Speaker Buzz is the brainchild of sisters Debbie Byers, who has worked in the communications industry for more than two decades, and Carol Graham, who has a nearly 20-year career with global technology giant, IBM. The company has already signed speakers like Mollie Hughes, who in May 2017 became the youngest woman (aged 26) in the world to summit Mount Everest from both the south and north side. Speaker Buzz’s unique business model has already gained international interest from Europe and the US.

Name: Debbie Byers
Age: 45
Position: Director

WHAT’S YOUR BUSINESS CALLED?
Speaker Buzz

WHERE IS IT BASED?
Edinburgh

WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
I AM drawn to people with engaging human interest stories that have a lasting impact, people that inspire others to make positive changes. I got to know one of our speakers, Molly Hughes, and I have seen the impact she has. Speaker Buzz goes beyond more traditional modes of speaking. All the people we represent want to change lives and we want people to be inspired by their stories.

There is nothing like this in Scotland at the moment. There are after dinner talks but no dedicated resource in Scotland. They all source speakers from London speaker agencies so we wanted to set up the equivalent here.

I worked in London through my career. In Scotland the network of support is invaluable. Once you have a relationship it is never forgotten. Scottish people are really loyal and have true integrity in business. The feedback of our launch was really positive and lots of people said it is a good thing.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
THE speakers all do public speaking but didn’t have representation until now. A lot of them are working several jobs. We take the admin side away from them. Our job is to promote them to event companies and conference organisers. We seek opportunities for them that they don’t have time to find themselves.

We registered as a business in April but just launched this month as we wanted to be in a position where we had the website ready to go. We are doing direct marketing and sales promotion. We are based at Spaces [a co-working space] in Edinburgh and the facilities are phenomenal. We plan to put on events there to showcase our speakers.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
WE only represent people who want to make a social, behavioural or cultural impact in society. People who are trying to make a change in their own lives, their work or the environment. We are both trying to create impact and support speakers. We only take on people we have some connection to. It is not a remote sales tool. We met with Alistair Gray, one of our speakers last week and got to sit down and map out opportunities with him. We genuinely spend time with the speakers.

WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
WE support event companies who are putting together events and needing inspiring conference speakers. These include corporate or client events who are looking for something different. We also work in academia, such as universities and business schools. Some of the speakers do their own internal work in universities too and have already built up a relationship there. We have had inquiries from the US and Europe already.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
THE interaction with people. Every day is different. I love the amount of knowledge you gain in different sectors. Carol spent 20 years working for IBM. There are few women in tech at her level. She was commuting to London to one company and she needed a change. I was thinking about setting up a speaker agency for a few months but I didn’t want to do it alone. My background in sales and Carol’s in financial management works really well. Clients also like how the company is run by two sisters.

WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?
IN 10 years I hope we will have a really positive impact with a larger portfolio of speakers and for more audiences to be inspired by people we represent.

We will always be based in Scotland and have no aspiration to move to London.