Meeting News - November 5, 2007 - (Page 27)

Live from the Forum @ MeetingNews.com TOPIC: Speakers who sell from the podium I used the same speaker for two separate events. Both times, he blatantly sold his products and services during his presentation. The contract clearly stated it was prohibited. After the ﬁrst program, I brought it to his attention and reminded him that he was in breach of contract. But because the organization already committed to this speaker for a second program, it moved forward, and again the speaker sold from the platform. I am now questioning whether I should pay this speaker for the second meeting. How would you handle this situation? Anonymous 1. If he is an NSA [National Speakers Association] member, then ﬁle a complaint with the NSA ethics committee. 2. Share the experience with your meeting planning associates. If he sends back part of the payment and an apology, I would never recommend him to anyone and would caution anyone I knew who was using him. If he sent back the payment in full and he was very good, I would refer him and clearly communicate that the planner needs to be very clear about expectations. This is a relationship business. There are many, many speakers for you to choose from. I believe our job, as speakers, is to make you, the planner/buyer, look great by providing your audience and organization value real tangible value and a direct correlation to that value. ROI reigns, and making your life easy is critical. NSA takes speaking seriously (even when we have fun). By the way, if this speaker was hired through a bureau, please let the bureau know. It works hard to provide you with quality, ethical, and experienced speakers. When a speaker performs below par, the bureau needs to know. Usually, it isn’t there to observe, so it needs your feedback. I speak to many associations and companies. In our interview phase, we (my staff and I) clearly ask what is needed, what is wanted, and what can and can’t be done, including selling products at the event. Also, we acknowledge that in our contract and conﬁrm those desires. Many of the contracts from our clients clearly state what can or can’t be done. I’ve also seen contracts with penalties for violations of those clauses. However all of this comes down to relationships. Is everyone clear on the expectations, needs, and return on investment? If not, speak up. Pegine Echevarria, Speaker Team Pegine, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL ay him. He did the job, even though there was promotion tied into the message. And I assume there was nothing in the second contract forbidding him from selling, or if there was, it apparently wasn’t threatening enough or it was too [ambiguous] to be strictly enforced. Never hire him again and pass the word amongst friends and foes who could hire him. I would also have the meeting planner and an ofﬁcer from the organization send him a letter of rebuke with his check. Did he have actual product at the event that he sold from the platform? Or, was he just obnoxiously blatant about [saying] “go to my website and download the order form”? How much time in his presentation was devoted to selling? If you can ﬁgure it—for example, it was more than 10 percent of his time (say, more than six minutes out of an hour presentation)— deduct that percentage from his fee. I’m sure he won’t mind—since he was wrong—and it sends a message to him. If [the planner] knows how much he took in at the event, consider deducting that amount from his fee. But that may be messier than just doing it on a time basis. Of course, he will do it at the next event since he only gets his hands slapped this time—and maybe, just maybe, the next time. Julia O’Connor, Speaker, Author, Consultant Trade Show Training Inc., Richmond, VA P I f selling from the platform was clearly stated [as prohibited] during the interview process, further stated in the contract, communicated by the meeting planner to the speaker after the ﬁrst program, with a ban further put into writing, and the speaker still sold from the platform—whether in a soft sales pitch or a hard sell—I would talk to the speaker and also write to him asking how to resolve the issue (you can suggest choices). He may decide to: 1. Ignore you. 2. Send [back] a part of the payment and an apology. 3. Send [back] the payment in full and an apology. 4. Offer to do a third program at no charge. (Personally, I would pass on this choice.) If he ignores you: W riting from the speaker’s perspective, I just had a long conversation with a meeting planner today about this very situation—she got burned by a speaker who gave 50 percent of the answer to whatever he was talking about and then told the participants that to get the rest of the information, they’d have to buy his book. And he was getting a full fee. The client had already contracted him for another program, at which he did the very same thing after having been warned (I wonder if it’s the same guy mentioned in the original post?). I believe that if he is in the NSA, we should ﬁgure out whether this is an ethics violation, and I also (being crabby) think that his name should get out so no one else hires him. This is the kind of thing that gives all speakers a bad name and makes everyone paranoid about even legitimate mentions of products and services. Philippa Gamse, Speaker and Website Strategy Consultant CyberSpeaker, Capitola, CA MEETING NEWS (ISSN 0145-630X, USPS No.356-010, November 5 2007, Vol. 31, No. 15 is published semi-monthly except for January, February, April, June, July, August, which are monthly, by Nielsen Business Media, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595, tel. 646-654-5000. Subscriptions are offered free of charge to individuals actively engaged in planning meetings or conventions in the U.S. and Canada. The cost of a subscription to non-qualiﬁed subscribers is $79 in the U.S. and $95 in Canada (Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40031729). The cost of a foreign subscription, payable in U.S. dollars, is $195. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing ofﬁces. MeetingNews is a trademark owned exclusively by Nielsen Business Media. Copyright © 2007 by Nielsen Business Media Inc. All rights reserved. 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