Mike’s posterous

I received a phone call about a month ago from a woman who is planning an event. She was looking for speakers on a variety of business topics and she wanted me to speak on social media. I agreed to participate and she said she'd follow up in a couple of weeks with details.

This week she called me to discuss the specifics of my talk and cover the overall format of the event. The event is going to be broadcast on a local AM radio station and she is going to have it recorded with an aim toward syndicating the event. I think, "good for her, she's working to create a series and establish herself as a content producer." At some point during the conversation she says she's referring to the speakers as "partners" and she is thinking of asking each speaker to pay $50 for marketing and such. I politely told her that I thought this was not a good idea.

It's not that $50 is a ton of money it's the concept of asking someone to speak and then expecting them to pay for the privilege. You called and asked me, and the other speakers, to donate our time to your commercial endeavor and you want us to pay for your marketing cost too? "Seems a bit off." I told her. I love to speak, and I don't mind doing it for free under certain circumstances but I have never been asked to pay when my name is on the program as a featured speaker.

Now this is different than events like PodCamp or SXSW where I and others volunteer and actively seek out the speaking opportunity. I paid $50 to attend PodCamp Boston 2009 next week and I am happy to do so in support of the event and the community I am a part of. I signed up to lead a session because I think I have something to share and I think participation is important. I'm paying what any other attendee would pay, I've just chosen to speak.

I wonder how she would have reacted if I said "Sure, I'll pay the $50 but I almost forgot my fee is $500/hr plus travel expenses."?

Mike Langford
CEO, Tweetworks LLC
Tweet Me: @MikeLangford

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