How I Make My Decisions to Speak at Conferences

Consultants who make money speak at conferences. I love to speak. Give me a microphone—I am a happy person.

I keep having to turn down speaking requests, both domestic and overseas. I would love to go, to learn and to meet people. Sometimes, I'm not available.  More often, I can't “afford” to do so. Often, the actual money is only a part of the decision.

The decisions I make are about my product development and my Costs of Delay.

Context Free Questions Help Me Decide

I know that I will write and speak about what I want to be known for over the course of a year. I know I will create on-site and virtual workshops. I know I will speak, coach, consult.

The question is how much of each?

Here are some questions I ask when I receive a speaking request:

• Am I available?
• Is this something I want to be known for?
• Is this topic something I enjoy speaking about?
• What will I gain from participating?
• What will I lose from participating?
• Is the request far enough in advance that I can manage the request?

These are context-free questions. Note that they apply to any speaking request.

Here's an example. A conference that required international travel asked me to speak as a track talk about 45 days in advance. They paid coach airfare and my hotel room for the entire conference because it was a track talk. No hotel reimbursement before or after the two days of the conference. I would have needed more than 15 hours of travel to manage the request.

BTW, I'm not offended by a track talk. More of “my” people come to a track talk. I would rather speak to 10 engaged potential clients rather than 5000 unengaged people who feel trapped at a keynote.

I said no. The organizer asked why not. I explained I would need to arrive early to manage my jet lag. I also said that to cross an ocean, I require business class airfare. (Business class is about sleeping. It has nothing to do with food or drink. I rarely eat when flying to Europe. Flying west is often different and depends on where I start.)

Because they didn't reimburse business airfare and more hotel nights, I couldn't afford the hit to my business.

Now, that's international. Domestic might be a different issue.

When I speak for a domestic audience, I run through my questions. I speak at conferences to explore new ideas and gain clients. I do see my speaking as marketing. Then, I ask this question about what I will lose from participating:

How much will it cost me to speak at this conference?

I have a number of out-of-pocket costs: transportation to/from the airport both ways, airfare, hotel nights, food.

Notice that I didn't count the conference registration. I expect conference registration. If you want me to participate in the conference, you're “paying” me to be there by including full conference registration in the speaker honoraria.

There is also the cost to my business—the Cost of Delay. When I'm at a conference, I'm conferring. I'm not writing. I'm not creating or delivering workshops. I'm not coaching or consulting. I'm at the conference.

If you've ever seen consultants fly in, give their talk, and fly out, that's the reason. The money (their Cost of Delay) they lose by speaking at the conference doesn't make sense for them. These people don't receive enough value to speak and stay at the conference. The honorarium isn't enough.

What's the Honorarium?

What should a conference offer to make it easy for speakers to speak? Here's a possible list:

• Airfare. Not a flat fee reimbursement for any speaker, but all of a given speaker's airfare.
• Hotel rooms, including before and after, especially if the conference is near a weekend. If you, as a conference organizer, negotiate your hotel contract right, those extra nights will pay for themselves in lower room rental or food and beverage costs.
• An honorarium. This doesn't have to be money, although I prefer money. You might buy one of my books for everyone who registers. I've conducted private sessions with local managers, a one-day preconference or postconference workshop. You might offer me something else that would make sense for both of us.

Make it easy for me to say yes to you.

Notice that I did not list a speaker dinner, or a tour, or anything else that wasn't about making my time worthwhile.

(Rant on conference food:  When you tell me breakfast is included and it only has carby things, that's not breakfast. Even if I still ate carbs, speakers need protein and fat to have the mental energy that goes with delivering a great talk. When you feed me a conference lunch without a single green vegetable, I can't maintain my health. Great speakers maintain their health and food is the fastest way to maintain or wreck it. And the happy hours? I'm a speaker. I can't afford to get sloshed. I'll ruin my reputation. Rant off.)

I have had to leave speaker dinners at 9 pm without having been served because I was the keynote speaker at 8:30 am and I need my sleep. (I travel with meal replacement bars because this occurs way too often.)

As for tours: I don't want to tour for 12 hours and then speak the next day at 8:30. I want to get adequate exercise of my choice and then sleep so I awake refreshed and ready.

Even before I had vertigo, I used caution on pre-conference activities. You're not paying me to speak and yawn.

And, that's really the key for conference speaking. You're paying me in some way: with marketing, with reimbursement of expenses, with an honorarium.

Everyone Defines Value Differently

What is valuable to a conference organizer might not be valuable to a speaker.

Too often, conferences (like managers) want to manage their costs. That's a great idea. The question for conferences (like managers) is this: How could you arrange things so you increase value for the participants and the speakers?

When you ask me to speak ask yourself this: What would make it possible for me to say yes? Is this something I've been writing or speaking about in other venues? Is this something your conference would value? How can you make me an offer that's a win-win for both of us?

My Decision-Making Works for Me

If you think this sounds a little like how to make decisions for a consultant's project portfolio, you're right. Everyone's project portfolio is different because everyone values their options differently.

I use context-free questions to clarify my thinking. I ask about the honorarium because my time is worth your money. And, I'm asking you to consider that what is valuable to you might not be valuable to me.

When you offer me a win-win for my speaking, I can deliver a great talk, meet with the participants, and make it worthwhile for all of us.

I love to speak at conferences. I'm willing to travel almost anywhere, assuming the circumstances are right. And, I might not be the right speaker for you.

(Update: I wrote a book, Write a Conference Proposal the Conference Wants and Accepts that incorporates this and all the other conference proposal posts.)