Why being an Event Organiser is a tough job.

I didn't realise just how tough the Event Industry was until doing research into the typical experience Event Organisers and Meeting Planners go through when engaging speakers.

When I asked the question, 'Have you ever had a bad speaker?', I was stunned to hear the response: 'No.  I only work with good speakers.  I've been doing this for 15 years and I've never had a bad speaker apart from 2 years ago'.

Confused by the double statement, I engaged a little further and the conversation went something like this:

Me: 'How do you normally search for speakers?'

EO: 'I first go through my little black book where I keep the names of all the good speakers I've used'

Me: 'So that will be all the speakers you've used over the 15 years?'

EO: 'That's correct...'

Me: 'And...  the speaker you considered to be bad isn't in your book?'

EO: 'That's correct...'

ME: 'So basically you have everyone's name in your little black book who you've worked with apart from the one that you had two years ago',

EO: 'No.  Not everyone gets in,  only the good speakers do...'

Confused?

This is what psychologists call, 'cognitive dissonance' - it's a state of mind when a person is experiencing two conflicting thoughts at the same time, each struggling to be recognised and dealt with.

In this case, she had two things going on in the brain - a definition wrangling match over the terms, 'Good and Bad' speaker.  And then admitting if she had had a bad speaker or not.

Afterall, in this industry who's going to hire an Event Organiser if they admit to hiring bad speakers?

With this in mind, half of her statements start to make a little more sense....

But, it still doesn't account for the last statement because if she doesn't put in her little black book 'bad' and then says she only puts in the 'good', it implies that there must be another group of speakers who she's identified but unwilling to openly acknowledge as either good or bad.  In a polite way, the lack of a name for this category says it all as this is the 'nameless' category - those speakers who were 'mediocre, boring, forgetful, uninteresting, dull, samey, nothing new etc'.

Now things begin to make sense:  You can't admit to having bad speakers because no one hires an Organiser who hires bad speakers. 

So what happens when there is a bad speaker? Here's the kicker: it seems if the speaker messed up, it's somehow always ends up being the organiser's fault as they are not able to admit the speaker they hired was bad!  This attitude  perpetuates the cognitive dissonance many organisers experience at some point in their career which results in self blame rather than apportioning it back to the true source - the speaker was bad on that day. 

So I started playing around with the opening question to see if if something else was going on...

Results were reviling.

When I asked; 'Have you ever had a bad speaker?', I usually got the response: 'No'.  


But  if rephrased the question to: 'Have you ever had bad experiences working with speakers?' that's when I got a quizzical look and after a brief pause, 'Oh you mean like: them being late, or not turning up, or not sending their slides ahead, or or or or'. Suddenly the floodgates opened with war stories of the experiences they'd had.

Therefore there is a transference almost acceptance that bad experience is not the signs of a bad speaker and that it's this bad experience that is somehow always the fault of the event organiser because they must have failed to have done something even when it was beyond their control!
Cindy-Michelle Waterfield

So here's my question to you: Why keep quiet and accept a Speaker's unprofessional conduct when your client wouldn't accept you doing this to them and neither would you accept it if your supplier did this to you?  My next question: What are you going to do about it from now on?

Co-Founder of iwantaspeaker.com

Blimey. That was Quick! or Why Award Nights are over in a flash!

You've been busy organising for almost a year and waiting for this night to arrive: "The Awards Ceremony" and judging by the way the Host you've hired has just rattled through the categories, it could be the last one your organising too!

And the worse part is, it won't be your fault.  

You've created an atmosphere which is electric, and filled the venue with expectant finalists and party people, all eagerly anticipating to know who's won which category.  The venue staff alongside the catering staff work to perfect clockwork timing and then the Host appears on stage ready to start the Awards Ceremony....

The Host begins their usual warm up routine, only, they don't really stop for the audience to laugh or slow the pace of their delivery either.  Soon, the atmosphere changes from relaxed laughter to short giggles as the audience tries to keep up.

At first, we brush it off without really giving it a second thought....

But as the Host carries on at the fast pace, repeatedly telling us they have to do it rapidly because, 'There's so much to cram in to tonight's schedule!!!'  the giggles get less and less....

And just before it truly becomes annoyingly noticeable, the impeccable timing of the Host sees them bring the audience altogether by grabbing everyone's attention as they start reading out, "And moving on to tonight's Awards and The First of the Categories is...."

But instead of slowing to allow the winners to have their photo taken and have time to get back to their seats, the next lot are up on the stage, photo'ed and ushered off!

What was supposed to be the time to take in the proceedings and time to allow the winners to celebrate and the finalists to congratulate or commiserate now becomes a big blur  and towards the end of the categories, no-one's really listening to the Host accept the last few categories because everyone else is occupied with talking and selfies....

