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As one who has spoken at many conferences, often there is a two-tiered
approach to speakers. The headliners, like Hackos, Horton, or others, who
put butts in the seats, get paid. Others usually don't. Sometimes, people
are asked to attend the conference and are given the "privilege" of speaking
if they submit a good topic, but still have to pay the conference fee.
I think this approach is grossly unfair if the person is recruited as a
speaker and only told about the conference fee charge after being placed on
the program. However, if everyone is upfront about it, this approach
provides an opportunity for new people to get into the speaker business.
Conferences that use this approach are usually less fussy about credentials
if the idea and materials look good. Conference attendees are virtually
never warned that some people have "paid" to speak. Other times, in some
small conferences, almost everyone is speaking, so the whole thing amounts
to an information transfer session in which everyone pays for the conference
infrastructure.
I've seen some business come from conferences, but it usually requires
active follow-up to get it. I don't believe conferences are the most
efficient use of marketing money for a writer, but they may help build a
name for the person. Also, if one has a book, they certainly help book
sales.
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