444-SYB-Booked-Without-Burnout-Part-4.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
Should you ever pay to speak. This is part four of our Booked without Burnout series. I have some thoughts about this, as does AI Carroll, which you’ll hear in this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox. We’re wrapping up our four part series on helping you land more speaking engagements called Booked Without Burnout. Part one was about outbound strategies. What to do when you pitch yourself. Part two was inbound strategies. How to set yourself up so those speaking engagements come to you. In part three, we talked about how to make the leap into paid speaking opportunities. Now here in part four I’m going to talk about should you pay to speak? Yes, you heard me right. Should you actually pay a conference or an event to speak? Now that seems kind of backwards. After all, you want to get paid to speak, but I think there may be a time and a place where paying to speak could be a good fit. Now think of it as sponsoring a conference if you would sponsor the conference anyway.
Carol Cox:
So maybe you get a booth at the conference, or you get your logo and company information in the materials that they provide to the attendees. It may make sense to go ahead and do that. Sponsorship. If you also get a speaking slot at that conference. So you want to make sure, of course, that if you’re doing this, that you understand why you’re doing it, the goals that you have, what you could get out of it, for example, that the audience are potential clients for you. So that could be a good enough reason to pay to speak. But I have more for you on this topic. I am going to play a recent episode from my companion podcast called Confident Speaker. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend that you do so you can find it in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts. It’s called Confident Speaker, so you can just do a search for that. But here’s the twist with this companion podcast it is 100% AI generated. The script is written by AI, the show notes by AI, and the voice that you’re about to hear is my AI voice clone. But here’s what makes this podcast so fascinating, at least to me. And I think you’ll find the same thing, is that the content for these is that the scripts are generated based on all of my prior Speaking Your Brand podcast episodes. So what you’re about to hear, you’ll find not only sounds pretty much just like me, like this is human.
Carol Cox:
Carol talking to you right now. Ai Carol sounds pretty much the same. But as you listen, you’ll find that how I’m talking about these concepts sounds the same as if I had scripted it and done it myself, because it’s based on all of that prior podcast content that I have created. I do this using what’s called a rag, which is an AI enabled knowledge base. Now, if you’re curious how you can do this yourself, either if you have your own podcast or if you want to have a podcast as a marketing channel, but you don’t want to do it yourself, you could create an AI generated podcast like I have. You can get more information on my four week Automate and Amplify with AI program as speaking your brand new AI. Again, that’s. Com slash AI. And I walk you through how to do something like this and more for yourself. So go ahead and check that out. Now here’s AI Carroll. Welcome to the Confidence Speaker podcast by speaking your brand. This is your host, AI Carroll. Here’s something that might surprise you. You may be asked to pay to speak at a conference. I know that feels completely backward, right? You’ve spent years building your experience and expertise. Now someone wants you to pay them to deliver that wisdom to their audience. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Let’s talk about when it’s worth it to speak for free, or even pay a small amount, and when you should be charging for your time and talent.
Carol Cox:
Early on in my speaking journey, I said yes to a lot of unpaid engagements, chamber luncheons, local meetups, library workshops. I wasn’t getting paid, but I was getting something else visibility, experience, and invaluable speaker feedback. So here’s the real question should you ever pay to speak at a conference? The answer is it depends. And here’s how to approach it strategically. Tip number one know what you’re getting in return. If a conference asks you to pay a speaker fee or buy a ticket in order to speak, it better be offering something worthwhile in return. Ask yourself, Will I be in front of my ideal audience? People who could become clients or connect me with other speaking opportunities? Can I film my talk in a beautiful venue to use for my speaker reel? Do I get access to top tier networking with fellow entrepreneurs or decision makers in the audience? If the ROI is clear and matches your goals, the investment might make sense. But if it’s simply paying for the privilege of being on stage, that’s a red flag. You’re doing them a favor, not the other way around. Tip number two set a limit on free or paid speaking. This is one of my favorite strategies. Decide in advance how many unpaid or pay to play speaking opportunities you’re willing to do in a year.
Carol Cox:
Maybe it’s two. Maybe it’s one per quarter. Once you’ve hit that number, you have a built in way to say no to the next invitation or to negotiate a fee. Instead, all you have to say is, thanks so much for the opportunity. I set aside two free talks a year and I’ve already filled that for this year. Do you have a budget for speakers? It’s a boundaries win and it positions you as a professional. Tip number three position yourself as a paid speaker. If you don’t want to be asked to speak for free, stop positioning yourself as someone who will have a speaking page on your website that includes your signature topics, testimonials, and speaking fees or ranges. Even just putting speaking engagements start at $2,500. Lets potential organizers know you’re not speaking as a favor, but as a professional service. It also helps you attract better quality opportunities from the start. Remember, you don’t have to say yes to everything. Early on, gaining experience is valuable, but as you grow in your speaking journey, your time on and off stage holds real value. You’ve spent years building your message to stand on that stage. Own the mic and deliver your story. That’s not just speaking, that’s leadership. So here’s my challenge for you. The next time you’re asked to speak for free or pay to speak, pause, ask, is this worth it to me with where I am and where I’m going? You get to decide. And that’s a powerful place to be.
Carol Cox:
For more support and to work with us to grow your speaking business, head over to Speaking Your Brand.com. And don’t forget to follow the Confident Speaker podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, so you never miss an episode full of honest, actionable insights. This on demand episode was generated by my AI voice clone trained on speaking your brand content. Keep speaking up for what truly matters. You’ve got this. Hi. This is human. Carroll. So what do you think of AI Carroll. And not too bad, right? You’re probably not going to take my podcasting role just yet, but if you’re looking for quick answers to questions you have around public speaking, thought leadership, and personal branding, check out my companion podcast, Confident Speaker. The episodes are only 3 to 5 minutes long, so they’re very focused and very targeted. And if there are questions that you have that I haven’t yet addressed on that podcast, you can send an email to On Demand at speaking your Brand.com. Again, that’s on demand at speaking your Brand.com with your question. An AI Carol will reply back in a minute or two with an answer. I hope you enjoyed this four part series on getting booked without burnout. Share this podcast with a friend or colleague who is also looking to get more speaking engagements. And of course, be sure to follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Both the Speaking Your Brand podcast and the Confident Speaker podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening.
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