The event and retreat industry is on fire right now.
If you’ve been on social media at all this year, you’ve seen it. Speakers posting about fees that were promised and never paid. Events canceled a few weeks out, after the slides were built and the flights were booked. Stage slots that turned out to be sponsorship packages with a speaker title attached. Organizers quietly cutting budgets and hoping nobody notices.
The speaking conversation followed right behind it. People are talking about paying to speak. People are talking about being paid to speak. And a lot of people are talking about speaking for free while posting that they only say yes to paid opportunities now.
I’ve been watching all of it, and it keeps bringing me back to one thing. Speaking for free isn’t automatically a bad decision, and getting paid isn’t automatically a good one. The fee is one number. Whether an opportunity is worth it depends on what it adds back to your business.
This post covers what’s shifting in the event industry, how I think about paid vs. unpaid speaking, and the questions I’d ask before saying yes to any stage. If you want the full system behind it, that’s what I built the Speaker Playbook for.
What’s happening behind the scenes at events right now?
Running events got more expensive, and the speaker budget is often the first place organizers look when they need to cut. That shows up as lower fees, late payments, pay-to-speak slots, and cancellations that leave speakers holding the cost of their prep.
Venues, production, travel, and catering all cost more than they did a few years ago. Sponsorships are harder to land. In-person ticket sales are less predictable. When margins get thin, speakers feel it, and not always in ways that are obvious on the invitation.
In practice, it tends to look like this:
- A fee that gets reduced after you’ve agreed to it, or paid months late
- “We’ll cover your hotel, just not your flight,” which still means you’re paying to be there
- Speaker slots that come bundled with a sponsorship fee
- Events that downsize, move online, or cancel after speakers have already done the prep
- Invitations that lead with “exposure” and never mention compensation at all
Pay to speak isn’t new. UX strategist Debbie Levitt has written about business conferences where speakers paid thousands for their slot instead of being selected through an application, and attendees usually have no idea. Other stages draw a hard line the other way. TEDx doesn’t allow speakers to pay or be charged in any form, and it doesn’t pay speakers either, though many events cover travel and hotel costs.
None of this means you should stop speaking. It means you need a way to evaluate opportunities that doesn’t depend on the invitation being honest about what it is.
Is speaking for free ever worth it?
Yes. Speaking for free is worth it when the audience includes people who can hire you, the organizer gives you a real way to follow up with them, and the time away fits your capacity. It isn’t worth it when the only thing on offer is exposure to an audience that will never buy from you.
I know this one from experience. Last year I said yes to an unpaid speaking opportunity. No fee. I did the same prep I would have done for a paid talk, and I stepped away from my family and my business to be there, same as any other gig.
I left with a client who booked three months of coaching. That turned into nearly $5,000 in profit from a talk I wasn’t paid to give.
If I had judged that opportunity by the fee line alone, I would have said no.
The reverse is true too. A paid gig can cost you money. A $1,500 honorarium looks good until you add two days of prep, a travel day on each side, and the work that piles up while you’re gone. If nobody in that audience is a potential client, you traded close to a week of capacity for a check that barely covered it.
Paid vs. unpaid speaking: why the fee isn’t the point
The fee tells you what the organizer is willing to pay. It doesn’t tell you what the opportunity is worth to your business.
When founders decide on fee alone, they usually end up in one of two places. They say yes to paid gigs in front of the wrong audience because the number felt validating. Or they say no to every unpaid opportunity on principle, including the ones that would have put them in front of their next few clients.
The “I only do paid gigs” posts are part of this. There’s nothing wrong with a paid-only policy if it fits your business. Professional speakers whose income comes from the stage should hold that line. But most founders aren’t professional speakers. Speaking is how they get in front of clients for the business they already run. Their criteria should match that.
The real math on any speaking opportunity includes:
- The fee, if there is one
- The cost to show up: travel, lodging, childcare, days away
- Prep time: developing the talk, slides, assets, rehearsal
- The value beyond the fee: clients, list growth, footage, relationships with organizers and other speakers
- What you give up in your business and your life to be there
Put those side by side and the answer is usually clearer than the fee made it look.
How to evaluate a speaking opportunity: 5 questions
Before you say yes, check five things: who’s in the audience, what the organizer offers beyond the stage, the full cost of showing up, how stable the event is, and your plan for afterward. If most of those come back weak, the fee probably won’t fix it.
1. Can the people in this audience hire me?
Not “are they nice people” or “is it a big audience.” Are your buyers there, at the stage of business where they need what you sell? Forty of the right people will do more for you than four hundred of the wrong ones.
