Will Not Speak for Food

The fabulous Molly Holzschlag writes that from this day forward, she will no longer speak for food. I'm with Molly on this one.

About being asked to "participate" in a conference without pay, she says:

"... the major company in question, while asking for my apparent expertise and enthusiasm, doesn't see fit to pay my travel or time. In fact, the entire invitation reads as if I owe them the honor of my presence, and not only that, should pay for the privilege."

Like Molly, I can understand the no-pay issue when there's good cause, and in that case a speaker may choose to modify his/her fee. But, as Molly so eloquently notes,

"this crap of paying for the privilege of speaking, in my opinion, has gone on too long and for all the wrong reasons.

I encourage all people who publicly share their knowledge and travel distances to do so start putting a reasonable price on their knowledge and experience. "

Amen to this. I too am amazed at the number of organizations who expect speakers to be paid in mere glory. ;-)

Do they also want the hotel to comp the meeting room? Do they ask the caterer to work for free? Does the printer get paid?

I tend to agree with you. I tend to put conferences that don't at least offer travel and hotel covered low on the priority list.

Not that I'm getting asked to speak a lot, however.

I speak several times a month. Lots of opportunities come to me through speaking. I paid my way to AdTech,San Francisco, which was largely a waste of time. I'm not going to pay for travel and hotel ever again.

Nonetheless, I am speaking gratis tomorrow for PRSA in New York. Talking to publicists is a lot like banging your head against the wall. But I decided to try one more time. Next year, they have to pay me. :>)
BL