262 – Online summits, attendee and speaker expectations

The back story goes like this. I (Nathan) co-host the Page Builder Summit with my friend Anchen le Roux. We invite a range of speakers to come onto that podcast and create presentations which, it is hoped, the attendees will enjoy. We do not pay the speakers for their contributions. We make this very clear and communicate it in advance. There's an exchange here, but it's not the usual one of 'you create something and I will pay you for it'. It's more of a 'here is an audience you might like to present to if you're willing'. Joe thinks that this model needs a re-think; payment ought to happen. So we talk about how event organisers should think about giving value back to their presenters. We are certainly on different sides of the debate here, but the conversation is polite and we each hear one another out. It was not really an endeavour to change one another's minds... more, an attempt to air our thoughts and make clear why we think the way we do. If you're thinking of being a speaker at an event, or you're thinking of organising an event this could be a really interesting conversation. It might well shine a spotlight on issues that you never even considered and make both sides have more empathy, especially when the event deadlines are tight and expectations are put under stress.