The Missouri Speaker Bureau is jointly organized and managed by Missouri Humanities and the State Historical Society of Missouri. The purpose of the Missouri Speakers Bureau is to promote humanities education throughout the state of Missouri. If your civic organization, museum, historical society, library, or similar institution or group is looking for an expert to give a presentation on a topic related to the history, culture, geography, and/or people of Missouri, we hope you will consider what this program has to offer.
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Frequently Asked Questions for Host Organizations
Host organizations are required to contact speakers directly to arrange presentations. Contact information for each speaker is provided on that speaker's webpage.
Each speaker can provide up to four presentations to underserved rural communities at no cost to the hosting institution. For the presentation to be covered by program underwriting, the host organization must be nonprofit and located outside Boone, Greene, Jackson, and St. Louis counties and outside the city of St. Louis.
For presentations that qualify for program underwriting, there is no cost to the host organization.
Many speakers are available to provide their programs in a virtual format. Please contact your preferred speaker to discuss options for a virtual program. For the presentation to be covered by program underwriting, it must be in person.
The Missouri Speakers Bureau provides details about presentations selected by its speakers. See the available speakers list to review the many options.
Please contact your preferred speaker to discuss options for alternative topics.
Both nonprofit and for-profit organizations can book speakers from the Missouri Speakers Bureau. For the presentation to be covered by program underwriting, the requesting organization must be nonprofit and located outside Boone, Greene, Jackson, and St. Louis counties and outside the city of St. Louis.
Missouri Speakers Bureau presentations are available for underwriting at no cost to the hosting institution provided that: the hosting organization is nonprofit and located within an underserved rural community. Underserved rural communities are defined as those outside Boone, Greene, Jackson, and St. Louis counties and outside the city of St. Louis. Nonprofit and for-profit organizations can book speakers without underwriting. Honorarium and traveling fee amounts should be discussed with your preferred speaker.
No program fees are required for presentations being underwritten by the program in underserved rural communities. For presentations that do not qualify for underwriting, please discuss payment details with your preferred speaker.
You will schedule the presentation directly with your preferred speaker, and they can provide more complete scheduling details. In general, expect the speaker to require at least 60 days' notice.
There is no limit on the number of underwritten programs an organization can host, and there is no limit on the number of programs an organization can host when they are paying the speaker directly. For program underwriting to be available, host organizations must be nonprofit and located outside Boone, Greene, Jackson, and St. Louis counties and outside the city of St. Louis.
- Host organizations are asked to invite their legislators to the presentations.
- A minimum of 45 minutes should be set aside for the presentation.
- An additional minimum of 15 minutes should be set aside for questions and discussion.
- Host organizations are encouraged to promote their events with provided toolkits available on the speaker's webpage and by submitting the event to the Missouri Humanities Community Calendar.
For more information, or if you have questions about speakers or programs, contact Missouri Humanities at nick@mohumanities.org.