Mayhem? High energy? You decide, but one thing is for sure - you've just lost next years attendees as those at the end won't appreciate not having their 5 minutes of fame.

You've lost the atmosphere of the room as the audience was given no time to savour their moments which means the second the last award is given and the Host leaves the stage, they too won't be that far behind.  Evening over!  Empty room.  No after party business - which is the hidden bonus of these things.  Which means next year you will find this particular audience not really bothered about entering again because it all became, well, a bit of an anti climax.

This Awards Night has just been hit by the Secret Assassin - someone somewhere treated your event or more to the point, your budget as a target and they were not going to let you out of their sight. And because of this, you will have to work harder at getting the attendees to come back next year.

So who was the Secret Assassin in this case?

At one particular Award Evening I was attending, I watched the above scenario and noted the audience's reaction.

To find the Secret Assassin, I asked the questions to find out why the disparity between the Host and the organisers perception?

From the Host's view point they gave good value as they managed to squeeze the proceedings down by 30 mins which meant they could be on time for their own travel arrangements and felt they were giving the audience more time to dance afterwards as that would be far more entertaining than listening to someone droning on!

However, the organiser didn't think they got the value as they had thought there would be time for photos and selfies with the Host, especially as they ended ahead of time and it was only as the Host was running off the stage they found out about 'the diary' issue.....

The organisation behind the awards booked the Host through a speaker bureau, who then went to another bureau who then went to the management agency of the Host.  Between these two bureaus, they had added an additional £10,000 (approximately) between them.  The management agency already has a fee arrangement with the Host so the Host knows exactly how much they've gone out for and how much their agency will be keeping and how much will be in their pocket at the end.   In addition, the Host's agency had made it clear  to the bureau that the diary was already booked for another gig the following day of the Awards night  so the  end organiser would have to appreciate that the Host would have to leave as soon as possible and not spend the customary time with the end organiser and the audience. No one passed this message on to the end organiser and no one could tell me where this part of the communication got lost while only the inflated costs was successfully communicated.

To make things worse, the Host management agency and the end paying organiser didn't know the difference in the two charge fees, nor that there were two bureaus involved either which meant that the Host thought they were providing a value of £x + a small % commission for the bureau and that leaving the moment they left the stage was OK, while the other was expecting £x+£10,000 + some mingle time for their value.

I lost a few friends in bureaus that day as I told the management agency how the two bureaus had brought their Host's performance into question as the end organiser and the audience felt nothing but 'rush rush rush'. Had the end client known the Host had another engagement and needed to leave straight after, they would have thought twice about using them or made appropriate adjustments.

This is not an isolated case either.

It's why we built iwantaspeaker.com because the process would have only allowed the management agency to have registered the Host's profile and not either of the bureaus which means if the Organiser had asked the first bureau to register the profile of the Host in the first place, they would have been alerted to the fact that they are not really managing that Host.  In addition, because only the management agency can register, vital decision making communication would not have been lost and the costs would have been kept down too.

So if you want to make sure your bureau is truly working directly with the speaker, the Host or the expert - ask them to register that person's profile and use the iwantaspeaker process to then hire and book them because if they can't get a profile registered or they want you to then go direct with them once they've registered the profile, they could have something they don't want you to know about lurking in the background about how they truly work and where your funds truly go and they've just realised the iwantaspeaker process will uncover this.

I'd love to hear from you if you've had a similar problem with Secret Assassins.   Lets share knowledge and let others know that this does happen and that they are not alone.

by Cindy-Michelle Waterfield




Get smart, save money, be properly informed, use iwantaspeaker.com as your process to de-risk booking and working with speakers.

Can a Speaker Sue me even though they didn't perform? And what can I do about it?

The short answer is Yes, a speaker could sue you and win especially if you haven't kept a good enough account of what you needed them to do, even if they performed badly, you could lose.

Obviously the usual reason a speaker would take an Event Organiser to court would be for non payment of their invoice.

For an Event Organiser not to pay is often because they were either relying on ticket sales to raise the funds or they have a policy to pay after the event and decided the speaker’s performance wasn't as expected so withheld payment. 

But, even if the speaker did a bad performance or even failed to turn up because you changed the date and they couldn’t make the new date, and if you didn't check the Terms and Conditions you signed, you could still be liable and still have to pay.

Not fair is it!

Most organisations sign the Terms and Conditions of the speakers who are savvy enough to provide them, many without checking them carefully first.  In addition, many other speakers are reliant on just sending an invoice and a few email exchanges to be sufficient enough which means that while you don’t have to deal with paperwork and it seems a quick way to engage the speaker you want, you are in fact leaving your organisation wide open to paying for a bad performance.

