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Bob Dole has been popping up everywhere from David Letterman to Saturday Night Live. From an image point of view, he is playing all of his cards right. What is the likely next step for Bob Dole, the honorable statesman who has repositioned himself as a friendly and amicable guy? The lecture circuit is the next step that Bob Dole will probably take to continue to capture the attention of the media, motivate people to action, and of course to make money. And what a living he will make! Insiders in the lecture field predict that Bob Dole will make at least $50,000 plus expenses for a one-hour speech. Not bad for a former government employee! Not bad, and what's even better is that you don't have to be a United States Senator or a celebrity of any sort to make money on the lecture circuit. All sorts of experts in niches they created for themselves, are finding that the lecture circuit is a great place to extend their influence, reach the media, and make extra income. There are literally thousands of professionals who are making a living on the circuit and most them are not well known names. Meet Karen Okulicz of Belmar, New Jersey. Okulicz --- hardly a household name --- wrote "TRY! A Survival Guide to Unemployment" after being laid off twice and sending out 970 resumes with no response (U.S. 1, March 13, 1996). She learned from experience how to market herself and then started a radio show called Workline that dealt with work and related issues. She started her speaking career at the town library and was embarrassed to realize that out of the four people in attendance at her first speech, one fell asleep, two were arguing, and one had to be there. Okulicz's career grew slowly buy surely. In 1995 she spoke everywhere for free. In 1996 she did half of her engagements for free. And in 1997, she says, she will do nothing for free --- except the libraries. "I still do them for free because I believe in them." Through her public speaking and continuing sales of her book, Okulicz is essentially making a living out of her unemployment. "It's definitely a livelihood, " she reports. "I'm not being paid in the five-digit range, not yet, but I am getting four figures." Now let's introduce Don Blohowiak, another name that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Blohowiak is a West Windsor-based business consultant and author who broke off from his full-time corporate marketing job at a New York-based Times Mirror subsidiary just a year ago to pursue a professional speaking career. He concentrates on helping companies deal with radical change during restructuring and also speaks and consults on marketing. Late last year, he presented two full-day marketing seminars entitled "Aristotle's Marketing Secrets" for the business communities of Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Treviso, Italy, as well as for a group of MBA students in Asolo, Italy. And they apparently liked it. His booking agent, Janet Pickover of J.R. Associates at 86 Poe Road in Princeton, says that he now is booked to appear in Zagreb, Croatia, next month. Blohowiak became interested in pursuing a professional speaking career while still working at the Times Mirror subsidiary, where -- as a sales and marketing executive --- he was in charge of booking speakers and organizing seminars for his company. As a result he got to know the speaking industry and dealt with many agents. He saw the slew of brochures flying across his desk and was able to view first hand what made a great professional speaker. And he started seeing that people made a living at speaking. In Addition to the interest and background knowledge, Blohowiak also had a commodity highly valued on the lecture circuit: something interesting and informative to say. Blohowiak has written four books that have been an entree to a lot of speaking engagements: "How's All the Work Going to Get Done?" published by Career Press in 1995; "Lead your Staff to Think Like Einstein, Create Like DaVinci, and Invent Like Edison," Irwin Publishing, 1995; "Mavericks!," Irwin Publishing, 1992; and "No Comment," Praeger Publishing, 1987. Blohowiak wrote the books after developing information for his companies that he knew would benefit other companies. Since Blohowiak continues to collect information and develop content he is one of the rare individuals who can easily give a day-long seminar as well as a informative and entertaining keynote speech. In the beginning of his speaking career Blohowiak did a lot of speeches free or took lecture engagements for "$50 a holler." He still occasionally does "freebies" for meeting planners if they'd like to "try before they buy." More frequently, he changes according to his published rate card: If speaking in the New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia area, the charge is $3,500 for up to all day --- "it's the same price whether I speak 45 minutes or work all day doing a seminar," he says. "When I get on an airplane, I get $5,000 plus expenses --- an airplane day is usually two or three days." And these rates, he notes, are mid-market rates. Some people make more. The numbers, Blohowiak admits, are enticing. And the lifestyle looks appealing: Instead of the daily commuting grind Blohowiak works in his home-based office, is at home with his family more, and makes his own schedule. " You can make a living doing this," he says, "but because you can and because it takes you to exotic places, the competition is very touch. Only a very small percentage do it full-time as their occupation. It's very tough to get a one-day gig. There's a lot of marketing behind it," he says, and --- in his case --- a lot of homework. He devotes a substantial chunk of time on the marketing. "I spent all day today doing video editing for a demo videotape," he says. The tape will be just 18 minutes long but it will cost "thousands of dollars." Even though most of Blohowiak's