The people who hire professional speakers – meeting planners, speaker’s bureaus, and so on – are all about risk reduction. A speaker that says something offensive, or fails to show up, or delivers a lousy performance wreaks havoc on the conference that the planner has been working on for 6 months or a year. So accept a ‘free’ speech with a good crowd promised, and get the A/V folks to give you a copy of the tape of your speech at the event. I shared a ‘Core Conversation’ yesterday afternoon at SXSW with the consummate professional speaker Tim Sanders , author of Love is the Killer App , The Likeability Factor , and Saving the World at Work .

Go directly to the meeting organizers and ask them what they want you to do. Know your schedule in advance and the costs to reschedule airfare, etc and be ready to tell the meeting planner what you can and can't do. It wasn't the other group's fault the sound system blew up at this event so you can't cause them problems by being late. Did you ever present in a barn? How about a bowling alley?

room, to the registration desk for the event, to the first meal, to your MC or initial Meeting Planners don’t have it easy.   conference – and by the way make the meeting planners’ job easier.   attend their meetings.   Think about all the people, products, and processes that have have to work well in order for you to have a good experience at a conference.