HIGHEST QUALIFICATION

Masters degree in Personal & Professional Leadership: Cum Laude, University of Johannesburg (UJ). After obtaining an M.Phil PPL, Stef was a guest lecturer at UJ, where his dissertation also later became prescribed reading for postgraduate leadership students. Many of Stef's programmes were also created under the auspices of the University of Johannesburg.

PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION

Certified Speaking Professional, or CSP designation: Stef is one of only six South Africans ever to have earned the CSP designation. Only the top 10 percent of speakers worldwide have earned this designation, conferred by the Global Speakers Federation. It is the speaking professions ultimate measure of professional platform skill, earned through a rigorous application process based on competence, skills and other qualifying criteria over a 5-year period.  

MEMBERSHIPS

Million Dollar Speakers Round Table: The US-based National Speakers Association (NSA), which is also the lead member of the Global Speakers Federation, is by far the world's largest body of professional speakers and boasts thousands of members. The Million Dollar Speakers Round Table exists within the NSA, and attendance is determined by verified fee income. Less than two-dozen speakers from around the world qualify for membership, and as of 2011, Stef continued to be the only speaker outside of the USA and Europe ever to have qualified.

Other memberships:

• Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa
• Global Speakers Network

AWARDS

Speakers Inc. Lifetime Achievement Award: This peer-voted award bestows upon the recipient the highest honour that can be achieved in any field, namely the visible manifestation of the respect of one's peers.  Stef was the first recipient of this award, followed by Clem Sunter and Alison. 

Speakers Hall of Fame: The PSASAs Southern African Speakers Hall of Fame award is also a lifetime achievement award. It recognises outstanding overall levels of success in the fields of speaking, teaching, mentoring and consulting, and reflects extraordinary acknowledgement, respect and admiration of the members of the speaking and training industries. Stef is one of only 7 inductees into the Hall of Fame. Other inductees include Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Clem Sunter.  (Stef was also twice nominated for induction into the USA's National Speakers Association Hall of Fame, making him one of the very few non-Americans ever to be considered.)

INDUSTRY ACHIEVEMENTS

Founder and First President, PSASA: In 2004, after a number of years in the making, Stef founded the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa, and became its first President. Today the PSASA boasts a couple of hundred members, and is a full member of the Global Speakers Federation. Many well established speakers and trainers accredit a large part of their career success to their membership of the PSASA.

HONOURS AND RECOGNITION

PSASA's 'Stef du Plessis Award': This award is the highest honour that the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa can bestow upon a member, and goes annually to a significant role player who has become an industry role model. It recognises that the recipient has made an outstanding contribution to the speaking industry and has earned the utmost respect and admiration from his or her peers throughout the profession over a number of years. Although Stef has not personally earned this award, the ultimate honour was bestowed on him when it was named the 'Stef du Plessis Award', firmly entrenching him as an icon in the speaking fraternity.

A unique accomplishment: Only the very best of the best speakers are ever invited to address their peers at speaker association meetings and conventions. The Global Speakers Network stages a world convention every two years, and Stef was on the programme an unprecedented three consecutive times in Singapore, Dubai, and Cape Town. He has also presented many workshops and breakout sessions at a number of the annual conventions of speaker associations around he world. But what really distinguishes him as an industry leader is the fact that he was the first, and in many instances he remains the only South African ever to have been invited to speak on the main stages of the National Speakers Associations in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, as well as at the Professional Speakers Association in the UK. There are very few speakers alive today who have made as many appearances at the various member-Nation events of the Global Speakers Federation.