business is spin-off or repeat business the tape is still important. "Often the decisions are made by committee," he says. "You kind of have the beauty contest. So you send out articles, books, and tapes. Half of the time doing business is spent running the marketing campaign. Moreover, he says, "I truly do my homework --- I don't give a canned speech." His philosophy is to "know more than you tell," so that he can comfortably take questions from the audience and encourage lively conversation. "You want people to feel they get their money's worth," he says. "The mistake a lot of people make is that they do book reports. When you speak from your own experience, or you are advancing the discipline, then people are willing to pay a lot of money. Plus there's some show business in it. You have to be entertaining, and the people booking these speakers and attending the events are very sophisticated. They arrive with high expectations." "Before you think about quitting the day job, my recommendation is to moonlight," Blohowiak continues. "Get good at it first and then try to do it full-time." Getting Booked The lecture circuit has dramatically changed in the 10 years since I started out as a celebrity lecture agent in Washington, D.C. A decade ago the top honorarium per speech was about $15,000. The amount of money now spent by many corporations, associations, and universities reaches millions per year. Some of the biggest names are now increasing their incomes by several hundred thousand or even millions a year. But many unknowns are also making a great living and are enjoying the lifestyle of flying around the country and the world delivering their own unique message. I am another case in point: I am booking myself at universities for lectures on the topic of "Guerrilla Dating: Successful Techniques for Today's Relationships." I have spent months gathering information on my topic (my article on "Love on the 'Net," published in US 1 on November 6, 1996, covers some of the ground mentioned in my lecture). I also bring along fun and entertaining props. For my months of preparation, I will be paid $2,000 to $2,500 per lecture depending on my travel time. On Thursday, February 6, I will be at Weber State in Utah, and then at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green on February 10. I will spend the weekend in Nashville visiting friends. Once my speech is perfected, I can book it over and over again. I have no doubts that in the coming months I will be busy. How can you get started down this long and winding road? If you have an interest in speaking but want to practice your technique, your neighborhood ToastMasters group would be a great place to start. If you are already doing a lot of speaking within your industry and want to build your income, there are some organizations to check out. The National Speakers Association (NSA) is one such group. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, this association has 35 chapters all over the country: Two chapters in this area are the New York Tri-State Chapter and the Liberty Bell Speakers Association in Philadelphia. Both have chapter presidents who will return your calls and answer your questions. NSA is a networking community of professional speakers. Members are pursuing knowledge and sharing ideas in order to help one another. NSA has monthly meetings, regional workshops, and national conferences that speakers are able to attend. "NSA cuts the learning curve of the speakers' industry," says Carlos Webster of Frenchtown, the 1995-'96 president of the Liberty Bell NSA Chapter. Webster, who is billed as a "futurist" to corporations, owns his own company, Premier business topics, and was formerly an executive with the Bell System and AT&T. Webster cautions people not to immediately go into speaking full time but to allow time for your business to grow. He works hard on marketing his speaking business but he also is able to gain income from corporate consulting. In order to sell his numerous services he markets in several different ways. Webster has developed good relationships with meeting planners and agents and keeps them aware of new topics and current references. He also spends time writing articles for the media and a tremendous amount of reading to keep up with the changing trends. He recommends giving yourself time to grow as a speaker and learning the business of speaking. Danny Stern, president of the Leigh Bureau, formerly based on Herrontown Road in Princeton and now based in Somerville, says that top experts in their fields can make a good living in their field. But he encourages people "not to pursue the business of speaking, but rather, to pursue becoming an expert. Then the invitations will come to you." Many professionals who have written books are frequently asked to discuss their work. While on book tour, professional publicists can make sure the media is alerted. As a result, the author may be noticed by his peers and be invited to speak. As a former celebrity agent and publicist, my advice is to take any and all invitations when first starting out. Perfection takes practice so starting small and developing a reputation is imperative. If you don't have a book to sell, be the one in your industry who is always willing to speak. Whether it is just to introduce a speaker, or to do a workshop for your peers, take the opportunity to get comfortable in front of audiences. Writing articles for magazines is one way to start to get your name noticed. Writing for your corporate newsletter or industry trade magazines is another way to be recognized as an expert in your field. Or join professional organizations and become the spokesperson. Once you have your promotional packet put together it is time to get on the phone! Mailing lists of corporate meeting planners are available in several forms. A great place to start is either with the NSA, or your local library which will have reference books