Chris Reed is taking on male-dominated industry conferences with ‘female rock-star speakers’

Why do you continue to give this [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] so much column space?

Because against a backdrop of bland press releases and bullsh*t virtue signalling from the advertising establishment he’s at least interesting.

using Chris Reed and [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] in the same sentence is the only part of your comment that makes sense.

Well said Neal who has the courage to show who he is while commenting…..

The second part of my comment was about clickbait not being a good long term content strategy. Mumbrella removed it for some reason. Anyway, while you’re here Chris it would be good to get your comments on that.

The only way this will be successful is if Chris launches his own event as there are multiple factors out of his control:
– Commercial events depend on sponsorship and sponsors will put forward whoever they feel is fit – male/female/ethnicity/orientation. It is the role of the Content lead to ensure what they are saying is effective and impactful
– Some “rockstar females” who have a proven track record and aren’t over exposed charge a speaker fee which events are unlikely to pay, especially in Asia. Kick ass female speakers aren’t as in abundance and are able to monetise their involvement.
– Chris’ reputation amongst the seasoned and credible influencers (advisory boards etc) isn’t [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] so his representation may do more harm than help, no matter how true his intentions.
– “Old boys networks” and “comfy choices” are redundant excuses, the paying audience are the judges of quality of speakers, not the conference organisers.

I’d like to be proved wrong but I foresee Chris trawling LinkedIn and hoping that who he represents can actually deliver. Public speaking is an art form to be of calibre that resonates with people and holds their attention. It would have been a better announcement if Chris had some of these “rockstar females” already on board so we can understand what level he is operating at.

Moving into this space will take significant qualifying, potentially coaching and investing in the “rockstar females” he represents making this a loss leader as a business. As with other of his ventures – it’s best to observe over the next few months before believing a press release.

thanks for your detailed thoughts, interesting and to answer a couple of your points

1) we do already have a portfolio of rock star female speakers, you don’t think I’d launch without them did you? I’m just not naming them so they can’t be misrepresented by others as happens in that industry

2) did you actually have a look at the great speakers at Key Note -Asia Women Speakers who we’ve teamed up with? they’re Rock Stars and all female

3) don’t believe what you read, most people who make these decisions don’t know or don’t care about the negative stuff written about me, they can make their own mind up

4) Black Marketing is now in its 6th year and going from strength to strength, most of our clients are not even in Singapore so why would anyone care about what a few trolls say here?

5) There’s a reason I have almost 900 LinkedIn recommendations…I deliver time and time again

Thanks again for your considered thoughts

Chris you never learn. After TMG, and other ventures, you’d think you’d be more about the humility than the [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].

Mumbrella can you put a note in your calendar for this time next year to check in on how this is doing?

Keynote Asia Womens Speakers – you should have [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] .

it’s called marketing…you might want to look it up…

we’re already placing female speakers so it’s already working

you just love to criticise…sigh…will you ever learn?

Great cause, who would disagree with what he’s trying to do? And if so why?

erm, maybe because Chris has a reputation as an [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].

And please, is anybody still using the phrase ‘rock star’ in 2019? And if so, are they ever really taken seriously

debatable as the article says, “opinion splitting”

and yes they are and yes they can be

It’s 2019, is the industry so starved of credible news and people that we have to report on CR? Who cares, all he’s [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] hairstyle and a lot of hot air. Next please!

and what have you done lately worth reporting?

is this how you respond to all criticism? little bit childish no?

actually a very reasonable question….what has that person done recently worth reporting and for that matter you?

easy to criticise when you just sit on the sidelines taking no risks….

Sorry Chris, you my not like it, but that’s exactly how criticism works. Can you not criticize your football team for losing at home (again) because you have never played at the top level? Can you not criticise a movie as you’ve never directed in Hollywood? Of course you can. Like I said, a childish response.

I disagree. My question remains unanswered.

What have you/they done lately worth reporting?

of course you disagree. I would expect nothing less.
I hope then that you live life in this way and are never critical of anything that you haven’t yourself practiced at the highest level
I am sure that if I took a look at your posting history, I would never find numerous occasions when you have not loved to this immature standard

you could but then I would see who you were and you don’t want that do you…?

“Black Marketing is now in its 6th year and going from strength to strength, most of our clients are not even in Singapore so why would anyone care about what a few trolls say here?”

My girlfriend, who lives in Canada….

she’s wise living so far away from you…is she made up too?

and literally no one cares, in fact most people of any intelligence just disregard trolls and anonymous ramblings as being just that, not worth anything….

