Steve, questions about the speaking business

[Neutral]

In an old article, you said Vegas has a great speaking scene. The plentiful hotels with conference rooms made Vegas a prime location for seminars and workshops.

Is there a speaking mecca for all speakers or does subject matter centralize you to a location?

I plan to speak on technology and I read you used to speak about gaming/programming.

How did your experience change when you switched to PD?

And how have you seen the release of a product, like a book, effect the venues of speakers?

[Steve Pavlina]

The best place to be depends on the topic. Many speakers travel a lot (often 100-200 days per year), so their exact location doesn't matter so much. They go wherever the business is. If you're a technical speaker, Silicon Valley or Seattle would be great locations. The Game Developers' Conference has always been in California to my knowledge (usually in San Jose), and there are tons of game companies in CA.

Since Vegas hosts about 200 conventions per month, there's always plenty of demand for a variety of speakers here. One of my friends runs a speakers' bureau devoted to servicing the Vegas conventions.

Pro speaking is one of the highest paid professions. Several of my friends have speaking fees in the $2500-7500 range per speech (plus travel expenses). They frequently earn even more from back-of-the-room product sales (BOR sales). Five figure monthly incomes are pretty common for talented speakers.

Of course if you have a hit book, then speaking fees of $10K, $15K, $20K per speech and higher are possible. Ex-presidents are $100K+. I think Bill Clinton gets $200K per speech.

The last time I checked, the highest paid speaker was Bill Cosby. I can't remember the exact figure, but I think he gets around $300K per speech. Not bad for an hour's work, eh?

Being a published author helps you gain more credibility as a speaker. A book is basically a heavy business card.

[Neutral]

Thank you

I don't mean to swamp you with questions but aside from scattered material, I haven't found much up to date resources online about the business side. I could see the need for a blog post or an entire blog on this topic!

Does anyone know of any online or book resources?

I want to get a head start before I join Toastmasters and other organizations.

One more question.

I'm a nerd and I think it may be an advantage to target a technical niche. I imagine that good speaking in that community is rare.

What is your experience?

[Steve Pavlina]

You can find plenty of books on speaking on Amazon just by searching. Check the reviews to find the good ones.

I recommend Money Talks by Weiss.

Dottie Walters has some good books on the speaking biz, but since she founded a speakers' bureau, her books suffer from a (sometimes ridiculous) pro-bureau bias. If you read Speak and Grow Rich from Walters and then Money Talks by Weiss, you'll get a sense that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

A local friend of mine, Darren LaCroix, is a successful pro speaker who sells a number of speaker's products on his website, including a program called Get Paid to Speak by Next Week. His material is good for people who are brand new to speaking and want to break into the business. He shares specific income figures, historical product conversion data, and lots of detail. He also gives frequent workshops and boot camps. He's the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking. I've seen him speak many times. His products aren't cheap, but IMO his materials are among the most accurate and practical.

I'd recommend joining Toastmasters ASAP. Don't wait. It can take years for most people to develop strong speaking skills before going pro. Toastmasters will help you build your basic skills, especially if you compete in the speech contests. Getting into speaking as a business is a whole separate endeavor from learning to speak.

[Steve Pavlina]

I'm not familiar with the opportunities for paid speaking on technical topics, since I never targeted that niche. I only did free speaking at technical conferences. In my experience it was unusual for tech conferences to pay speaking fees (aside from a free conference pass and maybe some hotel/travel). They usually get enough volunteer speakers who are known for good material (but not necessarily great communication skills).

Most speakers I've seen at tech conferences are lousy communicators, although some are really good. Will Wright (creator of The Sims and Sim City) is incredibly funny and insightful. Bill Gates is often dreadful.

[Neutral]

I checked Amazon (and Google) before I posted and was bombarded by decent looking material among marketing fluff. Most of it was skill building rather than the career side.

When I do a more thorough search, I'll add the resources to this thread and maybe blog about it.

Deciding to speak was a long time coming. I've been trying to get a feel for the career side. I studying a lot before I move to Boston and officially get started.

Thank you Steve.