How much to charge for conference presentations?

October 26, 2009 2:05 PM

A friend and I have been asked to present sessions at a conference, and we're not sure exactly how much to charge.

The venue is a biannual communications conference for a large union, on the topic of social media. The first is going to be about and hour and a half long, one is going to be a powerpoint-heavy what-is-social-media-and-how-unions-can-use-it-effectively. The second is a more technical (but still novice-level) workshop on how to use online tools to make a website (blogger, wordpress, etc) - about an hour and a half of instruction, then three hours or so of helping the attendees build a site using what they've learned.

We've both presented and led workshops before, but with a much higher technical skill level (and for smaller organizations), and we're not sure what a good baseline would be to charge. The registration fee for attendees is just under $100, and while I'm not sure how many people are expected to attend, the capacity for the venue itself is between 500-800.

Any advice would be appreciated!

posted by anonymous to work & money (3 comments total)

Sounds like their budget might be structured to accommodate $300-500 honoraria.
posted by Miko at 2:16 PM on October 26

I teach these sorts of classes. I have basically three tiers of fee structure stuff...

1. library schools -- I'll give a talk for travel expenses and a burrito [i.e. meals] for them
2. non-profits & teeny organizations [individual libraries' in-service days, small regional conferences] mid-range prices/fees
3. big heavy-duty fundraisers and/or international travel [national conferences, for-profit events, vendor conferences] full prices/fees

And then there's "my local" [i.e. the Vermont Library Association] who I basically talk more or less for free for, though I try to get someone to put me up in whatever city is having the conference]. My general range is $250-1500 with the occasional freebie and the occasional grant-funded junket which can be almost double by usual high range.

Other considerations

- Am I teaching people something that will help them make money or am I teaching someone something that helps them do their jobs well/better?
- How much travel and headache is this going to be?
- Is this an event that I would be going to anyhow, or that I am excited about [i.e. SXSW, it's an honor just to be on a panel and get free admission, no one expects to be paid, I dont think]
- How much work do they want me to do [i.e. can I use a talk I've already given more or less or is this all new stuff they want? do I have to do more than one talk? is there workshop stuff involved? are there social things I'm expected at?]
- How high up on the totem pole of speakers am I? [keynote? panel leader? general session? pre-conference]
- Am I funded by grant money or organization money?

I went to a conference last year where I was more on the SXSW-feel of it, I was happy to be getting free admission and a few nights hotel... until i realized other people doing about the same amount of work were getting that AND airfare paid for. So I guess at some level, thinking about how much you'd need to get paid to not feel like "awwwww MAN" if you found out someone had gotten and negotiated a better deal. My sentence is "My usual fees are _______ but if this is a dealbreaker I can be flexible." I don't think anyone has ever considered my fees dealbreakers, though I'm getting to the point where people don't tell me they're too low either which they had been doing.
posted by jessamyn at 2:20 PM on October 26 [2 favorites]

Follow-up from the OP: The attendance will be approx 50 for the presentation and a dozen for
the tech workshops.
posted by jessamyn at 2:28 PM on October 26