Speakers fees – what am I really paying for?
Did you click here first wondering how much I charge? I would have, too.
Fees for speakers, trainers, and consultants is a hotly discussed topic – especially among speakers, trainers and consultants. There seems to be little governance or concrete guidelines around what is appropriate to charge for our services. Some people get paid thousands of dollars for a 60 minute speech that they deliver the same way over and over again. Typically they have a household name like “Jerry Seinfeld”, which is why they can demand that much money. Others (like me) get far less for even longer sessions. Most of us don’t bring that type of immediate recognition with our name alone, so we have to approach things a little differently.
One way to do that is to take the mystery out of what goes into the “speakers fee”. First, a speaker is not simply someone who gets up in front of a group and yaps for an hour or so. Most speakers, the good ones, will work for hours and hours before they show up for the session, refining their material to make sure it is just right for the audience. They are typically pulling from years of experience in both public speaking and the topic at hand. If you happen to be in the audience with one of these professional, prepared individuals, you will see that their “fee” is more than just the hourly wage for the time they are in front of you. You are paying for all of their experience that lead them to this point. 
Let’s contrast this with paying someone by the hour. Jimmy comes to work and clocks in. You would never dream of paying him multiple hundreds or even thousands of dollars for one hour of work. However, as stated above, with a speaker or trainer, you are actually paying for their experience and ability to reach you and your audience, and the impact to you and the organization is going to be much higher. That’s worth a few more dollars, wouldn’t you say?
On the other hand, the return on investment can be tough to measure too, which makes some speaker/consultant fees a little eye-popping. What will your people REALLY get out of this? Will it do what you wanted it to? Part of that has to do with expectations. One speech or training session usually does not ultimately create long-term change in behavior – however sometimes that’s the standard that speakers and trainers are measured against. Based on our experience, we have to be realistic and upfront with our clients about the best methods to take.
One last thing I will say… in over 23 years of hospitality leadership, I have found that the most impactful sessions are not canned speeches. Some topics and materials might be similar as previous sessions, however I will always customize the program for each audience. Just wanted to say that.
With all that said, here are my rates:
Facilitated sessions delivered to multiple people (plus expenses, if any):
- 1 hour (meeting, lunch and learn, etc) = $1000
- 1/2 day (3-4 hours) = $3000
- Full day session (6-8 hours) = $5000
Individual Coaching (plus expenses, if any):
- $100 per hour
This is just a starting place to begin discussions. If we decide your solution doesn’t fit into one of these buckets, we’ll look at the fees as well. Always happy to discuss and provide more information. Contact me with any questions you have!
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For a printable version of the information on this site, please click the picture below.
