Speaker bureaus and speaking agencies in New Zealand

Fewer than people expect. This page lists 11 organisations, and only four of them are New Zealand bureaus doing general corporate speaking work: Celebrity Speakers, Essential Talent, Speakers New Zealand and turnerspeaks.

The rest are Australian bureaus serving the market, acting agencies with a speakers roster, or the industry body. That's the whole picture, not a shortlist.

We can't tell you from published sources, and that's the honest answer. Not one organisation on this page publishes a fee band, a starting price or a price filter.

Australia is more transparent: several bureaus there show bands starting around $2,000 to $5,000. New Zealand quotes are all negotiated privately, so ask early.

Depends what you need. A local bureau knows which New Zealand names will land with a New Zealand room, and it isn't managing travel across the Tasman.

The Australian bureaus carry far deeper rosters. Saxton alone lists more than a thousand people. If you want an international name or a specialist topic that nobody local covers, that reach is the reason to use them.

It runs a full New Zealand site at icmi.co.nz with a New Zealand-focused roster. The enquiry phone number on that site is Australian, and ICMI itself is a Melbourne business that's part of the Launchd Group.

It's a real operation and a legitimate way to book. It just isn't a local agency.

Because in a market this size they do a real share of the work. Johnson & Laird and Talent Banque both represent actors, presenters and voices, and both run a speakers and MCs roster alongside.

For conference MCs and hosts in particular, they're often who you end up dealing with.

Mostly by email. Unlike the big Australian bureaus, which run formal expression-of-interest forms, most New Zealand agencies have no public application form.

Celebrity Speakers is the structured exception. You email the Speaker Recruitment Manager, they send an application form, a committee assesses it, and they specifically ask for video showing you present. They also warn that they get a lot of applications and replies can be slow.

For Celebrity Speakers, yes, and they say so plainly: a showreel, a YouTube clip or a personal video that shows your presentation skills.

The others don't state a requirement, but a bureau is selling you to a client who hasn't seen you. Turning up without footage makes that job harder than it needs to be.

The Professional Speakers Association of New Zealand is the industry body, not a booking agency. Full Members and above get a profile in its speaker directory.

Beyond the listing, it runs monthly meetings in Auckland with members elsewhere joining by live stream, member-only online groups, an accreditation pathway, annual awards and a three-day convention.

The bureaus generally work non-exclusively, so yes. In a market this small, most working speakers need the volume from several relationships.

The talent management agencies are the ones to read carefully. Exclusive representation is their model, and that's a different commitment.

Six to twelve months for a conference keynote, the same as Australia, and earlier for a well-known name. Annual conferences often lock speakers a year out.

The smaller pool cuts both ways. There are fewer people to choose from, so the recognisable names go early.

Yes, and it's better served than you'd expect for the market size. Celebrity Speakers has an AI and Technology category, Essential Talent has AI and Innovation, ICMI New Zealand lists AI as a top-level topic, and Speakers New Zealand carries both Business Technology and AI Technology.

Email us. Every organisation here was checked on its own website on the date shown at the bottom of this page.

New Zealand is a small market and we'd rather this list were complete than tidy, so if we've missed an agency, tell us. Nobody pays to appear, and nobody can pay to be removed or moved up. See how we verify.