Dear GSF Community,
This past month, GSF’s work left the page and entered the rooms where our associations actually live: conventions, breakout rooms, shared meals, and the quiet generosity of volunteers. Visits to New Zealand and to the UK were a reminder that a Federation is built less by documents than by leaders who sit across from one another, learn each other’s context, and commit to protecting what matters in each other’s work.
Being in the room
In New Zealand, I joined PSA New Zealand at their Trailblazers Convention. They offered a strong professional programme and a distinctly New Zealand experience, including an unforgettable All Blacks v Australia Bledisloe Cup rugby match at Eden Park. The Haka, the roar before kickoff, and the pride in identity offered a deeper appreciation of New Zealand’s bicultural and Pacific character than any briefing could.
Strong associations do this for their members, giving them a sense of belonging beyond their own business. Attending PSA NZ’s annual event exemplifies that associations stay proudly local, and GSF helps facilitate their members to connect, learn, and work across borders.
Connection, and a first
PSA UK & Ireland marked a milestone as they inducted their first President from Ireland, Denise Fay, a sign of an association becoming genuinely representative of the people it serves. That is the kind of leadership a modern Federation needs.
At the Speaking Business Summit near Oxford, the theme was The Art of Connection. We talked about how speakers build trust and create moments that outlast the stage, the workshop, or the coaching session.
A walk through the Bodleian Library offered a further lesson. Institutions endure when they honour their past and make room for what comes next, and a Federation should hold itself to the same standard, protecting its memory, welcoming new voices, and sharing knowledge responsibly.
Oxford also taught me an important cultural lesson: Yorkshire pudding is not really a pudding. It is a glorious, crisp and golden companion to gravy!
Shared standards, without sameness
Across both regions, the same principle came up: shared standards without sameness. GSF can raise the floor of professionalism across the Federation, while each association expresses excellence in its own way.
Intellectual property belongs in that conversation. Members’ frameworks, stories, and recordings often take years to build. Sharing inspiration is healthy; borrowing without acknowledgement erodes trust. As collaboration grows, attribution, permission, and consent need careful handling, because members will share their work only where they trust it will be respected.
Room for emerging associations
The profession is growing in regions where GSF has an opportunity to build stronger connections. GSF is exploring how best to support the formation and development of newer associations, with a view to their eventual progression towards full membership.
Board Representatives
Board Representatives are the working link between GSF and their home Associations and Boards. We continually strive to ensure your Board representatives have the information they need to succeed in the position and we are currently working on role clarification so that it can be done well: open two-way communication, early declaration of conflicts, and a proxy where a representative cannot attend. This adds no cost and strengthens the quality of decisions.
Volunteers
None of this runs without volunteers, many of whom fund their own travel and run their own businesses while serving. Thanks matter, but so do realistic expectations, clear roles, and attention to wellbeing. A healthy Federation cannot depend on the same few people. I applaud all our volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our member Associations thriving
Looking ahead
In the coming months, GSF will keep strengthening its committees and advancing the U25 Scholarships Initiative, alongside work on standards, board contribution and volunteer wellbeing.
A larger question deserves open discussion: how do member associations perceive GSF today, as a convenor and a calendar, or as a source of frameworks, standards, and leadership development they could not easily build alone? GSF’s direction is not a foregone conclusion, and it should be shaped by listening to associations.
GSF is an enabler, not a competitor. It will amplify what associations do well, coordinate where an opportunity is genuinely global, and will not replace association programmes or draw members away from their home associations. New work will build on existing standards and be designed to remain financially sustainable.
My thanks to PSA New Zealand and PSA UK & Ireland for their warmth, and to every GSF leader who gives time, judgement, and heart to this Federation.
In this together,
Neerja Singh, HoF
President, Global Speakers Federation 2026–2027
We’ll know we’re succeeding not by applause, but by what changes.