….they care about the fact that we deliver and we do thanks to my epic Black Marketing team and care about what people say about us on LinkedIn where they can all see who they are…and they’re not hiding behind anonymity to make a stupid point

Pity your epic Black Marketing don’t feel the same about you. Although I’m guessing you’ll insist they were all disgruntled trolls also.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Black-Marketing-Reviews-E1138940.htm

you will notice they are all anonymous so are they even real?

anyway this is Singapore, talent who are fired love to complain and blame the boss, easiest thing in the world and most of those are years ago and seemingly the same person…

anyway you missed our actual company (ABV) as that one one you highlighted is not ours as you can see from it’s description and who owns it…this one below is actually our Glass Door and we have perfect scores here from employees

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/employers/ec/app/community-engagement/reviews/employeeReviews.htm?currentPartnerId=0&selectedEmployerId=2140425&profileId=1022109

You were the CEO of this company when these reviews were written: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Black-Marketing-Reviews-E1138940.htm

Then you changed the name of your company and now you are trying to redirect people to those reviews…..

People are not fools, Chris…

and for a more representative look please read our 900 LinkedIn recommendations from real people with real names and real identities many of whom are ex employees….

https://ptdrv.linkedin.com/5jd69nz

of course he calls them “females”

and you call them what? girls?

Women. Try women. Starting your first quote with “Females are not being featured…” is kind of offensive and weird. But then we all know how us “males” are, eh? 😉

and what is the difference Mark?

The Singapore Government use females – see below

https://www.msf.gov.sg/research-and-data/Research-and-Statistics/Pages/Singapore-Demographic-Sex-Ratio-Males-to-Females.aspx

Even women’s bodies like Asia Women’s Speakers actually use the term females when describing what they do – see below

https://www.linkedin.com/company/keynote-asias-women-speakers/about/

So why are you offended by it’s use?

As a woman, Chris, I’m offended by its use because historically “female” is used to dehumanise women.

This is an ongoing issue we’re having.

Which you would know if you’d perhaps bothered to speak to the women you’re supposedly representing

Well I speak to women speakers everyday and was on a call with 50 of them last night discussing Rock Star and not one of them mentioned it. No one has ever said that they are offended by that just like I would never be offended by male.

You must be really offended by Girls in Tech then…..

KeyNote Asia Women’s Speakers use both terms of women and female in their website many times and that’s run completely by and written by women…

https://primetime.org.sg/event-detail/?id=65

So… it’s a war of words now? I’m a “woman” and surprisingly also happen to be well described as female in many aspects. Some people now call me Zhe. Some might even call me the very confusing “they”.
The new non-denominational term is Zhe however, not a fan but less confusing. And I don’t get offended by the word female.

Girl, get a grip. Oh and gosh sorry for calling you girl – maybe that’s utterly inhuman to you as well?!

I think this is a superb idea! Long overdue. I attend many conferences globally and the majority of speakers are male. Chris J. Reed is an excellent presenter and I’ve learned a lot from his talks which has resulted in more business coming my way. In my experience, the female speakers tend to have less ego and more content, so I look forward to seeing this industry become more balanced.

Cheers Ella

Chris Reed is a truly inspiring individual.

I am…I mean…he is awesome and his idea is brilliant and this business is amazing and will go from strength to strength, and will one day make it big on the Swedish stock exchange.

What’s the catch?

thanks sis

comments are gold, unfortunately unlike the forthcoming execution of this idea

Our company engaged Chris and his company after he did a great sales job on our director full of [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. After 6 months of working with him our brand sentiment scores [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].
This was also the first time we have ever had former clients reach out to us to [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] – which we dismissed at the time as sometimes partnerships don’t work out. Over the same six month period we ended up receiving almost 10 independent warnings about [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] from previous clients. Everything they said came true and the financial and long term brand negative effects of [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] still impact our business to this day.
In regards to this new initiative, as a Brand Marketer I have sat on 2 of the largest conferences in the region advisory boards and I can confirm that [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. His responses in Mumbrella article threads reflect this.
As a woman I strongly urge any one who is approached [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] thinks long and hard about [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. You are far better off to approach the conferences and events directly as stand out women speakers are desperately needed.
Chris you can blame trolls but you are not acknowledging the [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. If your theory of “loving to complain and blame the boss” was true then this would be standard for companies across the industry and a quick look at similar companies on Glassdoor show this simply isn’t the case. It is the opposite that is true – when someone has had an experience that has impacted their business or their career critically, as a human they want others to not suffer the same fate.
P.S. Changing the name of your company doesn’t hide the fact the Black Marketing review on Glassdoor are for you.

IF this is true (big if) then it sounds like you were bitter that your director dare to make a decision without you so you made it your mission to sabotage the “partnership”.