While the industry is and works on word of mouth for hiring and finding speakers, there is still a high need for them so without protecting yourself and putting in place a proper system to limit your liability you could be hugely out of pocket as not only would you be paying the speaker, but the court cost, the time and energy involved and the hidden cost of audience dis-engagement from the event and if you are really unlucky, any potential media fallout too.

To avoid this when you book a speaker, make sure you:

1) Check their Terms and Conditions carefully to find out what happens if something does go wrong so you can fully understand what you would be expected to pay.  And if you don't like any of their Terms, ask for changes and agree to the new terms before you sign.

2) Understand and agree exactly what they will do for you for their fee before the day in writing.  Be reasonable as to what can be measured and what can't. Performance is considered objective unless it is clear they failed to meet requirements.  Remember: what I think is good might not be what you think is good, however them saying they are an expert on a subject and then clearly demonstrating their knowledge to be less than that of the audience is measurable!

3) If they want full payment upfront and you are not happy or able to commit, find a third party format to hold the payment for you: iwantaspeaker, paypal, a client bank account, solicitor, speaker bureau as examples, or come to a payment arrangement where you are happy to take the risk and lose the sum without it being detrimental to your budget.  

4) If the speaker doesn't have any Terms and Conditions, doesn't have any standard contracts and only relies on the ‘sending you an invoice and a few emails’ method, make sure you have in writing exactly what they will do to compensate you should they fail to deliver in all eventualities.  Or insist they use your process which de-risks you and standardises them.  If they fail to get through or won’t go through your process, don’t hire them.

Only by safe guarding yourself against all speakers you work with being a possible failure, will you be able to protect yourself from the actual one speaker who will take you to court and win even though they didn't perform well enough and didn't deserve their fee!

It's why we built iwantaspeaker.com

Four Critical Questions You Must Answer If You Want To Hire the Right Speaker

It can be quite Herculean to surf through the web to get the vital details you need in order to hire a Speaker. The dynamics of effective marketing, PR presentations and social media presence does not necessarily make an individual the ideal speaker at your event. The only way to ensure that you do not settle for mediocre performance at your event is to do your research. One of the ways to get the best results is to get honest answers for some of the questions that will be addressed below. In a sense, getting the right Speaker for your program is not complex if you know how to navigate the tides.

Four Questions you must answer;

1) Is the person someone who speaks for a fee at an occasion or is he a professional speaker?
This question may seem obvious to those who are trying to turn on the lights in their event planning career but it is deeper than you think. Both scenarios are ideal depending on the dynamics of your event. If you are low on budget but want to have a great speaker, you may not be able to handle the costs and logistics that go with a professional speaker. You can settle for someone who will strike the right chord in the heart of your audience without over-shooting your budget.

2) Does the Speaker adhere to a professional code of ethics?
It may be difficult to pin down a standalone speaker who manages his itinerary in this range. Most Speakers do not necessarily operate with rules because they do not belong to a professional body or association. This can prove to be a knotty issue if the speaker derails from the focus of your event when he is called to address the audience. It is Ok to stick with a Speaker if you have done your homework but it is better to run with a Speaker that adheres to a professional code of ethics.

3) How easy is the speaker to work with?
You do not want to have a ‘’great’’ Speaker who makes your event planning tedious. There are so many stories about speakers who make extreme demands that may scuttle the success of the event if it is not properly handled. You can stay clear from this dilemma by booking speakers from a certified platform. This gives you the opportunity to have good knowledge about the speaker and the things you should expect at your event.

4) What impact will this Speaker have on your attendees long after the presentation is over?
The essence of organizing an event is to bring value to everyone who attends the program. You may have the right concepts, designs and marketing prowess but it all comes down to the performance of the speaker. It is important to connect with someone who has the requisite knowledge, charisma and ability to deliver if you truly want to have a successful event.

The safe rule is that you can book speakers only when you have done a thorough research and you have a process in place detailing how you are going to work with the speakers.  Not all speakers will want to use your process which is great because you only want those who do and will suit your event.

iwantaspeaker.com is based on the same process as used by the professional bureaus to engage their speakers on behalf of their clients.  iwantaspeaker is opening this process to anyone who books and works with speakers, providing everyone a professional standard when working with paid speakers as well as Speakers on Pro Bono.  

The iwantaspeaker.com process ensures Speakers who have the right experience needed for the audience are quickly highlighted while those Speakers who do not have the experience required or are unwilling to be Reviewed afterwards.  Giving a perfect process for contracting and working together.