Panelists and payments

Sue Pelletier December 7th, 2005

Should speakers get an honorarium? Comped conference fees? Airfare and hotel? Nada? The whole topic of how and if speakers get paid is a recurring theme among some folks who speak at industry events and meeting planners. Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine represents one side of the story with this rant about being offered a “special one-day registration rate” as recompense for being on a panel at an association show:

What incredible nerve. Though it may be worth the price of admission to see me sitting on the same panel with Roger Simon of PJ media, I nonetheless had a patented Jarvis conniption.

We as panelists come as their trained monkeys to give these conference organizers the only damned content they have and they expect us to pay for the bananas? Well, peel this!

It’s time for panelists everywhere to unionize, to rise up and form the International Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Amalgamated Blatherers, Local 1. We demand free nametags — with ribbons. We demand good bottled water on the table. We demand decent swag briefcases made of real fabric or leather, no plastic. And we demand a cut of the gate.

But Hugh at Gaping Void says it’s worth his while to speak for free, because of the indirect payback he gets:

I don’t charge for speaking. Sometimes I’ll get them to pay for the hotel and the plane fare. I figure every time I go to one of these things, it’ll lead to something else down the line- a paid gig, an English Cut sale, whatever.

It’s up to every person to decide for themselves, of course, but if someone was asking me to actually pay to provide content for their meeting, well, as someone who makes a living being paid to provide content, I think I’d just say no. Then again, I’m no speaker.

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8 Comments to “Panelists and payments”

1. Janie Jasin CSP Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 12:40 pm

   Being on a panel hasn’t happened to me except when already speaking and being paid for doing a talk at the same event.
   I have done this but was already paid for the talk and the air and a place to sleep. To prepare content and lead the discussion seems like a lot to ask for and not be compensated but if one feels it is an awesome place to pick up a reputation and another speaking engagement and not lose another date while doing the additional panel… ok but
   if… it is just the panel,I would say no thankyou.
   Janie Jasin speaking business 30 years. Best Selling book The Littlest Christmas Tree.

2. Mike Henning Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 12:59 pm

   I do up to two speeches per year no charge. Why? I realize that I will get consulting from the audience members. The other 40 + are fee base only as that is how I make a living and pay the bills. I do not have another job to pay the bills and save for long-term expenses. We provide excellent content and our audiences expect to pay for such information. Others tend to give information away, then hawk the audience for consulting. Too bad this happens and gives we fee based folks a bad name. After all, providing solid infornation people can use is not a charitable situation and most people in business expect to pay a reasonable going rate in exchange. Thank you for the opportunity to reply, Mike

3. Lorna Riley CSP Certified Speaking Professional Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 1:03 pm

   If someone gives speeches and training for a living–which includes sharing expertise on a panel, then they need to be paid for it. I’d not ask my doctor to perform surgery on me for free in the hopes that I’d recommend her to others. Probably wouldn’t be a very good MD and I’d not want her services as a result. Planners pay for the time it takes experts to become experts so that audiences can cut down their learning curve. That’s worth paying for.

4. Philippa Gamse CMC Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 3:21 pm

   One of the biggest complaints from meeting attendees is that the speakers are “boring”.

   Having great knowledge doesn’t automatically translate into being able to communicate it in a way that engages the audience and allows them to learn and implement new ideas.

   Good speakers who are independent professionals should be respected for the objectivity that they bring, and the added value that they provide.

   You can’t take “exposure” to Safeway - they don’t accept that currency!

5. Joan Eisenstodt Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 3:41 pm

   Tough issue. Meetings industry associations generally do not pay members who speak tho’ they may provide a registration discount, or travel fare assistance or hotel room discount. Panelists/other speakers v. the lead are not “compensated” at all. The thinking is that they’d be there anyway. In many cases, they would not be.
   NON-members are often compensated w/ honoraria, travel and hotel expenses.
   All of us give something away for free at some point. It feels good and is smart. It’s the organizations (often industry chapters) who ask you to speak for free AND pay your own travel expenses who I think could reconsider. If we are smart, experienced, and good enough, compensating us in some way is good business and shows respect.

6. Kare Anderson Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 4:19 pm

   Regardless of whether the invited speaker/panelist expects to get business, financial compensation, visibility or other value out of the “opportunity”, the meeting planner who invites that person would want to motivate him or her to perform well. Consequently, savvy planners would propose the specific ways that both the speaker and the association could best work together to generate maximum value for the intended audience, the association and the speaker.

