The Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) is the Canadian association for experts who speak. Public perception might be to equate “professional speaker” with “motivational speaker

Motivational speaker

A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...

”. However CAPS members include keynote

Keynote

A keynote in literature, music, or public speaking establishes the principal underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address...

 speakers, trainers and facilitators. The topics and expertise of CAPS’ members include motivation, humour

Humour

Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...

, strategic planning

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. In order to determine the direction of the organization, it is necessary to understand its current position and the possible avenues...

, leadership

Leadership

Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...

, management, sales

Sales

A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....

, marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

, customer service

Customer service

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...

, communication skills, personal health, change, innovation, time management

Time management

Time management is the act or process of exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific...

 plus many more.

The purpose of CAPS is to provide a community for Canadian professional speakers where they can learn from each other to develop their speaking business while operating to an industry set of ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

.

Structure

The administrative office is in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

There are 10 chapters across Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 which meet monthly. The chapters are:

• CAPS Calgary
  Calgary
  Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
  
  
• CAPS Edmonton
  Edmonton
  Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
  
  
• CAPS Halifax
• CAPS Montreal
  Montreal
  Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
  
  
• CAPS Ottawa
  Ottawa
  Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
  
  
• CAPS Saskatchewan
  Saskatchewan
  Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
  
  
• CAPS South-Western Ontario
• CAPS Toronto
  CAPS Toronto
  CAPS Toronto is the largest Canadian Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, with approximately 150 members.Meetings are held from September through June, usually on the 2nd Monday of the month....
  
  
• CAPS Vancouver
  Vancouver
  Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
  
  
• CAPS Manitoba
  Manitoba
  Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
  
  

CAPS is a founding member of the Global Speakers Federation (GSF).

Hall of Fame

The Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame recognizes speakers both for their excellence as a professional speaker and for their contribution to the profession by educating other people as professional speakers. Election to the Hall of Fame is by the membership at the National Convention.

• Jim Beaubien
• Peter Urs Bender (Deceased)
• Dave Broadfoot
  Dave Broadfoot
  Dave Broadfoot is a Canadian comedian who was born on December 5, 1925 in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 1943, he joined the merchant navy serving until 1947...
  
  
• Jean Marc Chaput
• Bill Clennan
• Donald Cooper
• Jack Donohue (basketball)
  Jack Donohue (basketball)
  John 'Jack' Donohue M.S.M. posthumous was an American born head coach of the Canadian national men's basketball team for 17 years, leading them to many international successes....
  
   (Deceased)
• Warren Evans
• Kit Grant
• Bob Gray
• Peter Legge
• Vince Poscente
• Norman Rebin
• Joseph Sherren
• Alan Simmons
• Tom Stoyan
• Susan Sweeney
• Linda Tarrant
• Harold Taylor

Officers

• Shelle Rose Charvet, President (2009)
• Colleen Francis, Past President (2008)
• Sid Ridgley, Past President (2007)
• Peri Shawn
• Elaine Allison
• Pauline Fleming
• Susan Sweeney
• Sunjay Nath, Conference Chair

Publications

• Speaking of Impact: The Voice of Canadian Meetings – published four times a year
• So to Speak – electronic newsletter published monthly
• Speaker: The Art and Business of Speaking – published monthly by the US-based National Speakers Association (NSA)