Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Speaking fee

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Speaking fee

When a conference organiser in Singapore engages a speaker from overseas, they have to pay the travelling expenses and a speaker's fee. When they engage a local speaker, they pay nothing.

Recently, I have been invited to speak on a few occasions, and have declined. I am willing to speak only if they agree to make a modest donation to a non-profit organisation nominated by me.

I wish to encourage conference organisers, and our media companies, to be fair to local speakers and be willing to make a modest contribution. They should not expect local experts to speak for free, while overseas experts command a large fee. We have to be fair to our local people.

Many of these conference organisers or media company make a profit and can afford to make a modest donation or pay a modest fee. It will not create any significant dent in their profits.

9 comments:

Redstar said...: You did the right thing, but ask them to credit your personal account would be a better idea. After all, you need to pay your expenses and research too.; June 07, 2009 3:27 PM
Anonymous said...: I agree with MR TAN's comment that we should pay LOCAL SPEAKER. This is form of recognition and respect. It will not make them rich, but should cover the time and effort of their preparation in speaking engagement.

CASHEW NUT; June 07, 2009 3:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Yes, this is the unfairness towards locals. When we go overseas to do the same thing, it becomes valuable and we are hosted well. We become foreigners in these countries.
We should be fair to the local people as there are talents here too. The worship foreigners only mentality ought to be changed to a fairer one.; June 07, 2009 4:02 PM
Anonymous said...: typical singapore attitude. ang mohs always better; June 07, 2009 4:33 PM
Anonymous said...: I remember a few years back, a local conference organiser engaged Bill Clinton, ex US President, to speak for a few hours for an event. The fee was reportedly US$500K. And this is considered to be on the low side to engage Clinton to speak!

But it seems they attracted enough audience willing to pay and listen and that the organiser even made a good profit!

So in that sense, whether a conference organiser is willing to pay any fee to the speaker or his choice of organisation is a matter of a business decision. Hence they may just forego the speaker, if he insist on a fee.; June 07, 2009 4:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi Mr tan,

can you let us know which are the non profit organisations that you have nominated?

Thank you very much.; June 07, 2009 5:48 PM
Anonymous said...: All talks come with a price. There is no free talk in this world. If that talk is free, then there will be product selling during or after the talk.

Mr Tan, you should charge transport fee and a speaker's fee because you are a highly qualified financial professional. Of course, you have the every right to waive the fee.

starlight; June 07, 2009 6:12 PM
Anonymous said...: We must continue the effort to educate our local conference organizers that we do have the best speakers of world standard. Thus these speakers should command fee that is comparable no less than any other overseas speakers. Already, the organizers save on expenses like air ticket, hotel accommodation etc. when inviting local speakers.

It's time to change !; June 07, 2009 8:08 PM
Anonymous said...: There is indeed a need for parity of treatment between local and foreign speakers at paid conferences. At the very least a modest honorarium should be paid out to the local speaker to at least thank them for their efforts.; June 08, 2009 10:10 AM