   I was paid for an opening keynote and gave a same-day session for exhibitors at no additional cost when the association choose to buy my book to give to all attendees as they left my keynote (a sponsor underwrote the cost so a sticker with the firm’s name was placed on the book cover).

   Rather than simply figuring out how to cut up the pie of the current meeting budget, every player in this industry (meeting planner, speaker, exhibitor, consultant…) can look at co-creating a bigger pie to make meetings more meaningful and memorable - and we generate more value with and for each other.

   I deeply believe that meeting formats need to change more with the times to retain members and bring out the best in all stakeholders.

7. Warren Evans CSP HoF Says:
   

   December 8th, 2005 at 11:13 pm

   There are 2 panel situations;
   1 - Lots of us sit on panels and otherwise share our expertise at events within our own industry as a way of ‘giving back’.
   2. - Organizers want specific expertise, and/or delivery skills, on a panel that is not readily available from within their own membership . . . the intent being to offer additional value to their attendees. This is a commercial transaction of value in return for value. The perception and definition of a fair value trade ought to be determined by the parties involved.

   Expecting someone who is in the business of delivering a given exopertise to do so without compensation certainly strikes me as an ambitious effort on the part of a planner, but id they can make the value trade work this way for them . . . more power to them!

   Warren Evans
   Founding Chair,
   International Federation for Professional Speakers

8. Gloria Nelson CSEP Says:
   

   December 13th, 2005 at 2:10 am

   I have read this thread of discussion with great interest and mixed emotions, like so many others. I have spent a good deal of time speaking pro bono, and in some instances with not even so much as a complimentary registration, dependent upon the group.

   I struggle with taking time away from my profitable hours of working at my profession, away from my family, expected in many instances to incur the expenses of travel and also expecting to hit a 4.5+ on a post-event evaluation score in delivering a “rock ‘em sock ‘em program” to a learned group of peers without compensation.

   I believe that if take a retrospective look at how this began, we can go back to the roots of founding the practice in our many associations that we all participate in and that we did it out of the goodness of our hearts. When, however, does it surpass the laws of diminishing return. People object to soft marketing with speakers and their materials they have available for purchase (and remember, they’re not getting compensated so they’re looking to address other opportunities for bookings and a bit of remuneration for their time through the sale of adjunct materials they’ve produced) and those of us who provide independent planning services or on the supplier side, a “captive audience” don’t see the ROI that’s promised with business exposure.

   Without sound cavalier with the “WIIFM” (what’s in it for me), do associations realize that those of us who are passionate about our work, exude that through our creative presentations, study long and hard to create meaningful materials and thought provoking sessions are nonprofit organizations as well? I have yet to learn of many colleagues who have booked business (whether it is speaker related for hire or planner business) due to exposure. Typically, it costs most of us three days away from productivity, the stress from traveling and lost revenue from billable hours while we’re speaking pro bono.

   Is it unfair or unreasonable to ask associations to cover our travel costs, meals a complimentary entree into a convention arena to listen to other presentations while we have made the “trek” AND to consider some type of an honorarium?

   What would happen if enough people simply said, “No, thank you, but my time is worth something.” What that something is can always be negotiated, but time is something that once spent can never be recaptured. I’d like to know how some of the association chairs, board members and more would feel about being away from their jobs for days at a time and receiving no remuneration from their employers while speaking/serving and also expected to pick up their travel and expenses to get to their destination to give nothing less than a stellar presentation.

   The one place that I do make exceptions specifically are within the “backyard” collegiate environment of the meeting/event industry along with tutoring fellow professionals who are attempting to sit for their CSEP exam in paying it forward to tomorrow’s industry leaders.

   I think this is important food for thought and discussion and shouldn’t be taken lightly and sloughed off as “drivel” by those in association positions to make those bold statements trivialized. Many of those individuals that scoff at our request to be honored and treated as professionals are making $100K plus salaries. For as many times as those of who who are asked to and accommodate speaking/teaching requests….we do so without compensation. I wonder if those association execs, chair persons, board members and others would be willing to do the same without getting any paycheck AND incurring lofty travel expenses to boot…..comments?

   Gloria Nelson, CSEP
   Gloria Nelson Event Design, LLC

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