Regarding unpaid speaking engagements

Newsflash: Sometimes professional speakers agree to do keynote speeches ‘pro bono’ (a Latin phrase meaning professional work, unpaid).

There are many reasons we may do this:
1) Marketing – to showcase our talents to a room full of potential clients.
2) To support our community (to help the people in the audience).
3) To support non-profit events.
4) To get video footage for our show reels.
5) Opportunity to learn from more experienced speakers at the same event
6) Networking opportunities…
Sometimes all of the above may apply at one event.

As a neurodiversity advocate who has spoken out about this in the past, vehemently against doing unpaid work, I thought it was important to speak out about this now. I have come to realise that this is not as simple as one might think it is!

This is something Si Hart and I have chatted about at length. Si is a member of the Musicians Union. We both quote different prices depending on client affordability, so we charge small businesses and charities less than we charge large corporate clients. We both occasionally do unpaid work for the benefit of our community, for charity, to showcase our act for marketing, or for fun! This does not devalue our act, it just means sometimes we charge our full market value, and other times we offer heavy discounts or pro bono.

If a corporate client asks me to speak at their event, I give them a quote for my normal fee, or suggest they negotiate with my agent. If a charity asks me, then I will negotiate based on their affordability, which is easy to find out. Unless they are negotiating with my agent, what I change is my prerogative.

Yes, I sometimes get approaches from corporates who are clearly extracting the urine, for example a training company recently booked a free online intro meeting with me, I explained my background, shared my slides, they seemed impressed… but then they asked me if I would do my talk about neurodiversity and autism inclusion for their students, in exchange for a £50 Amazon voucher (which has to be the most insulting offer since Adrian Mole heard that Sharon Bott would do anything for 50p and a bag of grapes, and offered her 50p and a bag of grapes on their first date 🤣). I responded by quoting them my normal corporate speaker fee, and telling them not to expect speakers from marginalised communities to work for peanuts, because it is not right. The difference? This was no marketing or networking opportunity for me, and this was a commercial business!

P.S. Fancy booking a professional speaker on neurodiversity and/or LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace? Email me charlie@ausomecharlie.co.uk or book an online intro meeting here: https://calendly.com/ausomecharliehart/free-introductory-meeting