chrisbrogan.com Home About Speaking Rockstars Newsletters Contact Best Of How to Start Speaking at Events December 8, 2008 · Comments One day, I wasn’t a speaker at conferences, and then I was. If you’re interested in speaking at events, I have some ideas on how you might get that going. And then a little while later, I was a paid speaker. And now, I’m a decently paid speaker.

Most people don’t know it, but some speakers at events they attend are paid to be there. An entire business exists for speakers, conference organizers and what are called speaker’s bureaus, for matching speakers and events together. They even have a search tool to help organizers find the right speaker for their event. I interviewed Shawn Ellis, the founder of The Speaker’s Group , to hear an insider’s view on the speaking world.

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Many bureaus won’t work with a speaker at this fee but she can always come back to them later, when she’s more expensive. Quoting two different fees would completely blow her relationship with the bureau. Plus having inconsistent fees is confusing for everyone, including the client. My client is a talented, hilarious speaker. She worked her butt off for years doing the crappy speaking gigs for $250 in bad venues.

The event is called an “un-conference” because it’s completely run by the people who show up on the day of the event - whoever wants to present has 1 minute to make a pitch, and then the group decides on the schedule of the day based on consensus. People with a wide range of skills are coming from as close as the Hollywood Hills to as far away as New Zealand to collaborate, teach and learn from one another, at the unbelievably low registration fee of only $10 that goes toward facility expenses.  To learn If you’d like to improve your presentation skills or grow your speaking-related business, join us in Los Angeles from 10 am- 6 pm Pacific on Saturday, June 20 at PresentationCampLA!

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Wednesday, May 20th (today for most of you) is the last day to get $100 off the fee for my presentation skills workshop. Read more about the course at http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/events/outstanding_pres_workshop.html. Today, it's $295. After that, it'll be $395. There's a 15% discount for non-profit organizations.

Anyone can join—and as the two-day event wore on, more and more people did. Your colleagues can answer questions for you David Harrison: I knew some of my colleagues who’d helped with the presentation were following the event but what I couldn’t imagine was how powerful a force having your co-workers liveblogging whilst you were talking could be. You’ll get immediate feedback Paul Gillin : Having recently waited six months to get audience evaluations from one presentation, I can tell you that the immediacy of the tweeted feedback was wonderful. Pistachio Micro sharing.

They field phone calls from event planners looking for speakers and then, in reactive fashion, propose a few speakers from their database. The event planner will pick one and the Bureau will handle some of the ensuing logistics. In return for it all they take 15-25% commission off the speakers gross fee. (As Ben Casnocha: The Blog Welcome - Learn More About Ben: Bio / Background - Email Ben: ben@casnocha.com - First time here? See the "Best of Ben" posts - Endorsements / Testimonials My Book Recent Reading Shelfari