We recently had another exchange with an event manager who books dozens of speakers a year in an industry where, well, let’s just say women are a minority. InnovationWomen.com to the rescue!
Heard this story before? So have we – in fact we had two almost identical conversations this week. They know they have an issue and are very open to working with us to find great women speakers, but…
“We have little-to-no budget for speakers. We’ve been approached by several speakers bureaus and the minimum price there is $6-10K…and that’s not something we can do.”
That’s right. Most speakers bureaus have to charge big bucks because they ONLY handle professional speakers. That’s how they and their clients, the speakers, make a living. And there is a market for this kind of service and speaker. But at Innovation Women, we know that getting paid isn’t always the priority — SOMETIMES, the exposure is worth far more.
Meanwhile, we also had a good conversation with a speaker who over the last several years transitioned from providing valuable content and presentations for free to charging — $1000 for local presentations to $2000 plus expenses if out-of-state travel is required. Speaking takes a lot of time out of an already business schedule and there is real value in what a speaker does.
Only you can decide your approach to speaker payment. We’re getting more and more information in our “Paid to speak” survey — share your thoughts!
