The Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau has launched a new program that makes available a bank of business and industry leaders willing to speak to groups who are meeting in the Islands.

The program's inaugural event is scheduled for Wednesday when a speaker, who is yet to be named, addresses a group from Amway Taiwan, said HVCB's Michael Murray, who is vice president of sales and marketing for corporate meetings and incentives.

Murray said the speakers bureau of experts has been in the works for about a year. The current speaker categories are: Asian & International Affairs, Business & Finance, Hawai'i Insights & Aloha, Medical/Bio Tech and Team Building,

The program has commitments from more than 20 Hawai'i-based leaders willing to present their views on topics that include business, high technology, finance, Asian affairs, medicine and scientific research, he said.

The resource is the latest effort to work with associations, as well as corporate and incentive groups, to help them host successful conferences in the Isles.

Murray said it is another way to help battle "the boondoggle effect," where meeting planners must fight the perception that coming to Hawai'i means a lot of beach time and not much business.

By providing a bureau of people ready to speak, Murray said meeting planners have easy access to a diverse group who can offer their perspective on contemporary issues involving Hawai'i and the Pacific Rim.

"Hawai'i has leaders who have made their mark in the world and we're fortunate they are willing to share their knowledge with groups doing business in the Islands," Murray said.

Those who have signed on for the Hawai'i Speakers Bureau include Walter Dods, chairman of First Hawaiian Bank and former president of the American Banking Association; David Cole, president, CEO and chairman of Maui Land & Pineapple Co.; and Ramsay Taum, director of External Relations and Community Partnerships at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's School of Travel Industry Management.

The complete list of participants can be found at www.BusinessAloha.com.

Murray said the speakers bureau will provide the introductions and let the two sides take it from there. "We will make connections for them and the speakers will actually negotiate their availability and then their fee," he said.

He said the program saves convention planners the expense of having to fly in a speaker, while providing a high level of expertise.

"This program and the stature of the leaders taking part is another way for us to show how Hawai'i is the ideal venue to bring companies on either side of the Pacific together to expand their business opportunities," Murray said.

Find out more about the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau's new speakers' bureau at www.BusinessAloha.com.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.