The GSF We Choose by Neerja Singh, HoF, GSF President
A federation is not built by its charter. It is built by choices its people make, the standards they uphold, the relationships they build, and the responsibilities they accept.
I joined PSAI in January 2020 and the GSF Board in 2021 and immediately felt at home with people who showed up for one another and for the associations they represented.
At the founding of the National Speakers Association in 1973, Cavett Robert said something I have since carried with me: "There is nothing that can't be accomplished when the right people are swept up in a worthy cause, divorced from who gets credit for what."
That is the test I hold GSF to, not who gets the stage, but what becomes stronger because we stand together. GSF’s mandate is to strengthen the associations that serve professional speakers, and the leaders who carry them forward.
And yet, we are not one culture pretending to be many; we are genuinely many cultures, with different markets, traditions, and ways of working. That's not a coordination problem; it's one of our greatest assets. Through our recently adopted Speaking Across Cultures: GSF Cultural Sensitivity Initiative, we aim to support associations in turning differences into trust and mutual respect.
A Stronger Role for GSF
Here is the shift I am asking for: measure this GSF chapter not by who stood out, but by what became stronger because we stood together. We need guardrails today, not gates, protecting standards and culture while opening doors for member associations to lead.
That means GSF itself has to evolve a little. Not just advising from the side-lines, but becoming a standards-setting, accountability-holding federation…carefully, openly, true to what we've always stood for. Done right, that doesn't take autonomy away from our associations. It gives their leadership something firmer to stand on.
Our advisory role leaves a question we must answer clearly: Why GSF? Because we strive to set clear expectations around ethics, certification, governance, and safety. And wherever GSF grants recognition, there will be mechanisms for quality assurance and accountability. Authority isn't control, it's responsibility, protecting the trust placed in GSF through fair process.
Protecting the People who Serve
We also need to say plainly what we've too often accepted quietly: volunteers burn out. We call it the cost of running a volunteer federation. It isn't; it's a failure of design. People give us their time, judgment, and energy, sometimes their own money, and we too often repay them with unclear roles, unrealistic expectations, and no meaningful succession plan. That must change: realistic workloads, real handovers, and responsibility that doesn't keep landing on the same few people.
How about concentrated power and gatekeeping by long-established interests? No federation can stay healthy if access and leadership sit with a small group. We need transparent pathways into leadership, regular renewal, and room to challenge established practice when need be.
Two commitments already reflect this: the GSF Sexual Harassment Policy: Respecting Dignity and Safety for All, and the Mental Health Access and Awareness Initiative, because those who spend their careers lifting others need support too.
We're also building who comes next: the U25 Scholarships Initiative and Future Leaders Speakers Initiative will grow our next generation of speakers and leaders through mentorship and real opportunity.
Four Priorities
My theme for this year:
Govern like it matters. Stronger accountability, real follow-through, transparent decisions, sound governance, and volunteer structures that don't run people into the ground.
Grow the network as a relationship, not a roster. More opportunities for associations to share what works and form partnerships across cultures, expanding mentorship, scholarships, and leadership pathways for emerging speakers and future leaders.
Establish GSF as a trusted standards and accountability authority, with stronger frameworks for ethics, certification quality, governance, and safety, backed by clear criteria and due process.
Lay to rest this question we keep fielding: what does GSF give an association it couldn't build alone? "Global network" is a brochure line, not an answer. The real value is shared standards, governance models, leadership development, and relationships that take decades to build. We owe our members an answer they can repeat with confidence.
We'll know we're succeeding not by applause, but by what changes: stronger associations, capable leaders, real partnerships, credible standards, healthier volunteer structures.
Building on the Foundation
None of this will be mine alone. The presidents built it before me: Dr John B. Molidor, Steve Lowell, Martin Laschkolnig, Charlotte Kemp, Ruby Newell-Legner, Mike Handcock, and others, each of them leaving their fingerprints on what GSF has become.
I accept this Presidential Gavel from Mike Handcock, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow, who pushed GSF beyond its comfort zone. Thank you, Mike, for the tremors!
To every association leader, Board Representative, committee member, and volunteer: show up, speak up, carry your part.
My thanks to our Executive Director, Shari Bricks, and her colleague Michael Smith. Like skilled high-wire artists, they balance complexity, uncertainty, and competing demands with grace, precision, and unwavering alertness.
No one person builds GSF's future. You and I and our circles build it through ideas that become proposals. Proposals that become pathways. Conversations that become commitments.
Neerja Singh, HoF
GSF President 2026–2027