of meeting planners. I believe the phone is the most valuable resource, however, and think you'll only get booked if you get on the phone and talk to meeting planners who may have an interest in your topic. If they do, you will need to discuss your topic, whether you give workshops or keynotes and if you can do both. The Money Game In order to price yourself competitively in the market place it may be wise to do a little checking around with meeting planners to see what experts in your area of training are receiving on the lecture circuit. Usually, though, if you are speaking at a location less than an hour away from your home then you may be asked to speak for free or to bend on your normal fee. Most people initiate the speaking process by speaking locally for free until they gain experience and then charging from $50 to $750 per speech once the offers start rolling in. Once you start marketing out of your immediate area, have promotional materials put together and a video, you are worth a lot more. The time and effort that you will have put in will allow you to charge in the $1,500-$2,500 range for a keynote. People who do lectures generally charge the same fee as for an all day workshop. Normally trainers are using already published material, whereas a keynoter is expected to add showmanship along with his own experience, knowledge, and originality. A nationally known expert or celebrity can command outrageous lecture fees but the majority of speakers on the national market are priced starting at $3,000 plus expenses. The more well known you are in the media, the more in demand you are as a speaker. Astronaut James Lovell was priced at $4,000 plus expenses for many years until the Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13 came out. His fee skyrocketed to $20,000 plus expenses per engagement. National trends determine which topics are ht and the universities seem to follow this closely. Often times professional meeting planners book meetings a year in advance while the college circuit may be as little as three months out. So if a particular topic is hot in the media, such as "Children's Beauty Pageants" then there will be colleges trying to find speakers to discuss this national phenomenon. Colleges typically pay between $1,500-$3,000 for a no-name but trendy and entertaining topic. Student Activity offices are the best place to check about whether or not the university has a lecture series. And for more information on the college lecture circuit, the National Association of Campus Activities in Columbia, South Carolina, can fill you in. Most universities that have budgets for visiting performers are members of this organization. There is a yearly fee to join and many regional conferences and a national conference to attend to meet the student planners. Many well known comedians and bands started out doing the college circuit, and many speakers are breaking in their career in front of the college audience as well. Fees for public speakers, says Karen Okulicz, the author "Try," are "all across the board. Some groups will not pay you to speak, but they will reimburse all expenses. The simplest thing is to ask: 'What's in your budget?' Every professional society has some sort of budget. Some speakers also factor in the "BOR," or back of the room benefits. That's the place where enterprising speakers set up booths to hawk books and tapes and other materials. Don Blohowiak says he doesn't have a BOR presence when he speaks and he never sells "from the platform." But inevitably people at the presentation approach him afterward and ask about his books, and he stands ready to sell them singly or in bulk. Okulicz notes another synergy from her speaking work. Her self-published book is now being considered for publication and distribution by Ten Speed Press, which made "What Color is Your Parachute?" a national bestseller. What are her chances? Well, she's about to be the closing speaker at a conference in Wisconsin. Who's the opener? Richard Bolles, author of "Parachute." Agents & Bookers Once you've established yourself in your industry as a speaker and have met and and established relationships with meeting planners, it may be time to look for an agent who can represent you on a full time basis. International Management Group celebrity lecture agent Jamie Tell in New York has one major prerequisite before she will even talk to a potential speaker who isn't a well known name. "Video, video, video!" In the industry, the agent is only as good as the video that they can send to meeting planners. Tell explains that some meeting planners even ask to see the speeches of news personalities that are on the networks every day of the week. The video should be of the speaker speaking to a live audience and on the topic they are trying to sell. The video can be from five minutes to one hour, although the first few minutes better be dynamic. Beth Rugggiero, a senior training specialist who books speakers for Merrill Lunch in Plainsboro, will accept a video or a sample presentation by the speaker. She has seen many tapes come across her desk and recommends that speakers tape every session and invest in a good video by a professional. She says that nothing turns off a professional meeting planner more than an amateur trying to compete without the right marketing tools. Janet Pickover, the Certified Meeting Planner of J.R. Associates , agrees. As a professional events planner and booking agent, Pickover works not only for your interests but also for the interests of the company she is representing. Her job is to make sure the company's objectives are clearly accomplished. Pickover feels comfortable only dealing with speakers who are referred to her or whom she has seen. She relies on speakers who are customer service oriented. She wants speakers who are professional on and off the stage. This is so important since many agents in the industry know one another and once word