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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