Information For Speakers

Many larger organisations prefer to work through bureaus, preferring the extra layer of protection and reliability that doing so gives them. If you are not available to book through a speakers agency, these engagements are simply not available to you.

Some corporations operate preferred supplier lists and will not do business with companies or individuals who don’t make the grade.

The process to be included on these lists is often difficult and laborious; requirements can include minimum levels of public and private liability insurance, turnover and financial details, quality assurance certification such as ISO 9001 and many others.

Many speakers cannot fulfil these requirements but, as an agency we can. When you work through us, we are able to put you forward for these types of engagements.

We do not charge speakers to register with us or to be on our roster.

You can register with us using the button in this section and completing the registration form that appears.

This will take approximately 15 minutes. If you don’t have time now, we recommend you bookmark this page and return later. 

Once you have completed your registration, we will review your details. Please note: we receive many registrations every week and it is not always possible to respond in full. We also cannot always respond to questions regarding your registration.

If we feel we can successfully represent you, one of our senior agents will contact you to arrange a phone call. The purpose for the call is to explore how we will work together.

If, at the end of that call, you and your agent agree to work together, your details will be stored on our speaker database. We currently maintain details on nearly 4,000 speakers worldwide. We often draw from this when selecting speakers for our client enquiries.

Your agent will also discuss adding your profile to our website. This is a great opportunity to get in front of our visitors. At the time of writing, we receive more than 77,000 unique visitors to our website each year. Many of these visit to find speakers to book for events. If you and your agent agree that this is appropriate, a member of our website team will get in touch with you to collect all the information required to do this.

Every day we receive requests via our website. Some organisations ask for specific speakers while others ask for our help in selecting the right speakers for their events.

In both cases, we confirm availability and fees and provide the client with detailed speaker biographies along with any other relevant details.

When we are asked to recommend speakers, our existing roster of registered speakers is our first port of call. If you are one of the speakers we recommend for an engagement, we will let you know and confirm that you are interested and available to speak. If the client wishes to proceed further, this may involve a pre-booking conference call.

Once we receive a firm invitation from the client for you to speak, we send our contract to the client. Once they have signed this to confirm the booking, we send you a separate contract between you or your company and Speakers Associates. This intermediary arrangement protects all parties and ensures that everything runs smoothly.

There are several models for handling speaking fees currently used by speaker bureaux.

Most commonly, we add our commission onto your fee, although we will discuss this with you prior to your first booking. Alternatively, some speakers prefer that agencies quote a standard fee for them and instead offer a percentage of that fee as commission. We are happy to comply with these arrangements as required.

Travel, accommodation and expenses are usually in addition to the speaking fees we quote clients, unless otherwise specified. You cover your own expenses and invoice us separately for these post-engagement.

Finally, in most cases, either you or the client will make the necessary arrangements for flights, accommodation and transport. If you wish us to handle this for you, we charge a small administration fee. Simply let your agent know and we will take care of it.

If your profile is already on our website and you want to send us an updated bio or make alterations to your profile, please send an email to updates@speakersassociates.com.

Your updates will be sent to our profiles team and your agent will be in touch to acknowledge receipt and to let you know when the changes have been made.

Many event planners like the benefits associated with hiring a speaker who works exclusively with one bureau. They know that the bureau has immediate access to the speaker and that enquiries and logistics are often dealt with swiftly.

They also know that the bureau’s agents are likely to have seen you in action and can give an honest appraisal of your capabilities and skills, or can suggest an alternative if you are not available.

Negotiating your own fees can be difficult. Many speakers who approach us for exclusivity are looking for help in this area.

We have more than 30 years of experience in the speaking industry and, over that time, have negotiated hundreds of successful speaker contracts. Often we are able to procure higher fees than our exclusive speakers could achieve on their own.

Additionally, we have become a trusted partner to many major organisations. They are happy to share their speaker budgets with us because they know and trust us to recommend the right speakers and obtain the best deal for all parties involved.

Cashflow is important to you. You want to be paid promptly and on time and yet many organisations that hire speakers have payment terms of 30 days or longer.

When we organise an engagement for you, your contract is with us and we pay you within 72 hours of satisfactorily completing that engagement.

We deal with all the legalities including your speaking contract for each engagement and the contract with the client. Not only does this protect you, it ensures consistency and that all parties are aware of their obligations and commitments.