NGS
June 2020
Next Generation Speakers
Theresa Royal-Brown Making Your Event An Extraordinary Experience!
Inside This Issue:
How To Negotiate Your Speaker Fee - Without Apology!
Also: It’s Not What You Do, It’s Why You Do It...
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Contents Table of
Editor’s Note... This month we are introduced to the Event Planner Extraordinaire and Master Networking Guru herself! It’s none other than Mrs. Theresa Royal-Brown! She is the Go-To Person for all your Event Planning Needs! Reality Check: Never take anyone or anything that you value for granted. We never know when will be our last time seeing them. #RIPGeorgeFloyd #BlackLiversMatter We have more content and more useful information coming your way so stay tuned! Please share this out with all of your networks to help us reach the masses! Email: Cicone@ciconeprince.com Text: 251-753-6299
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...................................................Un-U Luxe
...............................................Editors Notes
.............................................Start A Bialog
..............................Making Your Event An Extraordinary Experience ......................Prescription For Excellence
...............................It’s Not What You Do, It’s Why You Do It... ...............................Next Level Leadership Summit Podcast .........................Chronicles of the Chosen
I just want to know one thing, Who’s Got Next? Cicone C. A. Prince NGS Magazine Editor
Cover Photo Credit: Courtesy 3
Bialogue provides training that get’s to the heart of communication issues. Grab your copy here. 4
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Making Your Event An E Who Is Theresa Royal Brown? Trailblazer? Visionary? Event Strategist? Master Networker? Author? Publisher? Speaker? Event Producer Extraordinaire? The answer is YES to all! She is multi-faceted and does many things well, but most who know her, know she is a passionate event planner, focused on doing all things in excellence. If you have ever considered putting on an event, you are a brave soul. To purposely put yourself out there with the possibility of being made a laughingstock, that indeed is someone cut from a different cloth. Now imagine if you made that your business? To manage, coordinate, and execute your own event is a daunting task, but when you take on doing that for others, you are in a league of your own. Let me introduce you to Theresa Royal-Brown, owner of Premiere Events Management and known to many in her profession as “The Event Producer Extraordinaire.� Premiere Events Management is a full-service, global event planning and marketing agency based in Bowie, MD that plans, organizes, orchestrates, and manages events in excellence. 6
Extraordinary Experience! Theresa has been planning, scheduling, and producing stellar events for nearly 20 years. Her attention to detail, along with her negotiation and communication skills, makes her an ally that you want in your corner and on your team. Theresa takes a compensative approach to find out the overall experience you want to create for your audience, and she then works within your budget to make your vision happen. Always delivering more than she promises, you are guaranteed to be blown away with the end result. Your attendees will sing your praises as they flow through the well thought out flow of your event. Handling everything from hotel reservations, to coordinating with decorators, to managing entertainment, Theresa and her team at Premiere Events Management can ensure your event is more than memorable, they will make sure that it is extraordinary! I have had the pleasure of working with Theresa Royal Brown and Premiere Events Management and she far exceeded my expectations. Her negotiating skills are second to none and I was very impressed with the great hotel contract she negotiated for my event. Using her years of experience in dealing with hotels, she cut through all of the fluff and made sure that the prices for the venue are fair market value and that you maximize your investment.
Mr. & Mrs. Charles & Theresa Brown
In addition to being the Event Producer Extraordinaire, Theresa is also known as a Master Networker because of her ability to connect with like-minded and likehearted individuals. She and her husband Charles, run their own networking organization, Entrepreneurs and Professionals Network (EPNET). Since 2006, Theresa has hosted and planned EPNET networking events for high level entrepreneurs and leaders. These events connect entrepreneurs together through a unique networking experience that creates community, builds relationships and encourages reciprocal support. 7
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Because of Theresa’s passion to connect with local and national entrepreneurs and leaders, she has been afforded the opportunity to meet and build relationships over the years with several high-level individuals such as President Barack Obama, Les Brown, Ben Crump, Vivica Fox, George Fraser, Judge Hackett, TD Jakes, Daymond John, Willie Jolley, Bernadette Stanis, Martha Stewart, Randal Pinkett, Susan Taylor and Yusef Saalem to name a few.
