Top Trends of the New High-Fee
Speaking Circuit
RainToday.com, January 2010
By Vickie K. Sullivan
Many professional service firms will hit the speaking circuit
hard to get their message out in an increasingly crowded market.
Between the economic meltdown, the AIG effect, and the flood
of free experts, the meetings industry has changed a lot.
To help navigate this new normal, let's take a look at what's
next for this year.
1. Meetings are back -- but they are under a microscope.
While there's a collective sigh of relief that the recession
is over, meeting planners know we're not out of the woods
yet. Travel and entertainment is the second-largest discretionary
expense in corporate America, so meetings will continue to
be a target for cutbacks. Count on every meeting expense (that
includes everything from travel to industry conferences) to
be heavily scrutinized. Result: attendance will still be a
challenge for industry conferences. For corporate meetings,
the mantra is "do more with less."
2. The AIG effect is gone but not forgotten.
Good news: the meetings industry did a great job convincing
the federal government that meetings are not junkets. As a
result, Uncle Sam backed off on its attack. Unfortunately,
buyers are still worried about attacks by the media. That's
one of the many reasons why content will be king as decision
makers tout the educational value of their events. This will
raise the bar for insightful content for everyone. Reciting
basic information found on the Internet and reading from PowerPoint
slides will not be tolerated. What's hot now: implemental
information. In other words, they will want less theory and
more tactics and ideas that can be put to use right away.
3. Tech-savvy audiences drive hybrid meetings.
Budget cuts for travel combined with "we can do this
easily" technology has opened the door to blend face-to-face
events with virtual interactions. Live streaming of the keynote
presentation is quickly becoming the standard. If virtual
event technology continues its trajectory, look for groups
to go beyond the YouTube channels and Facebook interactions
and into more real-time, online virtual events.
The poster child for this idea is Cisco's 2009 annual customer
conference, which featured two full days of live webcasts
of over 40 sessions, a virtual exhibit hall, and unique content
just for virtual attendees. Speakers who not only are comfortable
with the technology but also come with an established system
to play in both worlds will get the inside track.
4. Former fire sales will continue hard negotiations
on fees.
When the economy tanked, buyers smelled fear and took advantage
of speakers afraid of empty calendars. Because too many speakers
panicked by cutting their fee to as little as 25 cents on
the dollar, buyers will continue to negotiate hard, citing
slashed budgets. If you expect to be paid, then be prepared
for negotiation and fee resistance. Know what more you can
offer, such as extra sessions and more content for virtual
attendees, and when to walk away. Have a "bottom line"
fee in mind so you can turn down any opportunities that won't
work.
5. Flood of free speakers will redefine who gets
paid.
Free speakers are like crack cocaine for association buyers:
one time and they're hooked. The mantra for these program
planners will be, "Can we get this for free?" Between
authors speaking to promote their books and experts who speak
to sell, buyers have become used to getting good enough speakers
for free and will be hard-pressed to start paying. How to
beat that competition: a compelling point of view with a strong
"cool person doing really cool things" brand that
is in demand.
6. Buyers now look at message first, then prominence.
During the boom times, the bigger the persona, the bigger
the speaking fee. Message took a backseat to a speaker's background.
The recession changed those criteria, and buyers shifted their
priority to information that met the meeting's strategic objectives.
For 2010, the buzzword is "return on attendance."
Program planners may love your notoriety, but if they don't
need your message right now, they will move on to
someone else. Once you have someone's attention, you need
killer topics to seal the deal.
7. Free speech will get more popular and less profitable.
What happens when consultants want to get famous? They write
a book and give speeches to promote it. What happens when
publishers pressure their authors to hit the speaking circuit?
Authors will speak for free to get the gig. Add a dose of
tight budgets and a crowded market (see item #5) and you get
a flood of folks willing to waive speaking fees for the spotlight
and leads.
More doesn't mean merrier in this case. Flooding the market
with up-and-coming gurus willing to speak for free gives buyers
plenty of reasons to be choosy. Even worse: association buyers
have become very sensitive to pitching from the podium. And
audiences yell long and loud when they get more "buy
my book" pitch than content. Prediction: speaking for
free will get more expensive. This will force well-known authors
to start charging higher speaking fees to buyers who no longer
have a big budget. Watch for the famous to not necessarily
get rich.
As a result, buyers will separate experts into two categories.
- The ones with "nice-to-have" topics will be
seen as competent and talented presenters. Buyers will tell
them either "we can get this message internally (or
for free)" or "we're going in a different direction."
- Experts with "must-have" topics will get a different
response. Buyers will approach them with "this topic
is perfect for our event" instead of "we don't
have a budget." You've reached "must-have"
status when program planners start talking about the "when
and how" you'll speak instead of comparing you to other
presenters.
And the best news of all: we get to choose which speaker
we're going to be.
Since 1987, Vickie K. Sullivan, President of Sullivan Speaker
Services, has generated millions of dollars in speaking fees,
book advances and ancillary income for her clients. Sign up
for her free market intelligence at http://www.SullivanSpeaker.com
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