2. What does the organizer offer beyond the stage?
This is where most speakers leave value behind, because they never ask. Ask about a mention in the event emails, a link to your offer or freebie on the event page, a way to collect contact info from attendees, the recording of your session, a table, a giveaway, or a sponsorship trade. Organizers who can’t pay a fee often have flexibility here.
3. What does it cost me to show up?
Count the days, not the minutes on stage. Prep, travel, recovery, and the work that stacks up while you’re gone. If you already carry too much in your business, a 45-minute talk can add a full week of load. That’s worth knowing before you agree, not after.
4. Is this event stable, and will they honor the agreement?
Given what’s happening in the industry right now, this question matters more than it used to. Ask how long the event has been running, whether there’s a written speaker agreement, when fees or reimbursements get paid, and what happens to speakers if the event is canceled or moved online.
5. What will I do with it afterward?
A talk with no follow-up plan is a nice day out. Decide before you go how you’ll capture interest at the event, what you’ll offer attendees, and how you’ll reuse the talk: clips for your sizzle reel, a podcast episode, a blog post, a pitch for the next stage. If you’re still figuring out which topics to build talks around, the Speaking Topic Finder helps you map them.
Should you ever pay to speak?
Paying to speak only makes sense if you treat it as advertising and judge it like any other paid marketing: what does it cost you per qualified lead? Be cautious when a paid slot is presented as a selection or an honor. If you’re paying for the stage, you should know exactly who’s in the audience and what the organizer is committing to deliver.
Some founders buy stage time at the right event and it pays off. Others spend thousands on a slot in front of people who came to network with each other, not to hire anyone. The difference comes back to question one.
Questions to ask an event organizer before you say yes
Ask about the audience, the compensation, what’s included beyond the fee, the written agreement, and the cancellation terms. Organizers rarely volunteer all of it, and nobody tells you their budget unless you ask.
- Who is attending, and how many people do you expect?
- What’s the speaker compensation? If there’s no fee, what’s included instead?
- Is travel covered? Lodging?
- Will I be able to share an offer or collect contact info from attendees?
- Will the session be recorded, and can I use the footage?
- Is there a written speaker agreement?
- When are fees or reimbursements paid?
- What happens if the event is canceled or changes format?
A good organizer will answer these without flinching. If they get vague, that tells you something too. And if you want a second set of eyes on how you’re pitching yourself before you send anything, that’s what a Pitch Audit is for.
Treat speaking as a business asset, not a favor
Every time you say yes to a stage, you step away from your family, your business, and your life to do it. So there should be intention behind it.
I want founders to start seeing speaking opportunities as a business asset. Something you do to be in front of the right clients, at the right stage of your business, in an opportunity that actually does something for you. That’s true whether there’s a check attached or not.
Some unpaid opportunities will be worth far more than any fee. Some paid ones won’t be worth the flight. The only way to tell them apart is to look at the full picture before you commit.
I think we’re going to see a lot more come out of the event industry over the next year. The speakers who come through it well will be the ones who had their criteria in place before the invitations showed up.
FAQ
Is it okay to speak for free?
Yes, if the audience includes your potential clients and the opportunity gives you a way to follow up with them. Speaking for free is a strategic choice for founders whose revenue comes from their business, not from speaking fees. It becomes a problem when it’s your default and you have no criteria for saying yes.
How do I ask an event organizer about speaker compensation?
Ask directly and early: “What’s the speaker compensation for this event, and what’s included?” Organizers rarely share their budget unprompted. If there’s no fee, ask what they can offer instead, such as covered travel, an offer mention to attendees, a session recording, or a sponsorship trade.
What does “pay to speak” mean?
Pay to speak means a speaker pays for a speaking slot, either directly, through a sponsorship package, through required ticket purchases, or by covering travel costs the event won’t reimburse. It shows up at some business conferences and often isn’t disclosed to attendees.
How do I know if a speaking opportunity is worth it?
Weigh the full cost of showing up (prep, travel, time away from your business and family) against the full value (fee, potential clients, list growth, content, relationships). If the audience can’t hire you and the fee doesn’t cover your costs, it’s probably not worth it, no matter how the invitation is framed.
Get the Speaker Playbook
Everything I use to evaluate, structure, and get real value from speaking opportunities is in the Speaker Playbook. It covers why the fee isn’t the point, how to structure an opportunity beyond the fee, finding your topics, who to pitch and how, the templates I use, and the real math on paid vs. unpaid speaking.
Get the Speaker Playbook for $27