What’s more interesting are the following points:

1) we don’t work on brand campaigns so why would brand sentiment go down and why would we be responsible for it? We’re a LinkedIn marketing agency not a brand agency.

2) we don’t work on company pages on LinkedIn so again brand sentiment is not something we work on directly. Even if we did manage a company page as much as I would like to say LinkedIn has the power to transform weak brands it doesn’t have the power to change entire brand sentiment if your brand is already in trouble as it sounds like yours already was….blaming us is a cop out for your strategy and execution as you call yourself a “brand marketer” I think that might be your job….

3) it sounds like your brand had problems which your director tried to do something about and that they were too severe for a LinkedIn plaster to make much difference

4) we never reveal who we work for and encourage our clients to also not do so for obvious reasons, so how would all these people magically find out that we were working for you and decide to complain? seems far fetched to make a point or simply not true

5) if female speakers felt emboldened enough to do this themselves then there would no need for our service but there is because it’s a male dominated industry which puts off even the strongest women speakers. I have been inundated with female speakers asking us to represent them and telling us what a fantastic idea it is and how it’s needed so badly.

6) the name change is a real thing not a marketing trick, it’s a fact, BM SG was bought by TMG. ABV is wholly owned by me and owns the BM brand globally – so our ABV glass door is who we are now whereas the BM one is owned and managed by TMG not us.

7) and for a more representative look please read our 900 LinkedIn recommendations from real people with real names who work for real companies who have real identities many of whom are ex employees and ex clients who all give us rave reviews….

it’s the most of anyone doing what we’re doing in the world and if we were as bad you say we were, why would 900 people be publicly saying that we do a fantastic job and be happy to publicly state this with their actual name and company name?

https://ptdrv.linkedin.com/5jd69nz

…. easy to hide behind anonymity and a fake story to make a point when your facts don’t add up….

No Chris – as a Brand Marketer we track the effectiveness of each channel and platform used independently. This allows us to pull levers up and down quickly and impactfully.

Our company is well known and this is a small industry. Word spreads very quickly and previous clients of yours are passionate about others not being [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].

Not everyone lies, trolls, is jealous, has nothing worth reporting or whatever other accusations you throw out. If you think 900 random references have any sway and forgives your behaviour during TMG days you are mistaken.

I agree with the other comment – let’s see where you are in a year with this.

You’re contradicting yourself, you said brand sentiment, that is not communicated solely by LinkedIn. If it went down that’s down to whatever you were doing not LinkedIn.

Sounds again like you’re blaming LinkedIn when the blame for your brand being in trouble should be with you as you were in charge of it weren’t you “brand marketer”?

LinkedIn alone can’t fix your broken brand.

Word can’t spread quickly if people don’t know, we didn’t tell them as it’s against our confidentiality agreement. If you did you broke your own confidentiality agreement, why would you do that unless you had an agenda which it sounds like you did, you weren’t involved in decision making so you decided to sabotage it from the start. Can anyone trust you if you did both those things?

You’re also contradicting yourself again. You said you were put off our services by a few random people who mysteriously found out that we were working for you but 900 ex and current clients and employees passionately saying great things about what we do and that we deliver time and and time again isn’t good enough for you?

Make your mind up.

We have literally thousands of advocates of our services passionately recommending us every day, not just in Singapore but across the world.

And do you think anyone cares about anything to do with TMG? 99.999% of people have no idea who TMG was (plus it doesn’t exist anymore in any recognisable form).

18 founders down to 5/6 isn’t about me anyway it’s about TMG. We all left. But you seem bitter about that for reasons beyond comprehension given it didn’t affect you (or anyone really!). You might want to let it go, everyone else has, it’s all in the past! Everyone at TMG has moved on.

So yes 900 people on LinkedIn stating that we’re epic at what we do now does trump whatever happened with TMG years ago….because no one cares about TMG but they care about becoming a Rock Star Keynote Speaker or their LinkedIn marketing strategy or their personal branding or their social selling strategy and that’s why they keep coming to us every day asking us to work for them.

Just to prove my point TMG/RYVL announced this this week….

https://newsclient.omxgroup.com/cdsPublic/viewDisclosure.action?disclosureId=866193&lang=en

and then there were 3 founders left….

even I can’t be blamed for this 😉

Tone. Deaf. (as usual)

oh I am, you’re just not liking my honest replies (as usual)

When you get such consistently negative feedback – on this forum and also here:

https://www.mumbrella.asia/2018/01/marketing-group-splits-black-marketing-boss-chris-reed-nobody-will-shed-tear

and from your own employees here:

https://www.glassdoor.sg/Overview/Working-at-Black-Marketing-EI_IE1138940.11,26.htm

(and the reviews above do relate to your time as CEO of that company, despite you recent renaming the company and you now claiming that the reviews have nothing to do with you)

Despite all this avalanche of feedback, you continue to dodge, confuse and deny everything It’s really quite sad.

