News Room
Local news coverage of Free Speakers Chicago, the pro bono speakers bureau serving Chicagoland: our speakers, the groups they visit, and why their presentations cost nothing. Looking for a speaker? Browse our free speakers and free presentations.
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DuPage-based Free Speakers Bureau marks three decades, delivering 1,300 talks a year
How a 1996 article launched FreeSpeakers.org: connecting thousands of local community groups with free expert speakers nationwide. Today, over 450 volunteer speakers deliver hundreds of free presentations across seven major cities, supporting libraries, clubs, and non-profits with valuable expertise at no cost.
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Chicago Area Groups Returning For Live Meetings After COVID
Speaker requests from Chicago-area groups fell from 1,070 in 2017 to 582 in 2020, then climbed back to 700 in 2022. FreeSpeakers.org's records show clubs and organizations returning to live meetings after COVID-19.
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Free Speakers Chicago addresses climate with new category
FreeSpeakers.org added Climate as a new speaker category in Chicago, with nine local climate experts offering free talks on topics such as food waste, regenerative agriculture and the region's drainage. The launch came as the U.N. released its August 2021 climate report.
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FreeSpeakers.org Goes Virtual With Offerings – Kane County Chronicle
As COVID-19 moved meetings online, most FreeSpeakers.org speakers offered to present virtually over Zoom and similar platforms, and some updated their talks to address the health and financial crises. As always, the talks cost groups nothing. Coverage from the Kane County Chronicle.
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After Some 250 Gigs, Larry Bergnach Retiring From the Free Speech Circuit
After 14 years and 250 free talks, Oak Lawn speaker Larry Bergnach is retiring from the pro bono speaking circuit. The Daily Southtown tells how one of his Riverview Park talks moved an elder care resident with Alzheimer's to share his own memories.
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Pro bono public speaking is an effective marketing tool – Business Ledger
Public speaking is one of the best marketing tools for a business, writes Andy Richardson in the Daily Herald Business Ledger. A free talk puts you in front of a room as the expert, and it works as networking, public relations and community service at once.
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Free Speakers Bureau Celebrates 20 Years of Growth
At its 20th anniversary, Free Speech Speakers Bureau became FreeSpeakers.org, A Pro Bono Speakers Bureau, with a new name, logo and more opportunities for speakers and groups. Its promise did not change: no charge to any group, from the speaker or the bureau.
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Talk is not cheap, it’s free, with Hinsdale speaker service
A Hinsdale school staffer looking for a presenter found FreeSpeakers.org and said she hit the jackpot. The Chicago Tribune's Hinsdale Doings profiles the 20-year-old pro bono bureau, its 220 Chicagoland speakers, and its expansion to Milwaukee and Indianapolis.
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Not Much in Life Free, But Speakers Bureau has Been for 20 Years
A Naperville church support group with weekly meetings and no budget found free guest speakers through FreeSpeakers.org. The Naperville Sun tells how organizer Gayle Heldmann expected a catch and found none.
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Free Speakers Service Proves ‘Good Free Stuff’ is Real
FreeSpeakers.org offers 150 Chicago-area experts who give talks on more than 220 topics without a fee. The Daily Herald explains how the 20-year-old community service project works for both the speakers and the groups that book them.
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Free Speakers Bureau Matches Speakers to Groups
Free Speech Speakers Bureau began with one call from a Rotary Club asking Ginny Richardson for a speaker. The Hinsdale Doings tells how that favor grew into a free bureau of 170 speakers, run as her public relations firm's community service project.
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Ginny Richardson a matchmaker of speech, need – Suburban Life
Ginny Richardson calls her free speakers bureau an extension of her public relations work: matching a speaker with an empty podium. Suburban Life profiles the bureau at 15, with more than 150 speakers and more than 500 Chicagoland groups served.
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Bureau celebrates 10 years of matching groups with speakers – Suburban Life
In 1996 Ginny Richardson mailed a typed list of six speakers to DuPage County clubs. Ten years later, Suburban Life reports, her Free Speech bureau offered 170 speakers and more than 200 talks, all free to the groups that book them.