How to Negotiate with a Speaker?

How do you negotiate with a speaker?

What if you find just the right speaker for your conference and then discover there’s a gap between your budget and their fee?

Here are a few ways to close the price—value gap.

If you’re spending for a big stage with iMag screens and a camera crew, you’ve built a set that any speaker would love to shoot on. Offer your speaker a professional two- or three-camera video shoot with some audience B-roll and you may find them willing to lower their fee. You’ll have the production team on-site anyway so that recording probably won’t cost you anything.

You’re not really buying a 50-minute keynote. Your speaker is going to fly in the day before and fly back out on the day of or the day after your event. Those 2 or 3 days—travel time plus the event—are yours. You’re buying calendar days.

Ask the speaker to offer a breakout session or two on top of their keynote address. If they’re going to be there at your event, why not keep them busy adding value for your audience?

If your keynote speaker can conduct two workshops, that’s two more speakers you no longer have to hire—and that savings can close the price gap.

And is there money in the education budget to license that keynote video and the added workshops so you can share them on a members-only basis and get repeat value from the performances?

Most speakers are authors so why not offer to buy a book for each attendee? That purchase can come out of the separate education budget and because it will help reinforce your speaker’s valuable message, it’s a worthwhile investment.

How do you negotiate with a speaker?

Some keynote speakers offer workshops, courses, coaching sessions, consulting services, and other programs. If your organization invests in professional development, you might negotiate a better price for a whole package of services.

Once an inspiring speaker has delivered sound strategies and built rapport with your audience, doesn’t it make sense to discuss how they can help with implementation?

So how do you negotiate with a speaker?

The same way you negotiate with anyone else:

Find a win-win scenario and change the conversation from price to value!