Theresa is indeed the Event Producer Extraordinaire and a Master Networker. Reach out to her for all your event planning needs and if you want to be connected to the right entrepreneurs and leaders. Her contact information is: www.premiereeventsmanagement.com or www.epnetonline.com and connect with her on all social media platforms @ Theresa Royal Brown 9
PRESCRIPTION FOR EXCELLENCE With Dr. James J. Williams
How To Negotiate Your Speaker Fee – Without Apology! I can recall attending my first speaking engagement – as an audience member back in the year 2000. I had the pleasure of receiving a double treat from the masters themselves, Les Brown, and Dr. Willie Jolley. Those speeches ignited my entrepreneurial flame to engage in this craft. I had no idea that while serving in the Army, I would be called upon for promotion ceremonies, retirement ceremonies, and sadly even memorial services. What was the common thread you ask? All were pro bono, I received no pay, it was considered collateral duty as a military servicemember. However, the experiences gained – priceless! Ask the average person, and they’ll tell you their greatest fear is public speaking. Ask the average public speaker, and they’ll tell you their greatest fear is asking to get paid to speak. Many professionals would love to do more speaking at conferences and conventions. But when the invitation comes, they’re often paralyzed by money: Is it appropriate to ask for some? And if so, how much? Contributing writer, Dorie Clark of the Harvard Business Review is a paid keynote speaker who delivers 30–50 talks per year. She’s also interviewed folks about how to build a paid speaking career for her book, Entrepreneurial You. Clark lists three principles that can help you determine how to price your services as a speaker. First, it’s always worth inquiring about their budget. If you don’t ask, conference organizers are delighted to never bring up money at all and assume you’ll speak for free. Raising the issue forces them to admit it would be pro bono, or allows you to start a conversation about fees. For instance, you can email them: “Thanks for getting in touch about your conference. It sounds really interesting. Can you provide some additional information about the topic you’d be interested in having me address, who the attendees will be, and your speaker budget?” Note that if you work for a corporation and your talk is related to your professional role, it’s rare that conference organizers will offer to pay you. It may not be fair — especially if other speakers are getting paid and you’re not — but it’s generally assumed that your company should be grateful for the additional exposure and that your talk is simply part of your job description, for which you’re already being compensated.
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Second, ask the right questions about the event they’d like you to speak at. Your ability to name your price varies based on the type of event, and you’ll want to scale your expectations accordingly. Early on, ask the organizer questions like: • • • • •
How many people are expected to attend the talk? In general, who will the attendees be (title, level of seniority)? Where will it be located? What’s the context of the event (conference, internal professional development, client appreciation event)? Will this be a keynote talk (generally 45–60 minutes), or a breakout session?
These questions will help you determine how important the event is and will give you a sense of how much the organizers will value your participation. The more high-profile the event is — maybe it’s for hundreds of senior executives at a resort in Aspen, for instance — the more budget they’re likely to have available. Meanwhile, if it’s a “lunch and learn” for a dozen interns, then they may not be lying when they tell you they only have $500 to spend. Here’s a rule of thumb for appropriate pricing: • Newbie speakers might earn $500–$2,500 for a talk. • Beginning speakers, or those just establishing a brand with their first book, might earn $5,000–$10,000. • Those with several books and other forms of “social proof ” might draw $10,000–$20,000. • Those who are very well-known in their field, such as best-selling authors, can bring in $20,000–$35,000 per talk. Celebrities, of course, are in a different category altogether, and can command six- and even seven-figure speaking fees — but unfortunately, most of us don’t fall into that category. Third, it’s worth determining the circumstances under which you’d be willing to speak for free. Early on, speaking for free is a perfectly reasonable strategy. You can practice your skills and hone your craft, and it exposes you to audiences that may want to hire you for further engagements. “In the early days, I spoke for leads,” recalls author John Jantsch, whom Clark profiled in her book. “I would go to whatever group asked me, if I thought there were prospects there, and I would give them a great educational experience. Undoubtedly, two or three people would come up and say, ‘Can we talk about me hiring you?’ To me, that was the payoff.” The way he looked at it, if he could drum up consulting business, it wasn’t a free speech at all. “That might have been a $100,000 speaking gig, with the right couple of engagements that came out of it.” 11
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Even beyond experience and business leads, there are often other benefits if you think to inquire. You can ask the organization to film the talk, creating a great branding asset that may lead to other engagements. Alternatively, they might provide a testimonial or a chance to travel to a desirable location; this year alone, For example if I’m scheduled to speak in Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Sidney, and Toronto (all places I’d be excited about post COVID-19). Surprisingly, many places will cover your travel, even if they don’t pay a speaking fee. You might also agree to speak for free if it gives you the chance to talk to an audience you really care about or the opportunity to have a unique experience. For example, I once gave a free talk for veterans at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which included a tour of the U.S. Navy base and a Hawaii brunch complete with musical artists performing local favorites Now to the question you all have eager to ask: How to Negotiate Your Speaking Fee According to speaking bureau SpeakerHub, “You could simply ask them, but nine times out of ten, they will underquote. Instead, do your own research, and ballpark an appropriate figure.” SpeakerHub advises that you check out how much they’re charging attendees and sponsors for the event and multiply it by their estimated attendance/sponsorship rate. For example: 500 attendees at $300 each: $150,000 10 top-tier sponsors at $10,000 each: $100,000 15 middle-tier sponsors at $8,000 each: $120,000 20 low-tier advertisers at $5,000 each: $100,000 1. Now add it all together to find the gross budget for the event: $470,000 2. Assume 50% of the budget will go toward the venue – $235,000 3. Then take another 50% out for additional costs, and you’re left with a $117,500 speaker budget. 4. Now divide that by how many speakers they’ll have (let’s say they have 10 speakers), which means theoretically, they can pay $11,750 per speaker.