Kindly insert your usual defensive remark below….

Eyes rolling.

Do you always live in the past?

Do you ever listen to facts?

Did you actually count the number of employees who wrote anonymous and defamatory crap? It’s less than 2% of the people we’ve actually ever employed over 5 years.

The point about the company name is a legal fact not a marketing gimic. My holding company is ABV, that owns the global BM brand. Full stop.

BM SG pte ltd was bought by TMG and was closed after I resigned (again another fact you missed, I resigned they didn’t fire me, I can show you the email 2 months before that release). That’s a fact.

So those reviews from fired employees are meangingless.

ABV is the company that actually employed them (alledegdly.

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/employers/ec/app/community-engagement/reviews/employeeReviews.htm?currentPartnerId=0&selectedEmployerId=2140425&profileId=1022109

And you really think a few anonymous trolls negative feedback means anything compared to 900 positive recommendations both public and named here:

https://ptdrv.linkedin.com/5jd69nz

Facts, facts, facts.

Hmm, can I point out something? At this day and age, rock star female speakers do not necessarily need a man to find them speaking gigs. They will be approached as long as their work and track record is recognised in the industry…

This. So much this. What an appallingly patronising and opportunistic offering. “Hey ladies, You can be rock stars too! Just like me. Oh, wait a minute…”

You don’t get out much do you. Try talking to female speakers and ask them how hard it is getting keynotes and on panels dominated by males.

You just have to look at the fantastic reaction that I have had from female speakers and female organisations across the world saying that it was about time someone did this and loving our initiative.

Listen to the market not your own beliefs.

Not true Chris hence why I have been encouraged to set this up and why I am have been inundated with female speakers asking to be represented by us across the world.

This is a real issue for women speakers, the fact that you refuse to see that is part of the problem.

Great move from an industry innovator, with predictable response from the anonymous haterz.

He has 900 recommendations on LinkedIn. Think about what that means. 900 recommendations! On LinkedIn! Read that and weep Martin Sorrell or whatever it is you call yourself these days.

This guy should be getting honoured at Cannes, not stuck getting into beefs with the local chamber of commerce. About time genius was recognised. Who else is out there to manage your Tinder account? Genius!

With this guy’s track record, I can only see an upside

at least that’s funny….

I have a sneaking admiration for Chris’s brash, buccaneering approach. We did a video interview with him here that gives a bit of background on where he’s coming from: http://bit.ly/2CNgXIP

In the flesh he’s not always what people expect.

As Neal said, he gives an alternative take on what can be a pretty stifling industry.

That’s not to say his approach always works, you’d need to speak to clients for that, and I don’t really think anonymous social media hatchet jobs meet the criteria on honesty.

I’d like to think conferences should focus firstly on making sure their content solves a problem, and that they’d choose keynote speakers that can encapsulate that, and engage and inspire audiences to find their own path. I don’t really see the commoditised approach to speakers reaping rewards – women or men.

Having said that, I think positive discrimination yields massive benefits, and if Chris can give women a platform to reach out, and the confidence to do so, then he’s bringing an asset to the industry.

Spot on Nick and great summary as ever

Looking forward to see the conference Chris!

you won’t regret coming

I do a lot of talks at events and female speakers are present at such events as long as they do the same thing as everyone else. Email event organisers if they need a speaker based on a proposed topic. Be a good industry speaker by doing really good speaking engagements at events which will help lead to more speaking invites.

You don’t need to be a rock star to get speaking engagements. You just need to speak well, do some homework and network with event organisers.

Of course. Or is this too obvious for some?
Not sure what this rock star (groan) platform actually offers.
Does Chris have the network that can help? If so, why does he not use it to raise his own speaking profile beyond appearances at commerce chambers and undergraduate classes? (Is Chris unable to practice what he preaches?)

Or maybe this actually the level to which he is going to raise all these women. If so, I am even more confused. Are women really struggling to get some nice, unpaid speaking gigs? If so, why? And is it really the case that they need a proverbial white knight (male of course – the optics on this are dreadful) to show them the way?

Great points m and maybe I should explain more.

The talks you see on my profile (thanks for viewing BTW) are the free talks which lead to us winning clients.

The paid for talks are either not promoted as they’re not open to the public or are/and confidential and are not promoted on LinkedIn.

