Now that we’re more than halfway through 2010, it does seem that things are slowly getting back on track in the events industry. Still, it should come as no surprise that meeting planners continue to seek out unique new speakers who fit into lower budget brackets.
While some keynote speakers have lowered their fees (in some cases drastically, in others just a bit, or just enough to dip them into another category), others still offer the same value they always have and have kept their fees static over the past 12 months plus.
So what about negotiating fees? It never hurts to ask, and it’s one more reason to book a speaker with a bureau: as a planner, you get access to our knowledge of the speaker’s history on fee flexibility, and you can leverage our relationship with the speaker’s office, their other bookings with our clients, and their schedule.
By the way, this is a great time to discover new talent. There are a lot of great content speakers out there in various industries who’d love the opportunity to speak in front of a group (like yours!). We do keep an active list in our database of all kinds of up and coming talent. But you won’t always find them on our website (or frankly, we’d be completely overwhelmed adding dozens of fantastic speaker ideas every week), so do contact us and we’ll guide you through our suggestions.
But let’s be completely honest. Yes, there are a half dozen speakers we find ourselves recommending time and time again when a client tells us they just don’t have a lot to spend. We’ve booked them quite a bit, and that’s how we know that they’re more than just a great value, they’ll also deliver a great keynote and ensure positive audience feedback.
Number 1 on our list is almost always Dr. Lowell Catlett, just published today on a list of Planners’ Favorites on the Meetings and Conventions website. His topics, dynamic and entertaining style, and professionalism make him a guaranteed hit for every meeting we book, so we always love to suggest him (and it’s exactly why he’s our only exclusive speaker!).
Over the years we’ve also recommended a few others speakers time and time again- you can check them out on our site, including straight-up continuously updated lists by fee, including in the under $5000 category.
