Speaker Fees & Presentation Formats
The external perspective is a proven way to inspire change within any organization or individual. The speaker should be considered to be one of the major investments for any event, as the presentation becomes the lasting impression and memorable experience of attendees. With so much to consider, and many factors that go into assessing a speaker’s rates, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what you can expect when accessing a professional speaker and what you will receive from your investment. In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about speaker fees, from how speakers assess their rates to the different types of presentations and associated costs.
SPEAKER FEES: HOW SPEAKERS DETERMINE THEIR FEES
SPEAKERS BUREAU OF CANADA: SPEAKER FEES & OPERATIONS
When it comes to investing in a speaker for an event, it is important to understand how speakers’ asses their fees for each event, audience, session format and organization.
Our services are at no extra cost to your organization as we take our commission from the speakers end.
The fees we provide are set by the speaker for each initial inquiry not SBC.
Speakers charge the same through our bureau as they do direct.
Speakers are happy to share a portion of the fee to manage the booking process and secure bookings they otherwise would not get.
Travel fees are not applicable for virtual or local events.
The fee does not include tax or travel expenses if applicable.
PROFESSIONAL SPEAKERS: SPEAKER FEES
Fees mostly depend on the speaker’s availability and the time out of their schedule to research, customize and deliver the presentation.
Speakers must block time to meet with your team, research content and learning outcomes, prepare the presentation, attend your event and deliver the presentation.
All our speakers deliver customized content for the audience, event theme and program for what you hope to achieve.
The more time the speaker must block off to commit to your event, the less available to be hired as a speaker with another organization.
Our speakers are in high demand and in their everyday work, therefore selective of their commitments.
SPEAKER FEES: STANDARD RATES
Each speaker uses their own formulas to create them standardize their fees.
Some are flexible and are less due their schedule and popularity.
The more in demand or popular the speaker, the higher their fee.
The more in demand the speaker the more selective of their commitments and likely they will command their standard rate.
Many speakers offer discounted rates for nonprofits, smaller audiences, local events and virtual events.
Each speaker has their own approach to offering discounted rates.
SPEAKERS BUREAU OF CANADA FEE RANGES
Average Cost: $5,000 – $10,000
Lowest Cost: $2,500 (Non-Profit/Virtual/Local)
Highest Cost: $20,000 or more
ARE THERE ANY ADDITIONAL COSTS?
Applicable tax & travel expenses are not included in the fee.
Books and online training are usually purchased as an additional “bulk order” cost.
Sessions that exceed the singular virtual/keynote/workshop durations will have extra charges for half-day or full-day formats.
Multiple sessions on the same day will incur a small added charge.
Multiple sessions on different days will increase the rate but have discounted rate per session for multiple bookings.
Emcees charge as a daily rate.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE FEE?
Commitment to content creative meetings to understand the audience, event theme, purpose of gathering and what you hope to achieve.
Professionalism, calculated questions, creative idea starters, attention to detail for the success of their presentation and the event as a whole.
Commitment to aligning with logistics, requirements and process.
Researched and customized content based off the lates trends.
Media, slide deck and content positioning for fluidity and engagement.
Incorporating the messaging discussed in pre-event meetings with your team.
May commit to a social media post or a video inviting attendees.
May include online training, books and other “add ons” to create more value when booking them as a speaker.
Engaging storytelling, appropriate humour and actionable outcomes for the attendees.
Delivery of the presentation aimed for a memorable experience with measurable outcomes.
Recordings/live streams are at no extra cost if for internal usage only.
When possible and appropriate, be available to attendees or a select group for meals and networking sessions.
UNMEASURABLE COST FACTORS: PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER & FEES
Years spent to gain the knowledge through education, career accomplishments and ongoing efforts to keep up with the latest trends.
Years spent to investing in their speaking skills to become an expert, researching trends, topics for customize content, position their brand, gain popularity, strategic networking and master their delivery.
Adaptability and creativity to ensure the success of their presentation and the event as a whole.
The power to shift minds for behaviour change of each of your attendees.
SPEAKER FEES: DISCOUNTED RATES
We understand the need for our speakers and the impact they achieve with each audience.
We also know the budget challenges organizers face from different industries, organizations and event types.
With long relationships with our speakers, they are flexible to support our requests and our relationships.
We have strategic ways to approach them since we have collaborated with them for so many events in the past.
We can also sometimes call in a favor from our speakers to support us for a specific cause or event request from a long-term relationship we hold.
SPEAKERS BUREAU OF CANADA NEGOTIATIONS
Depending on your request and our relationship with the speakers of interest, we can likely achieve a discounted fee.
Speakers are open to our offers, and base their decisions on the organization type, audience size, session format/duration, event location and some other factors.
We aim to identify the logistics, event details, audience information so we can align our services with your goals, session requirements, desired outcomes, and deciding factors.
We can send another list of speaker options aligned with your budget.
To negotiate a speaker’s rate, we require to know your budget information.
