# Speaker bureaus and speaking agencies in Canada Source: https://speakersbureaus.directory/canada/ Last verified: 2026-09-20 Organisations: 10 Publisher: Speakers Bureaus Directory, an independent directory. Nobody pays to appear and a listing is not an endorsement. Canada has two things no other market in this directory has: a genuine language requirement, and two bureaus old enough to predate almost everyone. National Speakers Bureau has booked speakers since 1973 and calls itself Canada's original. MCP Talent has been family-owned since 1972, which quietly makes it older still. Both are running today. For comparison, the largest UK bureau is 36 years old. The bilingual question shapes real bookings here. Speakers Bureau of Canada carries Bilingual and French as a speaker type in its own right, with dedicated Québec and Montréal listings, and the industry body runs a CAPS Québec chapter alongside Atlantic, British Columbia, Prairie Shield and Toronto. If your audience is a federal department, a national association or a company operating across the country, that capability is the first thing to ask about. Three bureaus tell you what things cost, which is better than most markets manage. Speakers Bureau of Canada lets you filter by budget from $3,500 up through $15,000 and beyond, and by province or territory. ProSpeakers publishes browsable lists of speakers under $5,000 and under $10,000, and states that it adds no premium to the speaking fee. National Speakers Bureau puts budget bands from $5,000 to $25,000 and above straight into its enquiry form. Geographically this looks more like the United States than the United Kingdom. Speakers Bureau of Canada runs from Calgary, Talent Bureau from Vancouver and Toronto, ProSpeakers and Lavin from Toronto. Nothing is concentrated in one city, and six of the ten organisations here publish no address at all. The Sweeney Agency puts it bluntly on its contact page: ask us for our mailing address. The same caution applies as elsewhere. The Canada Speakers Bureau is operated by SpeakIn and answers on a Singapore number. It's the third national-sounding site we've traced back to the same aggregator, after Britain and Australia. ## Listings ### National Speakers Bureau - Website: https://www.nsb.com/ - Type: speaker bureau - Based: Not published on its own site - Coverage: national - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: Yes - Takes new speakers via: Become a Speaker page - Topics: Keynote Speakers; Business; Leadership; Conference Speakers; Virtual Events Canada's original speakers bureau, now marking more than 50 years, and one of the few here giving a price signal: its enquiry form offers budget bands from $5,000 through to $25,000 and above. ### Global Speakers Agency - Website: https://www.globalspeakers.com/ - Type: international bureau - Based: Not published on its own site - Coverage: international - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: Become a Speaker page - Topics: Keynote Speakers; Business; Leadership; Innovation The international-facing arm of National Speakers Bureau, running the same team and the same become-a-speaker route for events outside Canada. ### Speakers Bureau of Canada - Website: https://speakerscanada.com/ - Type: speaker bureau - Based: Calgary, AB - Coverage: every province and territory - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: Yes - Takes new speakers via: Join Our Roster page - Topics: Motivational; Business Leadership; Mental Health; Indigenous Speakers; Bilingual & French; Trainers & Workshops; Virtual Presenters; Panelists More than 30 years old and formerly the Speakers Bureau of Alberta, this is the most searchable bureau in Canada: filter by budget from $3,500, by province or territory, and by bilingual or French delivery. ### ProSpeakers.com - Website: https://prospeakers.com/ - Type: speaker bureau - Based: Toronto, ON - Coverage: every province and territory - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: Yes - Takes new speakers via: contact the bureau - Topics: Keynote Speakers; Motivational; Sports Speakers; Business; Economics; Innovation; Women Speakers A women-run boutique bureau in Toronto going since 1990, publishing browsable lists of speakers under $5,000 and under $10,000 and stating that it adds no premium to the speaking fee. ### Talent Bureau - Website: https://talentbureau.com/ - Type: speaker bureau - Based: Vancouver, BC - Coverage: national, from Toronto and Vancouver, plus the US and international - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: Representation page - Topics: Keynote Speakers; Business; Healthcare; Journalism & Current Affairs; Leadership Co-founded and run from Toronto and Vancouver on a deliberately curated roster, leaning into Canadian sport, culture and broadcasting. ### The Lavin Agency - Website: https://www.thelavinagency.com/ - Type: speaker bureau - Based: Toronto, ON - Coverage: Canada and the United States - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: contact the agency - Topics: Thought Leaders; Authors; Business; Leadership; Healthcare; Women's Advocacy; Wellness Toronto bureau with a New York office, built around original thinkers, writers and bestselling authors rather than celebrity or sport. ### Canada Speakers Bureau (operated by SpeakIn) - Website: https://www.canadaspeakerbureau.com/ - Type: international bureau - Based: Not published on its own site - Coverage: international, books Canadian speakers - Roster: 18,000+ speakers from 47 countries - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: Register as Expert, free profile - Topics: AI/ML; Business; Leadership; Digital Transformation; Entrepreneurship; ESG and Sustainability; Emcee A Canada-branded site operated by SpeakIn and contactable on a Singapore number, running the same global roster it markets in Britain and Australia. ### Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) - Website: https://www.canadianspeakers.org/ - Type: industry body - Based: Not published on its own site - Coverage: national, through five regional chapters - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: membership application - Topics: Certified Speaking Professional accreditation; Canadian Speakers Hall of Fame; Chapters; Member Education; Awards The national industry body, more than 25 years old, with chapters in Atlantic Canada, British Columbia, the Prairies, Québec and Toronto, and the body that awards the Certified Speaking Professional designation in Canada. ### MCP Talent - Website: https://www.mcptalent.com/ - Type: speaker + entertainment agency - Based: Not published on its own site - Coverage: national, indexed by province - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: contact the agency - Topics: AI Speakers; Innovation; Leadership; Change Management; Customer Experience; Sales; Motivational; Sports & Athlete Speakers; Corporate Entertainment A family-owned talent agency and speakers bureau running since 1972, which makes it older than the bureau that calls itself Canada's first, pairing keynote speakers with corporate entertainment. ### The Sweeney Agency - Website: https://thesweeneyagency.com/ - Type: speaker bureau - Based: Not published on its own site - Coverage: North America, Europe and beyond - Roster: Not published - Publishes fees: No - Takes new speakers via: contact the agency - Topics: Communication; Leadership; Change; AI & Future of Business; Peak Performance; Motivation; Teamwork; Innovation Founded in 2003 by Derek Sweeney and deliberately non-exclusive: it says it forgoes exclusive deals so it can find the right speaker for a client rather than a client for a speaker. ## Questions ### Which Canadian bureau is actually the oldest? National Speakers Bureau has booked since 1973 and describes itself as Canada's original speakers bureau. MCP Talent says it has been family-owned since 1972, which is a year earlier. Both claims come from each company's own site. They're doing slightly different things, NSB as a pure bureau and MCP pairing speakers with corporate entertainment, so the two descriptions can sit side by side. ### Do I need a bilingual or French-speaking presenter? If your audience is federal government, a national association, or a company with operations across the country, usually yes, and you should raise it in the first conversation. Speakers Bureau of Canada treats Bilingual and French as its own speaker type and runs dedicated Québec and Montréal listings. The Canadian Association of Professional Speakers has a CAPS Québec chapter. It isn't an afterthought in this market the way it would be elsewhere. ### What do keynote speakers charge in Canada? Speakers Bureau of Canada publishes the clearest guide: budget bands running $3,500 to $5,000, $5,000 to $7,500, $7,500 to $10,000, $10,000 to $15,000 and above, plus an Under $5,000 filter. National Speakers Bureau offers bands of $5,000 to $7,500, $7,500 to $10,000, $10,000 to $25,000 and $25,000 plus in its enquiry form. ProSpeakers publishes curated lists of speakers under $5,000 and under $10,000. ### Do Canadian bureaus add a markup to the speaker's fee? Ask, because the answer varies and only one bureau here states it publicly. ProSpeakers says plainly that it adds no premium to the speaking fee and that you book with zero dollars added to the speaking cost. That's a useful benchmark to hold others to. A bureau earning from the speaker's side rather than adding to your side is a materially different deal. ### How do I get on a Canadian bureau's roster? Several publish a route. National Speakers Bureau and Global Speakers both run a Become a Speaker page, Speakers Bureau of Canada has Join Our Roster, and Talent Bureau has a Representation page. ProSpeakers, Lavin and MCP Talent have no public application form and expect direct contact. Be aware that National Speakers Bureau represents a relatively small exclusive group while booking from a much wider pool, so being bookable and being represented are two different things there. ### What is CAPS and is it worth joining? The Canadian Association of Professional Speakers is the national industry body, more than 25 years old, with chapters covering Atlantic Canada, British Columbia, the Prairies, Québec and Toronto. It awards the Certified Speaking Professional designation and runs the Canadian Speakers Hall of Fame. CSP is recognised internationally through the Global Speakers Federation, so it carries weight outside Canada too. ### Is the Canada Speakers Bureau a Canadian company? No. It's a Canada-branded site operated by SpeakIn, contactable on a Singapore number, offering the same global roster of 18,000 speakers across 47 countries that it markets in Britain and Australia. The profile is free and it's a real service. Just don't mistake it for a domestic bureau. ### What's the difference between National Speakers Bureau and Global Speakers Agency? Same business. National Speakers Bureau handles the Canadian market and Global Speakers Agency is the international-facing arm, running the same team and the same become-a-speaker route. Which site you land on depends on where your event is, not on who you'd be dealing with. ### Can a bureau book a speaker outside Canada for me? Yes. Global Speakers Agency exists precisely for that, Talent Bureau books into the United States and internationally, and Lavin runs a New York office alongside Toronto. Working the other way, most large American bureaus also list Canadian speakers, so for a cross-border event it's worth asking both sides. ### Does a bureau cover the territories and smaller centres? Speakers Bureau of Canada is the one that says so explicitly, filtering by every province and territory including Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Talent Bureau indexes speakers by city well beyond the big five. Travel cost is the real constraint rather than willingness, so raise location early when you're outside the main centres. ### How far ahead should I book? Six to twelve months for a conference keynote, longer for a recognisable name. Canadian conference season clusters, and the well-known broadcasters and athletes commit early. If you need bilingual delivery, add time. The pool of speakers who can genuinely present in both languages is smaller than the pool overall. ### How do I get a listing on this page corrected or added? Email us. Every organisation here was checked on its own website on the date at the bottom of this page. Two well-known Canadian bureaus are missing because their sites block automated access entirely, so we couldn't verify them to the standard everything else here meets. We'd rather show a gap than publish something we haven't checked. Tell us what we've missed. Nobody pays to appear, and nobody can pay to be removed or moved up. See [how we verify](https://speakersbureaus.directory/methodology/). --- Data as JSON: https://speakersbureaus.directory/api/canada.json Method: https://speakersbureaus.directory/methodology/ Free to use and cite with attribution to speakersbureaus.directory.