My minimal requirements for speaking at your event

Hi! So you are interested in me speaking at your event! Great!

Before we continue in clarifying my availability and hammering out the details by email, let me tell you about some minimal requirements I have for speaking engagements:

1. Health guidelines: I’m a signatory of the Public Health Pledge and have thus pledged to only speak at or otherwise participate in in-person events that have guidelines in place tailored towards limiting the spread of transmittable diseases like COVID-19 among their visitors. You can find suggestions on how to go about that for your event on the page of the Public Health Pledge. I need you to explain to me what you are doing to reduce the risk of infection for your visitors and how you plan to enforce that. A link to your event’s guidelines is sufficient.

2. Code of Conduct: I will only attend your event if you have a Code of Conduct in place and are able to enforce it.

3. Speaker’s fee¹: I will require a speaker’s fee of the same amount as the cost of your regular business oriented ticket, with 100€ excl. taxes at a minimum.

4. Travel & accomodation¹: I expect to be reimbursed for travel and accommodation². Plan for me to have at least one overnight stay (arriving either the day before your event or leaving the day after) as I cannot travel back and forth in one day and still be at my top presentation game.

5. Complimentary ticket: I’ll expect to receive a complimentary ticket to your event.

6. Technical requirements: In case of in-person talks, I require a stage that allows me to connect my own presentation device via HDMI to a beamer or similar large presentation screen, at 1080p output. Please make sure I have space to move a bit and don’t have to stay glued to the laptop (I’ll bring a presentation remote myself). I expect a working wireless and ideally hands-free microphone so I don’t have to raise my voice to allow everyone to hear what I have to say.

   In case of virtual talks, I expect to be able to share my screen with your chosen conferencing tool during my presentation, to share my slides from my own device.

7. Deadlines: I need to receive your request to give a talk at your event at least three months before its first day, one month for virtual talks. The later you get in touch, the less likely it is that I’ll be able to make it.

   I expect to receive any information required to give my talk (which room, virtual or otherwise, exact time to be present before/after agreed upon talk time, any kind of other necessary things like login data, upload folders, tech requirements to give my talk, presentation formats, mandatory slide templates, etc) until four weeks before the talk appointment, two weeks for virtual talks.

   For virtual talks, if you use anything other than Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi, BigBlueButton, Discord or Streamyard, I require an introduction to and an appointment for a tech check of your platform until one week before the talk appointment.

   Failure to meet these deadlines (or alternative ones we’ve worked out and agreed upon beforehand) will result in me cancelling my talk, even on short notice. I understand that issues can arise when organising an event, and I’m happy to work with you to find a solution, but please also respect my time and allow me to prepare myself properly.

If all of these points are agreeable, I’m happy to continue the conversation about me speaking at your event. If not, then I’m sorry but please understand that speaking at your event will not be possible for me.

If you have any questions about these requirements vs your event, then please get in touch, I’m happy to clarify.