My Chris J Reed Mastery brand which looks after our masterclasses generates significant amounts of revenue don;t worry, hence why I know there;s a market for women speakers. I was in Germany and Zurich before xmas for example for paid for masterclasses so this global not just in Singapore.

So yes we have an extensive list of contacts and companies across the world (and they tend not to be event company organisers who want freebies) who we can tap into for our Rock Star clients.

We also already represent some truly Rock Star Keynote speaking clients on our Black Marketing brand so have more insights there too that will help our Rock Star clients.

And again even on free ones though our Dark Art brand we offer this as a service and our largest clientele are senior women professionals who are just more aware of themselves than men and have what is commonly known as “imposter syndrome” which us arrogant men just don’t have.

Hence why they call in specialist help. Again something a strong women does that a weak man does not.

Women have been turning to me continuously since we announced this, not because they can’t do this themselves because of course they can but because if someone can do it for them why not outsource it so that they can focus on making their talks even better and doing more of them?

Also because if you look at all the other speaker bureaus in the world, have a look at their list of female speakers. Less than 10%. So who’s going to represent them more and become know for supplying fantastic women speakers?

We studied the Top 100 bureaus and working with KeyNote – Asia Women’s Speakers and Prime Time Professional Women’s Association heard the horror stories of women just not being properly and positively represented in this area.

So if I don’t do it because you all object then who is going to? I am merely seeing a marketing niche that is not currently addressed and that can dovetail nicely into our other 6 LinkedIn themed marketing brands.

If I was an Asian woman you wouldn’t be objecting and if someone else had thought of this I wouldn’t be doing it. But I’m not and they didn’t so I am!

Thanks Chris, appreciate your points but I am talking about paid for gigs here not free ones.

Even on free ones though our Dark Art brand offers that as a service that offers this and our largest clientele are senior women professionals who are just more aware of themselves than men and have what is commonly known as “imposter syndrome” which us arrogant men just don’t have.

Hence why they call in specialist help. Again something a strong women does that a weak man does not.

As a conference content manager, there’s so many reasons why this whole thread is bull shit!

pray share? we’re all dying to here why….

We’re all dying to find out why you think that…please do share….

I think this is where the push for equality goes off the rails.

What we need is “equality of opportunity” – whereby males and females have the same opportunities.

But what looks like it’s happening here is “equality of outcome” where many complex parameters are being overlooked for the sake of creating a favourable outcome. It’s a common and serious flaw in the philosophies of most modern day feminists and SJWs and people who jump onto the bandwagon.

I think that what this Chris Reed guy should be doing, if he truly favours equality, is invite the best people in the industry to speak, regardless of gender. It’s that simple.

Why?

There are MANY reasons why there are more males in marketing and speaking at events. SOME of these are due to discrimination, but the GREAT MAJORITY are the result of other factors, such as is the case in many industries. Males and females often have different career ambitions, make different career choices, different sets of priorities, etc etc etc etc. To say “we need more female speakers” without considering any of the reasons why there are less of them, is pure virtue signalling.

People such as Professor Jordan Peterson (one of the world’s most intelligent and reasoned clinical psychologists) has extensively explained why equality of outcome is a bad and dangerous concept. I don’t know Chris Reed or his motives, but this seems like a case of another person jumping onto the SJW virtue signalling bandwagon: a stunt to say “look at me, I care for women.” Why? It’s good PR. And it’s much easier and faster to do than actually considering all the reasons why there are fewer women speaking at events and acting accordingly and properly.

But then, maybe this is just another reflection of the extremely superficial and irresponsible industry we work in.

Thank you for sharing a very thoughtful opinion well articulated, however I would argue that this is part of the problem.

You’re probably a high powered female executive who doesn’t think that she can do a keynote as well as a man when actually I bet that you could do it better? Please forgive me if that is not case as I meet a lot of high powered women who fall into this category (hence why I started the business).

The reason why KeyNote – Asia Women’s Speakers exists is precisely because women are not getting the same opportunities as men, especially in Asia.

The reason why I got involved is because women were asking me how they could get more keynotes and why did men dominate. And when I looked into they were right. And that’s a business opportunity.

The Marketing Industry actually employs more females than men so why are females not having the majority of keynotes and panels not the minority and a small minority at that?

There’s a reason why only 9% of the SGX’s directors are men. That pavades downwards. That’s a culture thing here but the same happens in other countries I just think it’s more exaggerated here for cultural reasons.