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Should you quote that much if you’re a newbie? Probably not. But you can confidently quote the organizer a reasonable speaking fee without feeling like you’re robbing them. June 2020 marks a twenty-year side-hustle career for me as a speaker. I can tell you - paid speaking can be a lucrative and enjoyable activity. Naming your price can feel daunting, and money is difficult to talk about in general. However by following these principles and familiarizing yourself with industry norms, you can tap into an exciting new side hustle and start earning what you’re worth – without apology! Email - jjwilliamsphd@gmail.com
Cell - 301-806-8614 Webstore - ChasingTheEagle.com Twitter @jjwilliamsphd LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/james-j-williams TOGETHER…WE’LL GET THOUGH THIS! The opinions expressed here by Next Generation Speakers Magazine columnists are their own, not those of the magazine itself. PRESCRIPTION FOR EXCELLENCE With Dr. James J. Williams SCHOLAR | AUTHOR | SPEAKER | VETERAN | SUCCESS EXPERT
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It’s Not What You Do, It’s Why You Do It...
“How am I supposed to know?” That’s the answer that most people will give you when you ask them, “Why did you do that?” Some are quick to start pointing the finger at someone from their past or blame a situation that happens to them. But few of them will go beyond that and look at their responsibility in the situation. Now even as I type this I can hear the anger welling up inside of you about the injustices that have found their way into your life. I’ll be the first to say that the wrong done to you was not right. And most of the time it’s not your fault, but the reality is we have to live in the wake and aftermath of life’s tests and trials. How we respond to them is what determines the type of present and future we will live in. Have you ever looked at yourself and questioned why you do something? This journey of self-discovery for me started back when I was in college in Atlanta, Georgia. I had dated several women while in college when I noticed a pattern of how the relationship would end. I figured that 80% of the time that the relationship was ended by the female. I started looking into my past to see if there was any logical reason why I was so unwilling to “Let Go” of a relationship. And I wasn’t going to just accept the answer, “Well, that’s just the way it is!” not even from myself. So I carefully looked into the relationships that went into shaping who I was. I looked at the relationships with my parents and grandparents and I started there. I determined that the one that had the biggest impact on me was the relationship with my Mom. Now I want the record to show that I never in my life questioned if my Mom loved me. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would do anything for me. So her love was never an issue. What was the issue was the expression of it? Being a person that wanted and needed to feel loved, knowing I was loved wasn’t enough. I wanted to feel loved. I wanted to feel appreciated and not just when I did something good. I wanted unconditional love, and I wanted it from my Mother. Now please don’t think that I’m blaming her, because I’m not. As I have matured I realized that we can only give what we have ourselves. If we have closed ourselves off from others to keep from getting hurt then those walls that we build to keep hurt out also keeps us locked in and there is no place for sharing even our love with others. So understanding that really painted my Mother in a different light and I truly forgave her and sought to help her out of that self-imposed prison that she had built for herself. I had to then make sure that I didn’t repeat the cycle in my own life and the lives of my children. Ok, I’ve talked enough about what went into making me, let turn the mirror around so you can have a look. So many of us never answer the question, “Why did you do that?” For many, it never crosses our minds. Your homework is the beginning questioning not what you do, but why you do it? Start looking for a trigger that sets you down a not so pleasant path or causes you to have a “Pre-programmed” response. If you are honest and thorough you will discover something new about yourself that you can then create an antidote for if it doesn’t serve you. But I must warn you, once you start, you’ll have a lifetime of work ahead of you but the results will be someone who can help others better examine themselves and make the world a better place. It’s not what you, it’s why you do it… ~Cicone Prince 16
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