gets around that a speaker drinks a little too much or uses foul language, the speakers will most likely never recover. Meeting planners can represent you as an agent would and you can expect to pay them a percentage of your fee. The industry standard is between 20 and 30 percent. Most agencies will work with speakers on a non-exclusive or exclusive basis. It is important to determine that up front. Normally agencies will want to sign "celebrities" to exclusive contracts and sometimes guarantee them a certain amount of income year after year. This guarantee can be easy or difficult depending upon the popularity of the speaker at that time. This is why most agents push their own exclusive speakers. They probably have major financial responsibility to them. If you do get an exclusive arrangement with an agency, make sure to see if you should hand over leads to the agent. Nothing bothers an agent more than thinking he/she represents a speaker exclusively, only to find the client booked the speaker direct. I once quick booking a well known popular speaker because she took several speaking engagements direct with schools with whom I worked and had "pitched" her. She may have made a few extra dollars that should have been my commission, but the next year I quit booking her, and her annual speaking income dropped $40,000. On the other hand, I made a lot of money for speakers, who were always pleasant and professional. After meeting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for lunch in 1993 when I was with the Arlington, Virginia-based Keppler Associates, I was so impressed that I went crazy on the phones telling my clients that they "HAD" to book him. I ended up booking him 11 times almost immediately which netted him over $100,000. What a little kindness can do! The speakers agencies work with on a non-exclusive basis usually have instant name recognition. If you have a non-exclusive relationship with an agency, it is of the utmost importance that you keep the agency or agencies in tune with what you are doing professionally. I once ran into former Senator Gary Hart at the American Booksellers Convention. I was excited to meet him and so I told him that I was a celebrity agent and wanted to know who his lectures were going. The agency I worked for had a non-exclusive relationship with him but we had booked him several times. I was surprised by his ignorance of the industry and his curt answer. He asked me how come we weren't booking him more dates? I asked him if he had been keeping us up on his career? I noticed that he had a new book and asked if he sent it to us to let us review it? He claimed, "You're the agent, that's your job." I said, "No, Senator, that is your job. Clients request certain speakers, and we recommend the speakers we know are on top of things. We can't possibly know what each of the 600 speakers are doing unless you let us know." With that, he became frustrated and walked away. You can guess how many "recommendations" he got from me! One of my former colleagues at Keppler, Elliot Gunner, says that the logistical details of the speech are the most important. He recommends that each speaker provide any needs they may have such as video or audio equipment. He suggests that speakers get the exact details about the event from the agent, meeting planner or the sponsoring organization. This will prohibit any surprises --- like finding out if you are to lead off the convention or to be the grand finale. Make sure everything is in writing and always write up a contract between both parties. There is much awareness of how the Internet and technology can change the industry in the new few years. Tony Colao, president of Master Media speakers Bureau in Belle Mead, says that technology has and will continue improving the speaking industry by such things as being able to provide live teleconferencing to national corporations wanting to reach all employees simultaneously. While this may cut down on the amount of speakers a corporation may book, the excitement of having a live speaker can far outweigh any televised program. Colao feels that the Internet is a great public relations tool, but that we are still two years off from anyone making any serious money off of it in the speaking industry. "The buyers have not caught up with the vendors," Colao says. So what's hot right now on the lecture circuit? Celebrity agent John Truran of Keppler Associates, who is always up with the trends, says that "futurists" will be "in" for a long time. But, he notes, speakers with a timely message who have an entertaining style and who can "make you laugh while getting a message across" will never go out of fashion. And that could be you: So take a deep breath and walk briskly to the podium at center stage. And don't trip. Mary Gardner is a communications expert who speaks and National Speakers Association. Pheonix, Arizona 602-968-2552. (New York Tri-State Chapter. Phone mail: 717-518-2955) Liberty Bell Speakers Association-Philadelphia. Bill Pingle, chapter president. 610-284-0846. Janet Pickover, J.R. Associates, 86 Poe Road, Princeton 08540. 609-921-6605. Carlos Webster, Premiere Business Topics. 908-996-6988. Don Blohowiak, 1 Glacier Drive, Lawrenceville 08648. 609-716-9490. DBlohowiak@aol.com Karen Okulicz, Box 375, Belmar 07719. 908-681-6755. Tony Colao, Master Media Speakers Bureau, 134 Hillsborough Road Belle Mead 08502. 908-359-1612. Danny Stern, president, the Leigh Bureau, 50 Division Street Suit 200, Somerville 08876-2955. 908-253-8600. National Association of Campus Activities, 12 Harbison Way, Columbia, SC 29212-3401. 803-732-NACA Contact Info: Email: mary@marygardner.com
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Speak Up for Fun & Profit |
| One Commodity high valued on the lecture circuit: having something interesting and informative to say. |
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Copyright © 2007 Mary Gardner. All Rights Reserved.