As Neal Moore points out in his excellent article on the same subject here even women conference organsiers aren’t asking enough women to be keynote speakers.

https://www.mumbrella.asia/2019/01/how-to-be-a-diversity-ally-in-2019-by-a-woke-straight-white-dude

I’m not doing this because I want to be seen to be doing great things for women, I’m an entrepreneur and I wouldn’t be doing this unless I thought that there was a market for it, that things are changing and that we can make money out of it (and of course it dovetails very nicely with our Black Marketing LinkedIn marketing business).

But it is also a great thing to be doing because it is the right thing to be doing. There are too many Speaker Bureaus out there who have 90% male speakers, why?

No reason apart from bias and prejudice.

So why not challenge that and make a business out of it at the same time?

I agree that there are definitely bias against females, across most industries, to one degree or another. And advertising is still unfortunately very much dominated by the old boys’ club at the top. But I believe you’ve over-simplified what is a very complex subject.

Just getting more females to speak at an event doesn’t solve anything. It’s a short-term bandaid fix that gets attention and women and the media cheer you on and you feel good and might even get laid because of it (roll your eyes, but it’s what unfortunately motivates a LOT of male ‘feminists’). But it does nothing to address any issue at the roots. What’s more, by doing this sort of thing, you might well be doing so at the expense of males who are more qualified to do these presentations than some of the females that you select. So, does that matter?

Imagine if airlines did a similar thing to what you’re doing here. Say the airline needs to hire 20 new pilots. There are 10 male candidate pilots and 10 females. The airline already has what it sees as too many male pilots so it decides it’s going to hire 18 females and 2 males. This is what I meant when I said “equality of outcome.” Would you want to fly on a plane that has a pilot who was hired because of her gender over another pilot who might be more competent? Or would you rather know that your pilot was chosen because he/she had the highest qualifications and experience?

Thankfully this is only advertising and nobody’s going to slam into the side of a mountain if things go wrong, but the principle is the same. That’s why “equality of opportunity” is the only way to achieve true equality.

Give men and women the same opportunity to speak, and simply choose the best. If you’re the one choosing the speakers, why not do that? If what you’re saying about competent females missing out is true, and I don’t doubt you, you’ll have a balanced group of speakers who are the most competent people you could get. And who attending any event doesn’t want that?

Also, yeah I’m not good at math.
20 male, 20 female pilot candidates, 20 positions.

Thanks again for your thoughtful contribution:

1) interesting that you bring up airlines as brands like Virgin and Singapore have had a “certain kind of woman” stewardess policy for years. Branson created the whole “blonde female 6 foot tall stewardess” look and SQ never employ ugly and fat Asians now do they? In fact if you get pregnant then it’s bye bye….

2) While I get your point on pilots I don’t think anyone’s going to die if we get a woman speaker in a place where a man was/would have been. This is the very point, there are plenty of qualified women out there who want to be speakers and who are not getting gigs because of male bias amongst organisers (men and women) and because they don’t push themselves. We’re hoping to help on both counts.

Thanks again for your contribution.

You’ve deflected my point using pilots as an example, by bringing up another, entirely unrelated point about airlines. You’re right in that nobody’s going to die in the case of advertising, but in doing so, you’ve also admitted that it’s still damaging, only to a lesser degree.

My point was that instead of choosing speakers based purely on merit, you’re choosing people that fit a pre-determined narrative. And that’s unfair to people who presumably pay to go to an event. And certainly unfair to busy people who give up their time to do so.

I don’t have a lot of time and am choosy about events I go to. If I went to an event in the hope of seeing the best people presenting, but instead I found out that the speakers were selected not for their appropriateness but their gender, and that quality had played second fiddle to some social justice crusade by the organisers, I’d feel cheated. To your credit, you’ve advertised the fact up front, so I know to avoid it.

I’m all for championing equality, but there is a time and a place for it. It needs to be done properly, addressing problems at the roots. Just getting females to speak at events without addressing any of the underlying issues, is not much better than changing a social media profile photo to ‘support’ victims of a disaster, then forgetting all about it a week later.

The people that I know and respect most are those who aren’t shouting about all the good they’re doing, because they’re too busy getting on with it. They don’t care about pr. They want to make actual change.

But like I said, this is an industry dominated by superficial people who aren’t known for their intellectual capacity, so you’ll probably do well from the pr. But I’ll still always have more respect for those who are quietly making things better through the pursuit of actual equality.

Thanks but you have missed the point entirely.

The female speakers out there and that we represent ARE better than the male ones that constantly appear on panels just because they are male.

That’s the point.

The females you will see are better than the men because the men are only there because they are men.

Several female speakers told me similar stories this week. They are acclaimed and highly respected and recommended speakers. The event organsier picked them because of their quality.

Their male boss then vetoed the female speaker saying that he wanted a man.

