A couple of years back, I gave a 60 minute storytelling workshop to a community of ~15 decision makers on Zoom. Their response?

That one workshop, delivered from my bedroom (with a virtual background) has generated £76k of speaking opportunities since.

The best bit?
I didn’t sell a thing.

Speaking for free gets a bad rap these days.

You don’t need to scroll too far down a LinkedIn feed to see someone complaining about there being a lack of speaker budget; especially if you’re based in the UK.

And whilst I empathise in principle, the frustration is more a symptom of the speakers lack of understanding of the market than it is a problem with the speaking industry.

So let’s firm up that understanding shall we?

Where can I find paid speaking opportunities (and who is likely to book me)?

First things first.

Unless you’re famous enough to sell tickets at mega-conferences, your paid speaking engagements are most likely to come from one of three places…

1. The Social Media Calendar 📆 - £

Most established companies use certain events in the media calendar as an employee engagement tool. Targeting these events is a useful strategy because they happen every year and they have the potential to get you through the door at well-known organisations.

Examples: International Women’s Day, World Mental Health Day, Pride Month etc.

Typical fees: £500-£3k (Fee dependant on your personal brand, type of engagement (panel/keynote etc), who’s attending and your negotiation skills).

Not big bucks, but that’s not the point. Make an impact and it’s a chance to:

1. Gain trust and build long term relationships ✨ 

2. Impress decision makers who happen to be in the audience 👏

3. Get recommended to other departments after the engagement 🗣️

Minimum Experience Required: Entry level and beyond.

B. Training Events, Offsites and Away Days 🌲 - ££

Organisations invest big money into up-skilling their teams and cultivating employee connection. The more important the team (e.g. board, senior leadership team etc.) the more money they are willing to spend. Some companies have budgets of £1m+ to spend on a 2 day event.

Training event examples: One-off workshops, lunch and learn series, half-day, full-day, all the way through to 12 month bespoke training programmes.

Offsites and away day examples: Team building experiences for departments, strategic planning sessions for the senior leadership teams and activities designed to increase knowledge, boost moral, wellbeing and connection.

Typical fees: From £3k-£20k (Fee dependant on the level of seniority, your personal brand, type of engagement, and your negotiation skills).

Minimum Experience Required: TEDx talk or similar social proof preferable.

Big Budget Company Events 🎤 - £££

These are often high production events run by businesses for their staff, customers and clients. These events are about building goodwill, showcasing thought leadership and (if customer facing) generating sales.

Examples: Annual Meetings, leadership summits, award ceremonies, product launches

Typical fees: Anything from £5k-£25k (Depending on nature of the engagement [e.g. main stage keynote vs workshop in a side room], your personal brand and your negotiation skills).

Experience level required: At least 5 big brand clients with testimonials preferable (which is a perfect lead into my next point…)

So when should you speak for free?

When you’re just starting out, speaking for free is a way to:

1. Hone your craft ⚡️

2. Find speaker market fit 🧩, and

3. Collect famous logos and testimonials 🌟

When you’re experienced, you speak for free when the right people are going to be in the room. That means:

1. People who are likely to buy your talks, products or services 📈
   The most effective way to turn one talk into a year’s worth of speaking opportunities? The Watering Hole Strategy.
   
   Speaking at events where decision makers from multiple companies or departments are your audience.
   
   Earlier this year, two of MicDrop’s members turned one talk into 15 workshops across multiple departments. They’re now in talks to do similar for the next layer down of managers.

   
   Now that’s working smart.
   

2. Those with the power to affect change at scale ⚡️

   Think policy makers, industry leaders etc.
   
   After all, thought leadership is about creating change, not about making money.
   

3. When helping the people in the room warms your heart ❤️

   It doesn't have to be a business decision.

One more thing…

The most important thing to remember is this:

Price isn’t linear.

It’s why highly experienced speakers might speak for free one day and charge 20k the next.

It has very little to do with how:
❌ Good your talk is
❌ Many years of experience you have
❌ Long it’s going to take you to prepare

It has everything to do with:
✅ The perceived value for your topic
✅ The context of the event you’re speaking at
✅ Who is in the room (the more senior the better). 

Charging for time and effort is deeply ingrained in our psyche.

But time and effort don't determine worth.
The value they get does.

Alex