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Carol Cox:
Should you ever pay to speak.

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This is part four of our Booked without

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Burnout series. I have some thoughts about

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this, as does AI Carroll,

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which you'll hear in this episode of the

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Speaking Your Brand podcast.

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More and more women are making an impact by

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starting businesses, running for office and

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speaking up for what matters.

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With my background as a TV political analyst,

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entrepreneur, and speaker,

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I interview and coach purpose driven women to

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shape their brands, grow their companies,

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and become recognized as influencers in their

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field. This is speaking your brand,

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your place to learn how to persuasively

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communicate your message to your audience.

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Welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast.

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I'm your host, Carol Cox.

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We're wrapping up our four part series on

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helping you land more speaking engagements

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called Booked Without Burnout.

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Part one was about outbound strategies.

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What to do when you pitch yourself.

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Part two was inbound strategies.

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How to set yourself up so those speaking

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engagements come to you.

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In part three, we talked about how to make

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the leap into paid speaking opportunities.

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Now here in part four I'm going to talk about

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should you pay to speak?

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Yes, you heard me right.

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Should you actually pay a conference or an

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event to speak?

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Now that seems kind of backwards.

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After all, you want to get paid to speak,

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but I think there may be a time and a place

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where paying to speak could be a good fit.

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Now think of it as sponsoring a conference if

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you would sponsor the conference anyway.

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So maybe you get a booth at the conference,

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or you get your logo and company information

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in the materials that they provide to the

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attendees. It may make sense to go ahead and

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do that. Sponsorship.

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If you also get a speaking slot at that

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conference. So you want to make sure,

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of course, that if you're doing this,

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that you understand why you're doing it,

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the goals that you have,

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what you could get out of it,

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for example, that the audience are potential

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clients for you. So that could be a good

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enough reason to pay to speak.

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But I have more for you on this topic.

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I am going to play a recent episode from my

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companion podcast called Confident Speaker.

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If you haven't checked it out yet,

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I highly recommend that you do so you can

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find it in Apple Podcasts,

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Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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It's called Confident Speaker,

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so you can just do a search for that.

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But here's the twist with this companion

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podcast it is 100% AI generated.

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The script is written by AI,

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the show notes by AI, and the voice that

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you're about to hear is my AI voice clone.

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But here's what makes this podcast so

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fascinating, at least to me.

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And I think you'll find the same thing,

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is that the content for these is that the

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scripts are generated based on all of my

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prior Speaking Your Brand podcast episodes.

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So what you're about to hear,

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you'll find not only sounds pretty much just

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like me, like this is human.

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Carol talking to you right now.

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Ai Carol sounds pretty much the same.

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But as you listen, you'll find that how I'm

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talking about these concepts sounds the same

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as if I had scripted it and done it myself,

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because it's based on all of that prior

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podcast content that I have created.

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I do this using what's called a rag,

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which is an AI enabled knowledge base.

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Now, if you're curious how you can do this

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yourself, either if you have your own podcast

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or if you want to have a podcast as a

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marketing channel, but you don't want to do

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it yourself, you could create an AI generated

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podcast like I have.

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You can get more information on my four week

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Automate and Amplify with AI program as

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speaking your brand new AI.

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Again, that's. Com slash AI.

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And I walk you through how to do something

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like this and more for yourself.

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So go ahead and check that out.

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Now here's AI Carroll.

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Welcome to the Confidence Speaker podcast by

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speaking your brand. This is your host,

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AI Carroll. Here's something that might

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surprise you. You may be asked to pay to

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speak at a conference. I know that feels

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completely backward, right?

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You've spent years building your experience

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and expertise.

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Now someone wants you to pay them to deliver

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that wisdom to their audience.

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Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

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Let's talk about when it's worth it to speak

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for free, or even pay a small amount,

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and when you should be charging for your time

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and talent. Early on in my speaking journey,

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I said yes to a lot of unpaid engagements,

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chamber luncheons, local meetups,

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library workshops.

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I wasn't getting paid,

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but I was getting something else visibility,

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experience, and invaluable speaker feedback.

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So here's the real question should you ever

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pay to speak at a conference?

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The answer is it depends.

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And here's how to approach it strategically.

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Tip number one know what you're getting in

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return. If a conference asks you to pay a

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speaker fee or buy a ticket in order to

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speak, it better be offering something

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worthwhile in return.

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Ask yourself, Will I be in front of my ideal

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audience? People who could become clients or

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connect me with other speaking opportunities?

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Can I film my talk in a beautiful venue to

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use for my speaker reel?

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Do I get access to top tier networking with

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fellow entrepreneurs or decision makers in

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the audience? If the ROI is clear and matches

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your goals, the investment might make sense.

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But if it's simply paying for the privilege

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of being on stage, that's a red flag.

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You're doing them a favor,

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not the other way around.

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Tip number two set a limit on free or paid

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speaking. This is one of my favorite

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strategies. Decide in advance how many unpaid

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or pay to play speaking opportunities you're

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willing to do in a year.

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Maybe it's two. Maybe it's one per quarter.

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Once you've hit that number,

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you have a built in way to say no to the next

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invitation or to negotiate a fee.

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Instead, all you have to say is,

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thanks so much for the opportunity.

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I set aside two free talks a year and I've

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already filled that for this year.

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Do you have a budget for speakers?

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It's a boundaries win and it positions you as

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a professional. Tip number three position

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yourself as a paid speaker.

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If you don't want to be asked to speak for

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free, stop positioning yourself as someone

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who will have a speaking page on your website

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that includes your signature topics,

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testimonials, and speaking fees or ranges.

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Even just putting speaking engagements start

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at $2,500. Lets potential organizers know

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you're not speaking as a favor,

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but as a professional service.

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It also helps you attract better quality

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opportunities from the start.

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Remember, you don't have to say yes to

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everything. Early on, gaining experience is

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valuable, but as you grow in your speaking

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journey, your time on and off stage holds

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real value. You've spent years building your

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message to stand on that stage.

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Own the mic and deliver your story.

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That's not just speaking,

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that's leadership. So here's my challenge for

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you. The next time you're asked to speak for

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free or pay to speak, pause,

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ask, is this worth it to me with where I am

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and where I'm going?

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You get to decide.

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And that's a powerful place to be.

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For more support and to work with us to grow

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your speaking business,

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head over to Speaking Your Brand.com.

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And don't forget to follow the Confident

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Speaker podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,

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so you never miss an episode full of honest,

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actionable insights.

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This on demand episode was generated by my AI

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voice clone trained on speaking your brand

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content. Keep speaking up for what truly

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matters. You've got this.

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Hi. This is human.

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Carroll. So what do you think of AI Carroll.

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And not too bad, right?

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You're probably not going to take my

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podcasting role just yet,

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but if you're looking for quick answers to

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questions you have around public speaking,

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thought leadership, and personal branding,

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check out my companion podcast,

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Confident Speaker.

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The episodes are only 3 to 5 minutes long,

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so they're very focused and very targeted.

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And if there are questions that you have that

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I haven't yet addressed on that podcast,

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you can send an email to On Demand at

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speaking your Brand.com.

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Again, that's on demand at speaking your

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Brand.com with your question.

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An AI Carol will reply back in a minute or

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two with an answer.

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I hope you enjoyed this four part series on

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getting booked without burnout.

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Share this podcast with a friend or colleague

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who is also looking to get more speaking

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engagements. And of course,

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be sure to follow the podcast on Apple

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Podcasts or Spotify.

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Both the Speaking Your Brand podcast and the

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Confident Speaker podcast.

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Until next time, thanks for listening.