That choice was not made on quality of the keynote. It was made for the wrong reasons that women speakers have to fight against. No matter how good their talk is they are not a man.

That’s the point you’re missing. That means you are going to an event and you’re being short changed.

You are not seeing the best speakers.

You are seeing male speakers because the decision maker of the event chose based on sex not quality.

Does CJR ever do any [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] besides reply threads and be defensive?

So you’d like me to not reply to people, even people like you, who have taken the time to contribute?

Social media politeness, I answer every post on LinkedIn and I answer every post here no matter how abusive/ignorant/stupid they are…..

Not true, you did not reply to any of the criticisms on Mumbrella below, despite it being close-to-universally negative about you, Chris

https://www.mumbrella.asia/2019/01/chris-reed-is-taking-on-male-dominated-industry-conferences-with-female-rock-star-speakers#comment-1035100

you realise that you just shared the link to this thread…..

which I appear to be answering…

My bad, I meant this. You said you respond to every comment on this site, but that is not true. You did not respond here. Thanks.

https://www.mumbrella.asia/2018/01/marketing-group-splits-black-marketing-boss-chris-reed-nobody-will-shed-tear

Lol, thought you meant that one but I said I respond to every comment, I should have added, of a story that I have instigated that is true.

That one was a pack of lies from beginning to end and can now be seen as I was not the problem at TMG as they have lost 15/18 founders.

No one appears to be any tears for anyone!

Will happily have a beer with you and chat about that but I resigned from TMG 2 months before the TMG CEO (who has just lost all his non-exec directors who all resigned before xmas) put out this story to try and in his words “save face” and cover up his and TMG’s failings.

I have the email and whatsapp thread begging me not to PR it before we did a joint release and then he did that without consulting me.

I also have the whatsapp/email threads asking me to give him my shares back in return for him not going after me, I refused, others as you can see on the TMG noticeboard on NASDAQ, did not and gave in for a quiet life….

Hence why he then did that story as I wouldn’t play ball.

So I’m hardly going to dignify that story with any kind of comment as it literally is fake news.

No one who refers to women as “females” should be running a woman centric business.

If you’re really all about supporting women, why not back one of the existing women-led businesses doing this rather than setting up in competition to them?

Exactly – Primetime and their Keynote Speakers have been doing this for years!

Except you are not, that’s the point….it was after my talk AT Prime Time that so many women speakers came up to me making the point that they were not getting speaking gigs.

It’s also the reason why we’re working with KeyNote, same reason.

Both organisations asked for help and I was happy help a great cause and create a bran which benefits all women speakers and male up and coming speakers untouched by other bureaus.

These organisations are run by volunteers. They don’t have the time to do this full time.

How much time do you contribute to PT doing this?

Speak to members as I have and do and ask them how many speaking gigs they get from PT/KN.

With 30 people in my team, we have time and resource to do this for them and for other female speakers not part of PT/KN.

To give you example PT/KN have been trying to get sponsors for their International Women Day event on 8th March. Over xmas and new year we generated 20 leads using LinkedIn using my team.

Keynote – Asia Women’s Speakers have been doing this for years and already have an amazing list of speakers so what makes this so different?

They do an amazing job, hence why we’re working alongside them, but they’re run by volunteers who all have full time jobs. It’s also a non-profit.

For example how many gigs have you got from them v’s APSS or your own sales?

We’re pouring resource into helping them for example find sponsors and a venue for International Women’s Day and helping their members get more speaking gigs and helping non-members who are female or up and coming men get speaking gigs.

Just because there is one organsiation doing this doesn’t mean that 1) others can’t help and 2) other’s can’t create a business that takes it up to the next level of dedicated teams working on it.

It’s a strange view that they can’t be helped or enhanced when they have been so open minded to both things because, again, they are run by volunteers who have full time careers and don’t have the time whereas I can focus my resource on it.

Plus we are actively creating and managing LinkedIn profiles of female speakers from keynote and outside to enhance wannabe and existing keynote speakers to gain more work by using the data on LinkedIn/Sales Navigator to proactively find speakers more work, something that KeyNote do not and can not offer.

Let me know if you want a chat about your LinkedIn marketing….

Anyone with a brain knows rockstars don’t call themselves rock-stars, they just are. And that many of these same-same regional conferences are tired and weary and have speakers that reflect their lack of innovation and old-hat ways.

Incidentally Chris, I turned my mobile upside down and noticed you look like the bottom of a full egg timer, whose time is up.

At least two thirds of regional conference speakers are second-hand car salesman and women that are just there to tick the box, holding buzz-word-bingo cards. Their easy to spot as their employers have overloaded them with 3/4 job titles, waiting for the message to rise above the ego.

