Shalom - I hope you have had a nice start to 2018, an exciting year for JNF and Israel as we commemorate 70 years as a nation.

I am pleased to provide you with this update of activities we’ve been involved in to advance the goals of the Speakers Bureau, share JNF’s achievements in Israel and to promote the amazing roster of speakers on our bureau.

Speaker requests from organizations via our website have grown over the years. In 2018, for Israel’s 70th anniversary, we are heavily promoting our Speakers Bureau to the public with the goal of increasing awareness of our speakers available for their program while also getting the word out about the amazing work JNF is doing in Israel.

As part of the 70th anniversary effort, we have increased our marketing with Facebook ads, print ads in Hadassah Magazine, the New York Jewish Week, and promotional postcards to over 7,000 synagogues and Jewish schools.  We are confident this will lead to increased awareness and speaker requests.

In our efforts to engage and educate our long-standing and new speakers about JNF, we thank you for participating in our periodic webinars and conference calls providing an overview and update of JNF’s Action Areas and suggested ways for our speakers to be ambassadors for JNF through their social media and speeches.  Please see the various updates included in this email and be on the lookout for an invitation to our next conference call later this year.

Keep us posted on your travel in your area, around the country and around the world. Update us on upcoming speaking tours or soon-to-be-published books. JNF’s Speakers Bureau is a fantastic resource to put your word out there to the general community. We want to be a leading force behind your successful endeavors.

When you are in Israel, please experience JNF’s Wednesday Day Tour as our guest.

Internally, We produce a monthly newsletter for JNF staff, and national and regional leadership to provide updates on speaker availability – letting us know where you will be and when you have open dates is helpful.

And make sure to promote JNF Speakers Bureau on your social media outlets! Send your updates to Cheryl Lefland, Director, Speakers Bureau, at clefland@jnf.org or 212.879.9307.

We seek to have the JNF Speakers Bureau be THE go-to place to find speakers on Israel and other JNF-related topics. JNF’s Speakers Bureau is the only public website offered to the general community to find speakers on Israel, the environment, Jewish culture and other topics of interest.  Traffic to our website continues to increase and with search engine optimization, our link comes up second to the Israeli embassy when searching “speakers on Israel”.  

The Speakers Bureau page on JNF’s recently revamped website has a new look and additional functions. We’ve identified new topic areas that offer more clarity to the public and added a search for a speaker by location in addition to topic and name. We are confident that the new site and features will bring more organizations, synagogues and other groups to our page to find you.

Please review your content and:

If you have any changes or additions to topics or location please let us know.

If  you do not see your photo on your page, it means we need a high resolution head shot. Please send to speakerphotos@jnf.org

 All bios are being formatted to 100 word, 50 word and intro format. Please review periodically and advise of any changes to professional experience, new books, videos, etc.