NSANZ logo on my website, stationery and promotional materials?
Only Members, Professional Members and those that have attained CSP status may use the
NSANZ logo on their websites, stationery or promotional materials. Provisional members may not use the logo in any way.

If I think I meet the current ASM (Member) or APS (Professional Member) criteria should I apply before 1st July 2010?
Yes! As noted above, the criteria for achieving Member or Professional Member status will be
raised to meet international standards from 1 July 2010. However, applications for ASM (Member) and ASP (Professional Member) submitted before 1 July 2010 will be assessed on the current criteria available on the NSANZ website.

How do I find out about the current criteria?
The current criteria, guidelines and application forms for ASM (Member), APS (Professional
Member) and CSP are available on the NSANZ website. The new criteria that will take effect from 1 July 2010 will be available from 31 January 2010 for information purposes.

In summary, NSANZ is committed to supporting each individual members become the best
speaker, presenter and MC they can be in ways that are authentic for them, meet internationally recognised standards and make them a highly sought after and ‘in demand’ speaker nationally and internationally.

We encourage you to attain the membership class that best suits your current circumstances, and are committed to supporting you as meet the criteria to attain the next membership class and CSP status if you so wish.

Please feel free to speak with any member of the National Executive Committee, or your Chapter President, if you have any further questions. We look forward to supporting you ‘On Platform, On Purpose and On Fire!’

Hannah Samuel
National President
Ph: 021 689 809 / 09 419 4249