Sujata Luther was fidgeting in her chair last week at the Los Angeles Convention Center as she listened to a lecture on how companies can better define their strategies.

Luther, like other attendees of the World Business Forum, had shelled out $1,700 to hear such luminaries as InterActive Corp. Chairman Barry Diller, former IBM Corp. Chief Executive Lou Gernstner Jr. and best-selling author Jim Collins.

But the morning lecture by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter was not holding the attention of the Mattel Inc. executive, though she hoped a later one by former General Electric Co. chairman Jack Welch might prove different.

“This is basic business school 101 stuff,” complained Luther, who sent e-mails on her Blackberry as Porter spoke. “I’m desperate to get back to work, but I was the one who decided to come down here.”

Tough crowd, but that’s what was expected by the organizers of the forum a business extravaganza that attracted 1,900 attendees last week through a coupling of celebrity firepower, business instruction and, of course, networking.

Speeches by leading business executives and thinkers have been a staple of the lecture circuit for years, but the World Business Forum and other events like it take it one step further, offering talks from multiple big-name speakers at one event.

Produced by the U.S. arm of HSM Group Inc., an Argentine company that puts on such forums across the globe, the event allowed local executives to soak up the latest business-think while they passed around business cards between lectures, strategy sessions and keynote lunches.

“We focus on leadership strategy for executive education,” said Carlos Rohm, the firm’s managing director of U.S. operations. “But the networking is a key component.”

Forum-type gatherings got their start over a decade ago with the explosion of cable television channels and half-hour infomercials by motivational authors.

Dan Savage, managing partner at SR Productions LLC, who has been booking professional speakers for about 30 years, credits motivational guru Tony Robbins and Peter Lowe, with popularizing the genre of single-day multi-speaker management seminars.

The formula is simple: star power, combined with educational seminars and lots of networking opportunities. That provides multiple draws for company executives.

Ken Schmitz, executive vice president and chief strategy officer Strata Media Inc., a Costa Mesa-based marketing and development firm, says he gets little out of the networking, but loves the speakers.

“I’m here for the leadership and strategy stuff, since my company is growing fast, and I need to turn more of the work over to my staff,” he said. “But if I walk away with a couple business cards, it’s a bonus.”

Jerome Smolar, president and chief executive of United Title Co. in Los Angeles, sees at it as a rare chance to meet colleagues based in other parts of the country. “The CEO of our parent company heard about the forum and sent six of the division heads to attend,” he said. “The speakers are certainly a draw, but it’s also an opportunity for us to get together.”

HSM is a closely held company formed in 1987 to hold executive education conferences. Rohm said organizing the events takes up to two years since the speakers appear on a circuit of similar events in New York, Chicago, Milan and elsewhere around the world and must be booked far in advance.

While HSM wouldn’t reveal how much it earns from its events or how much speakers are paid, Savage said the top draws can get well over $100,000 for a single event.

On top of that, speakers who have published recent books, such as Porter, Collins and Welch, often see their book sales go up as a result of the exposure. Part of the World Business Forum’s program included several book signings, and Borders Group Inc. had a booth that sold books written by the speakers.

Ticket sales are just one way HSM generates income to pay the speaker fees. It also sells corporate sponsorships that allow companies to set up presentation booths in the convention center’s lunch hall. Sponsors also can pay for extras, such as having their executives lunch with the speakers.

“It’s access and exposure,” said Savage, whose firm books the talent for the Music Center’s speaker series. “You can pick up a gem or two that you take back to your company, so you can say, ‘I heard Jack Welch talk about dealing with the hard times and he said this.'”