If they’re paid there’s your fee plus whatever extra you may get down the line. If they’re unpaid or, even more scary, you’re being asked to pay for the opportunity to speak… that needs a lot more careful consideration, I’d have thought…

I’ve just come off the phone from talking with a friend. At one point she mentioned that she had to put together a 15-minute talk about empowerment (through her area of expertise) that she’ll be delivering to a group of about 500 in a week’s time. No money involved. Trouble was she wasn’t sure how she was going to address the subject, which is unlike her…

It sounded like a potentially good opportunity to me, so I asked her to tell me more about it and that’s when it started to become a bit like pulling teeth…

Me: Who are the 500 people going to be?
F: Mixed gender, various ages I guess

Me: Closed or open group?
F: Open

Me: Employees? Self employed? Redundant workers? Business start ups?
F: Er, a mixture, I suppose

Me: What’s the occasion?
F: Something that’s going on in (name of town)

Me: What kind of event is it? What’s its purpose? Why would people attend?
F: Don’t know. There’ll be stall holders there and several speakers. The stall holders are each being charged £10 and attendee entrance is free… That’s all I really know. I only met the organiser for the first time yesterday and we just hit it off… She’s sending me a flyer.

Me: Well, why don’t you give her a bell, tell her you’re preparing your bit and and ask her to take a couple of minutes to give you the low down on these points? I’m sure she won’t mind.
F: Yes, that’s an idea.

Me: It’s the only way you’re likely to get any kind of feel for the target audience in time to tailor your talk to their likely needs… Now, get off the phone – you’ve work to do!
F: Okay, ‘bye…

The importance of research

I’m not about bursting anyone’s bubble but I know what it’s like to put a lot of effort into preparation to speak to X amount of people at somebody else’s event only to discover you could have sat round a kitchen table to chat with the the number who actually turned up!

And I’m well aware of the fact that people will say they’ll turn up to a freebie without even really thinking it through: there’s no binding commitment to that. If it’s raining on the day or ‘something better’ crops up you won’t see them for dust…

So a couple of minutes after I’d put the phone down I was searching the Internet for the women’s group I thought my friend had mentioned that her new contact runs. After a couple of false starts I found the website and the event next week is being promoted on the home page…

• The event is for new and small business owners
• 3 of the speakers are talking about different aspects of Social Media: Facebook, Twitter and Blogging
• The other 4 are on Funding, Finance, Self Employment and Bookkeeping

I then Googled the venue which has 4 rooms with a combined total capacity of approximately 170 people – to accommodate everyone: stallholders, speakers and attendees…

The likely value of this particular speaking “opportunity”?

The answer, I believe, lies entirely on what my friend expects to get from it, directly or indirectly.

• If it’s clients from attendees, I’d say she’ll be lucky if her audience on the day is made up of 50 to 100 new and small business owners and some mates who’ve ‘come along for the ride’, rather than the 500 mentioned.
• From my own experience, owners of new and small businesses “have short arms and deep pockets”, as one of my Scottish friends would say 😉
• But the event is likely to be covered by the local press – as one of the speakers she might get a mention.
• A bit like at a networking event, she’ll be making contact with a whole bunch of new people, each of whom might know somebody who might be a potential client.

And at the end of the day, another pal of mine pointed out to me that his speaking career was effectively launched at his first ‘gig’ where only two people turned up!

What are your thoughts or experiences you’d like to share?