Blimey you sound cynical.

Rock Star is just a tongue in cheek brand name….it’s just to get people talking which it has succeeded in doing and creating awareness for the cause/services…it’s this thing called marketing, you might have heard of it and it’s working as I’m inundated with female speakers on LinkedIn wanting to join us.

Your post is actually quite funny and far from my time being up I’m just getting started!

Are you able to publicly name any of the women who have signed up to be represented by you?

If you a are a company looking for speakers we will match your brief with a speaker, 90% of whom we have are female, the other 10% up and coming male speakers not previously on the mainstream circuit.

Naming speakers on your website means nothing. Every bureau does that and they don’t even have permission or an agreement to do so.

They chance their luck then ask the speaker then when they say no say to the client they were unavailable and recommend one to their speakers instead. Oldest trick in the book.

I await your brief and I would be happy to share.

Translation: No, I do not have any.

We’re over 100 now and getting people every day approaching us to join us.

If you a are a genuine company looking for speakers with a genuine brief we will match your brief with a speaker, 90% of whom we have are female, the other 10% up and coming male speakers not previously on the mainstream circuit.

Naming speakers on your website means nothing. Every bureau does that and they don’t even have permission or an agreement to do so.

They chance their luck then ask the speaker then when they say no say to the client they were unavailable and recommend one to their speakers instead. Oldest trick in the book.

I await your brief and I would be happy to share.

Most people looking for speaking gigs are happy to put their name out there. That’s the whole point of being represented.

So I guess the answer is no then.

Are the tatts and mohawk a style or marketing choice?

it’s called being yourself and personal branding, what’s yours?

I wondered where Andy’s neighbor Sid, from Toy Story 1 went. Its such an hilariously
trying-way-too-hard look.

The multicolored mohawk, the tatts, the constant “rock-star” references, the “live on tour” LinkedIn posts.

All very sad, after a certain age. #[Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].

So you’ve given up on the story and just fancy a pop, no worries but you’re really demeaning yourself and your profession by doing so….anything to do with marketing you want to share?

This from the man who starts a reply on this forum with: (your girlfriend) ……”she’s wise living so far away from you…is she made up too?” If you want to take the moral high ground, you need to live there.

that’s actually a fair point but I would say that he brought her into the conversation but you’re right

and your thoughts on the story are….?

Finally Rock-twinkle gets something right, [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].

You really should read Mumbrella’s community guidelines because that makes no sense

I am new to Singapore, arrived here a month ago. I had not heard of Chris Reed, or his company, before this article. So, for me, the comments section here is actually more revealing than the original news article itself. A deluge of (predominantly negative) feedback and Chris gamely defending himself on every point. The article did start by saying Chris was an “opinion-splitter”. And the comments certainly demonstrate that. From the feedback – and, in particular, Chris’ responses -I now have formed an opinion about him as an individual and Black Marketing as a company. Thanks for that insight, this is why community forums like this are helpful, especially to newbie’s like me…

Thank you for taking the time to comment. In my cynical way I thought this was the beginning of a sarcastic comment, ([Edited under Mumbrella’s guidelines]..) but it seems genuine and no matter your view thanks for sharing.

[Edited under Mumbrella’s guidelines] Neal and Nick can look after themselves and people won’t take them on given their standing in the marketing industry and the very different personal brands that they have to mine.

[Edited under Mumbrella’s guidelines] people who have nothing better to do but slag people and new ideas off and anonymous trolls more than positive comments (even for a cause as worthy as this female speaker brand lauch) and thoughtful discussion but then you get the odd interesting comment (like yours) and discussion which balances it out.

Thanks for sharing.

and before anyone else says it, clearly I also need to read Mumbrella’s community guidelines…..

No wonder no work gets done in SG..everybody is here hating on someone actually doing the work that needs to be done…

I don’t know many successful CEOs or otherwise busy execs that have time to spend loitering in the emts. All the great female talent I know would cringe and run from this. Their succeses have given them the comfort to attend, contribute and self-promote to their hearts’ desire. You Sir, are a [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] and they do not need your assistance.

Interestingly, there are three reviews on Glassdoor, that are very positive. All dating 11.1.2019 and all the Cons there start with the word “None.” Amazing coincidence or?

Good to see, that some “employees” bothered to share their positive experiences at BM after such a long time and all on the same day (as it is anonymous, one will never know who posted those 😉 ):
https://www.glassdoor.sg/Reviews/Black-Marketing-Reviews-E1138940.htm?countryRedirect=true

Very interesting read, very awesome chris

Black Marketing is a good company, been working with them for my LinkedIn account for a while!