How to Get a $10,000 Keynote Speaker to Speak At Your Event for FREE

April 14, 2012 - PRLog -- High end speakers can command huge fees.  Some of the most famous speakers command fees of $100,000 or more.  These are typically the sort of headline speakers that will command attention and get people to your event.

A lesser known but excellent speaker can still run an organization $10,000.  What if you want a $10,000 speaker, but you only have $5,000 to invest in the keynote address?  What if you only have $1,000?  What if you have nothing, and you planned to just have one of the leaders talk for 90 minutes?  

Is there a way you can get a high-end speaker to your event at a fraction of his or her normal fee?  Or even for free?  Yes there is.

VALUE WITHOUT MONEY

When a speaker, like Scot Conway of Master Revelation, commands fees of $10,000 for a one to two hour keynote address, that just means if you have ten thousand dollars, you can book him.  For most speakers, Conway included, that does not mean it is the only value that interests him.  There are several different kinds of values you can offer.

One of the most powerful is an opportunity to support a cause the speaker believes in.  Most speakers have many things about which they are passionate.  Some will reduce their fees for a church or not-for-profit organization.  If you run a not-for-profit involved in a work the speaker supports, you have a much stronger chance of getting reduced or free speaking from an otherwise high-investment speaker.  

You may also be able to offer them a receipt for an in-kind charitable contribution for their keynote address.

CONTACTS RATHER THAN MONEY

Often, even smaller organizations have contacts that could be useful for future business of a keynote speaker.  Even though your organization might be small, if you can guarantee direct contact with one or more people in a position to hire the speaker for other events at his or her full free, you have a very strong chance of getting a speaker to come to your event.

Many not-for-profits have members of their board who are in a position to hire the speaker for their own events.  If your board members are willing to seriously consider the speaker, that might be enough of a draw to get a discounted rate.  If your board members will be in attendance anyway and agree to appointments with the speaker later, you may be able to get up to half the speaker’s fees knocked off.  Some speakers may even comp the speech to a not-for-profit under such circumstances and treat the speech as a sort of interview and donate their time to the charity.

Sometimes the charity has these people among their supporters. Sometimes it is a spouse, family member or friend of a member of your board or staff.  Whatever method you have to provide a keynote speaker with access to new contacts for new work, that can be of such value to a speaker that you can get services discounted.

PRODUCT SALES RATHER THAN MONEY

If you have an event that will have a lot of people even if you don’t have much of a budget, you can offer your keynote speaker an opportunity to sell from the platform.  This is something professional speakers do not do in keynote addresses.  Even though this is exceptionally rare in keynote address, if you specifically offer this in exchange for a discounted fee, some might agree.

For this, you will need a place for a table to be set up with products.  If you can provide the volunteers to staff the table, that will also be an incentive.  The speaker must be one that actually has products to sell, so it won’t work with everyone.  It is common for an author, for instance, to have a book table outside the speaking event, but he will not actively sell his book from the platform.  Book sales at any but the largest of events may not add up to a lot, but if the speaker has enough other products, you might get services at a discount.

At the very least, you might be able to negotiate a discount equal to the profit on products sold.  If a speaker can earn $5,000 of profit on product sales, that speaker might discount his or her fee by $5,000 for your organization.

BENEFITS RATHER THAN MONEY

Sometimes your organization has things you can offer that are valuable to the speaker but cost you much less than retail.  Sometimes you can package benefits to a speaker that will let you ask for a discount in speaking fees.

Let’s consider an event held in Las Vegas. You might have gotten some things comped or deeply discounted for your group.  You can offer some of these to the speaker as an incentive.  If you can let the keynote speaker bring his or her whole family (assuming one), you might be able to discount the speaking fees significantly.  If the resort comped you a nice suite and some tickets to a show, you get a discount and the speaker gets value – at no additional cost to you.

It’s similar if you need a speaker for an event on a cruise ship.  The cruise itself can be an incentive, even if the cruise company already gave you a discount or even a free cabin based on the size of your group.  Use what’s free or discounted to you to pass along as part-payment to your keynote speaker.

If your event is held at a popular vacation area anywhere in the world, you can offer to extend the stay of the speaker to get a discount on the speaking fees.  While putting a speaker up in a nice hotel would be normal, some speakers are more than happy to stay at the home of a host.  This can be a low-cost way to get a high-end speaker an save on hotel fees.

CREATIVITY IS VALUABLE

Scot Conway recently quipped to a colleague about speaking at a steep discount if the event could include a vacation for his family to someplace he already wanted to take them.  He’s not the only one.  Many speakers would do the same.

Kevin Cole is an international NLP trainer.  After spending almost a month in Australia teaching his top courses, he remarked that the perk he liked the most was staying in a nice condo with his hosts cooking for him and visiting with him.  Most organizations might not consider something as simple as a good cook at a nice home to stay at as a perk, but it was the stand-out memory of the trip.  Given the opportunity to work with the same people again, Cole would be happy to discount his usual speaking fee for a repeat of that perk.

It may be a challenge to get a big name speaker like a former head of state or famous celebrity at a discount.  But many very good speakers that would normally charge around $10,000 for a keynote address can be negotiated with.  Look at what you have of value, and give it a try.  All a speaker can do is stick to his or her usual fee.  But with the right idea, you could get a Scot Conway or Kevin Cole speaking at your event for considerably less than $10,000 of cash out of pocket.

It never hurts to ask.

Contact: Scot Conway may be contacted through Master Revelation at Scot@MasterRevelation.com, http://www.MasterRevelation.com, 2782-E Sweetwater Springs Blvd., Spring Valley, CA 91977.  24 hour message line: 619-670-8764.  Kevin Cole may be contacted through Empowerment Quest International at http://www.nlptrainingquest.com, 1-888-QUEST-80.

(Publication Note: This article was posted in 2012.  If you are reading this at a later date, the speaking fees for mentioned keynote speakers may be higher.)

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Master Revelation is dedicated to high-end executive coaching, corporate and organizational training, and individual personal development. Master Revelation training focuses on knowing and developing yourself, knowing others, and thus conquering.