About a month ago I received an email inviting me to speak at an upcoming CX conference. If you know me, you know that I used to do a lot of these. Between client work, military duty, and domestic obligations, it’s hard to find the time anymore. But this one happens to be occurring at a time when I’m available, so I set up a call with the organizers to discuss details.
It turns out I’m unlikely to appear at this conference because I was informed right away on the Zoom call that, for this “opportunity” to speak, all I’d have to do is sign up and pay the $2,000 registration fee (that attendees are obligated to pay), and book a room—at the group rate, at least—via their website. So basically, this invitation was for me to attend the conference. I was supposed to be incentivized with the prospect of…performing for them for free.
Now, a couple things up front here:
First, I’m not opposed to paying to attend a conference. Former employers of mine (as well as my own consultancy) have footed the bill for me to go to many such events, and the insights, networking, and connections are of great value. One can determine for himself if this particular event would be worth the cost, but even if it’s not, I understand the investment.
And secondly, I actually get a lot out of performing (I use that term on purpose, which I’ll get to in a minute) at these events. Of course, I love presenting and being in front of people, and I believe so deeply in the value and efficacy of my framework and approach to CX that I’m eager to share it with anybody. Plus—and I won’t pretend this isn’t the case—if I’m in front of 200 or so people, and 1% of them finds what I say interesting enough to want to potentially engage me in work, that’s possibly two new clients…It’s a good funnel-filler and I’ve actually had that work a few times. All said, $2k plus travel isn’t that much to invest for that kind of potential return.
Now, I’m not a Big-Shot Professional Speaker™ who can charge tens of thousands of dollars for a 45-minute talk. While I think I’ve got a compelling story to tell (several, in fact!), I don’t, for example, have “people” who arrange all that for me, and I don’t charge a premium for my “talent.” That’s not where I am, and I’m not trying to suggest anything like that. Speaking, as I mention above, is a good marketing thing for me, I do it well, and I get a kick out of it. So don’t take what I’m about to put here the wrong way.
But consider: They want me to provide content for their conference that they can then use to market their event to paying attendees. (I should say, other paying attendees.) Again, not to aggrandize my contribution, but when they put my head-shot on their website, that’s what they’re doing. Historically on occasions like this, I’d usually be put up in a complimentary room (surely not the presidential suite reserved for VIPs and keynote speakers, but rather part of the block the organizers have set aside for their own employees who are there doing the rest of the work of putting on the conference), and fed the usual mass meals they serve to everybody there. I don’t receive (nor ask for), say, travel reimbursement or compensation. And that always seemed fair by me.
This may seem like an awful lot of in-the-weeds negotiation details, but it’s typically very straightforward, and I am pulling back the curtain this way simply to make a point. Usually it’s a pretty fair you-scratch-my-back and vice-versa sort of situation: They get some compelling content that will put asses in seats, I get a chance to burnish my ‘thought leader’ credentials and even get up in front of some potential clients. As long as I show respect by not putting on the hard sell while I’m in the stage (it’s marketing for me, sure but I’m there to provide them with content…as opposed to the vendors with their booths handing out branded socks and thumb-drives…While they’re spending tens of thousands of dollars for a no-kidding marketing investment, I’m primarily being brought in as an actual expert in the field to share my perspectives with the audience, not to hook clients), it’s all very symbiotic. For that matter, I’ve been known in my day to host and moderate quite a few panels of fellow CX practitioners at conferences in the past…also a valuable service to conference organizers.
So yes, while it’s not booking Oprah!, there’s an equitable quid-pro-quo.
And in fact, it was Oprah that got me to thinking: She’d been a guest at a CX conference several years ago. Attendance was through the roof. I’m sure she was paid very handsomely…because people wanted to see her. The organizers of that conference considered paying her to appear and speak as an investment that their attendees would find valuable…valuable enough to invest their own money (i.e., pay the conference organizers) to attend. And who wouldn’t want to hear Oprah speak? So, that was a pretty smart CX move.
Now consider yourself as a potential attendee and two competing conferences as a hypothetical (we may call this “Walking In The Customers’ Shoes”): All else is equal about the two (cost, ability for you to make it, attractive location and venue, good food, etc. etc.); but at one, you know that every speaker is compensated to speak, and at the other, every speaker bought a spot on the stage. Which would you be more likely to attend? I’m not even going to get into the (potential) nature of each of the vendors in the latter situation feeling compelled to put on a commercial for their product or service because, after all, they paid to be there and it’s part of their marketing budget. I mean, did the organizers of the conference take you as the attendee into account when they filled their roster of speakers. On one hand, they deliberately considered, ‘What sort of investment should we make in securing the sort of valuable content our attendees would want to see?’; on the other, ‘Check it out, we can make money from attendees and from speakers.’
Obviously the CX lesson writes itself here. The irony is, we’re talking about conferences about CX!
So, I wonder: When you attend a conference, which would you rather see? Curated content they sought and (in some form or another…even if it’s just a matter of putting the speakers up in hotel rooms and inviting them to attend the other sessions) paid for? Or catch-as-catch-can volunteers from the audience a-la open-mic karaoke night because those who are throwing the event see it as a source of revenue from all sides?
And, to get meta about the whole thing, are these conference organizers considering their events from the perspective of their attendees (which is to say, their Customers)?
