What are companies but experts in their field? So what is the explanation for the phenomenon of international guest speakers or a single guest speaker in every major city including Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and New York? Organisations that have been set up to service a particular niche, or range of niches, and that have dedicated time, energy and resources to understanding it well enough to sell that on in a business model. As such, they are fairly self-contained entities that are specialised and much focussed. Why then do companies across the globe regularly bring in outsiders in the form of an instructional guest speaker at an international conference and guest speakers to address their staff on teamwork when they are looking to up productivity, address motivation or inspire change and even loyalty? Surely as specialists in their field, these business hold all the intellectual capital required achieving these aims without the help of any guest speakers, team building or motivational speeches? The truth is that inviting guest speakers or only one guest speaker to company conferences and conventions is a massive international trend which has resulted in an entire industry springing up around guest speakers and the work that they do. There is a proliferation of professional orators whose careers have become motivational speaking and who travel from company to company and country to country presenting their ideas and ‘how to' experiences to the staff and management of companies big and small.  Despite the fact that companies are indeed specialists in their field, it is easy to see why this has emerged as a trend.