About Us
The founder of Paragon Speaking Services, Norm Friend, is widely recognized as an expert in expansion strategies, franchise development and franchisee recruitment, with over 25 years experience in all aspects of franchising in North America and Internationally. He is the founder and president of Franchise 101 Incorporated.Norm wrote the two best selling franchise books in Canada "The Complete Canadian Franchise Guide" (hard cover), and "So You Want to Buy a Franchise". His most recent book "Be Your Own Boss - The Ultimate Guide to Buying a Business or Franchise in Canada", was released in the summer of 2003.
The idea to form Paragon Speaker Services was born from need as Norm was constantly being asked by franchise organizations for speaker referrals.
Paragon Speaker Services places a greater focus on a specific topic and quality presentation and content than name recognition, although some of our speakers do have a high level of name recognition. Many of our speakers have extensive experience working with franchise organizations. All presentations have a tailoring call and/or meeting so our speakers can "fully customize" their presentation to match the franchise company's objectives. The goal of our speakers is to make the impact of their message continue influencing the audience way beyond the event. We can provide follow-up workshops and seminars to reinforce the message and ensure any programs are implemented.
As the quality and appropriateness of the presenter can either make or break the success of an event, Paragon Speaker Services will take great care to make the right recommendation in order to develop an ongoing relationship with the franchise organization. We carefully pre-screen each presenter, and their materials. The intellectual content of the franchise company's event is probably the most important single element in its success or failure and the effectiveness of the speaker is a huge part of that content.
Paragon Speaker Services also can provide training programs and modules, which can be customized and delivered to franchisees regionally through a series of seminars or workshops. This is a very cost-effective way in which to deliver hands-on training to a franchise network.
