The speaking world is full of forms and contracts; The two most important are the contract that you will fax to the meeting organizer who agreed to hire you and the pre-program questionnaire that you will send to the organizer before the event.
Your credibility is at stake with each of these documents; they must be highly professional.
Here is a sample reservation contract:
Reservation contract
____________________________________________ (ABC
Corporation) has agreed to hire ________________ (Ms. Spokesperson)
to speak at the convention held at ______________ (time)
_____________________________ (location) at
_______________ (dated.
Deposit and Cancellation Policy:
o A 50% advance is required with the return of the signed agreement.
o In case of cancellation of the program, Ms. Speaker will rebook the program on
a mutually convenient date without penalty. Due to the possible loss of income of the speaker, the cancellation of this date with less than 30 days before the event carries a penalty for not being refundable the deposit.
Travel and accommodation:
o All rates are as quoted, plus travel expenses. Ms. Speaker will reserve the entire airfare and expenses will be billed after the program has been completed. Airfare is always prorated when the itinerary involves multiple customers.
o The speaker’s accommodation, meals and ground transportation will be billed directly to their organization.
Support materials:
o Please note that the speaker’s materials, written, oral or visual, are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced without the written consent of the speaker.
o Participant brochures are billed separately.
Audio / Visual
o You cannot make any recording, audio or visual, without the
prior written permission of the speaker.
o The speaker reserves the right to make books available
and A / V materials for sale or display to participants with customer approval.
While it is standard practice for the client to cover travel and accommodation expenses, some speakers charge a flat fee to cover travel expenses. It cuts down on paperwork and is something the client can budget for ahead of time.
I recommend having a flat rate policy as it means that payment of expenses will be included in the final check you receive on the day of your speaking engagement.
Another benefit of having a flat rate policy means there is no
unpleasant surprises for the customer long after the event ends and you receive
a huge bill for expenses.
Regardless of how you decide to manage expenses, it is important to inform clients up front and be consistent with each client.
Once hired, you must send the client a pre-program questionnaire to help them personalize their speech to the needs of this particular group. This questionnaire should cover aspects such as confirming the time, date and place of your speech, the program agenda, if there are other speakers before or after your speech, the theme of the conference, the expected number of attendees and any other information to help you do so. better stage work.
Professional contracts will make your job a lot easier and give you a very professional look, which of course it is!