SPEAKER FEES & PRESENTATION TIME
It is not just an hour! Speakers to not charge by the presentation time at each event.
Whether it is 20 minutes or 60 minutes, the fee is often the same.
Shorter presentations are more challenging for the speaker.
With shorter presentations, the speaker will often work more closely with your organization since they must be precise of their research and content positioning.
Speakers spend longer hours spent researching, selecting, preparing and rehearsing when the duration moves outside of a 45–60-minute duration.
Our speakers aim for a memorable experience for attendees and the tailored experience blends storytelling, relevant content and actionable strategies the attendees.
The presentation is the Cherry on Top of the process, whatever length it may be.
PRESENTAION FORMATS & DURATIONS
General Session Formats & Durations
Keynotes: 45-60 minutes + Q&A
Workshops: 90-120 minutes
Half Day: 3-4 hours
Full Day: 5-8 hours
Moderated Q&A/Panel: 20-90 minutes
Host Emcee: Varies per event and desired ask.
Keynote Presentations
Base Rate: Same Fee as Workshops (base rate)
Standard: 45-60 minutes
Duration Range: 20 minutes minimum -75 minutes maximum
Q&A Session: 5-15 minutes after talking time. Q&A can be removed or extended.
Recording: In most cases, permitted to record at no extra cost.
Audience Experience: Keynotes are usually a creative showcase of storytelling using humour, media, or different interactive strategy to engage attendees with actionable takeaways.
Session Benefits: Memorable experience, fun, creative, interesting, creates a buzz, engages attendees and invitations, often the thing attendees remember of the event as a whole.
Audience Size: between 100 to as many as the room will hold.
Workshop & Breakout Sessions
Base Rate: Same fee as keynote presentations. (base rate)
Recommended Duration: 90-120 minutes
Duration Range: 60-120 minutes
Q&A Session: Sessions are interactive and can ask questions throughout.
Audience Experience: Highly interactive with audience members posing questions throughout. Contain individual and group exercises to complete during the session.
Session Benefits: Asking questions with application strategy, amplified learning, interactive with actionable takeaways. and often have teambuilding components within.
Audience Size: Effective with audiences that have limited attendees – 5 -100 (depending on speaker as some speakers can hold workshops with larger audiences).
Keynote + Breakout or Half Day Workshop or Full Day Workshop
Multiple Presentation Fee: Fee will slightly increase from the speaker’s base rate if booked for one event with multiple presentations on the same day.
Keynote Presentation + Breakout Workshop back-to-back (Base Rate + $1,000 – $5,000) (most effective way to create actionable learning is a keynote + concurrent breakout session)
Half Day Workshop/Training or Two Workshops back-to-back (fee increases by $1,000 – $5000 from base rate)
Full day Training Session or up to three keynotes in one day (fee increases by $1,000 – $5000 from half day rate)
Session Benefits: Training, workshops, and breakouts are highly interactive with individual and group exercises, and contain handouts, workbooks, and group activities.
Audience Experience: Highly interactive with audience members posing questions throughout. Contain individual and group exercises to complete during the session.
Audience Size: Effective with audiences that have limited attendees – 5 -100 (depending on speaker as some speakers can hold workshops with larger audiences).
Cost Increments: Increments for fee increase depend on the speaker and their cost. The higher the speaker fee, the higher the cost will increase.
Cost Saving Recommendation: Schedule the sessions within a half day format. Speakers may charge full day rate if both sessions are not back to back.
Booking a Speaker for Multiple Events on Separate Days
Multiple Events Fee: Fee will increase to a higher amount as some speakers treat this as two separate events.
Multiple Events Negotiations: We know how to negotiate and standardize the rates with each of our speakers for multiple session bookings.
Cost Saving Recommendation: Two or more sessions on the same day if possible.
Sliding Scale Pricing:
Event 1: Base Rate
Event 2: 20% from Base Rate
Event 3: 30% from Base Rate
Virtual Sessions
Virtual Fees: Discounted from Base Rate between 10% – 50% depending on the speaker.
Average Discount Rate: 25%
Recommended Duration: 30-60 minutes + Q&A
Duration Range: 10 minutes – 75 minutes + Q&A
Maximum Duration: 90 minutes due to high dropout rates (audience disengaged)
Q&A Session: 5-15 minutes after talking time. Q&A can be removed or extended.
Virtual Speakers: Speaker should be authentic, knowledgeable with a high focus on content and quality information to engage actionable take aways.
Audience Experience: Audience members posing questions throughout through fireside chat, can access from home or on the road. Hear the same message at multiple locations.
Q&A Extension: Can extend the duration of the session with preloaded questions for Q&A.
Session Benefits: Session accessed from any location in different time zones, informative content, can access recordings for those who may have missed, organization hears the same message and cost savings.
Cost Saving Recommendation: Speakers are more flexible with their rates for virtual events.
Audience Size: Effective with audiences of all sizes and for attendees who may not be available on the event date.
Recording: In most cases, permitted to record at no extra cost.