

Ask HN: How much should I charge for a talk? - teach

I'm a teacher at a public high school.  About five years ago, I wrote a lecture for my students that has ended up becoming quite popular.  That lecture has grown into five related lectures, and I've given invited talks to fellow teachers and at my alma mater university 10 miles away.<p>Just a couple of weeks ago, I gave an impromptu shortened version of the talk at a national professional conference, and my colleagues voted it best in show.<p>Anyway, I've never charged for the talk before, but I've just been invited to give a version of the talk at a small private university about 1,100 miles from home.<p>I've never done anything like this before, so I'd love any suggestions or advice.
======
mgkimsal
ask them to cover your travel costs at the very least (flight/car/hotel/food).
ask them afterwards what they might have paid, or what they might typically
pay for a speaker on this subject or of your (limited) fame. Given that you've
not done it before, and you've done it for free, you must like the talk/topic,
so ease in to this with travel costs covered. They may see fit to give you a
small honorarium of a few hundred dollars on top of that.

------
briandoll
I recently read Scott Burkund's "Confessions of a Public Speaker", which was
awesome. In it, he details much of the finances and logistics of being on the
speaking circuit.

Some interesting points that are related to your question:

The elite speakers (current and former presidents (our penultimate president
hopefully excluded), CEOs, popular authors, etc. have a set speaking fee. The
range is wide, but can be anywhere from 10k to many hundreds of thousands per
engagement.

Everybody else gets paid whatever the event has budgeted. You and your talk
don't get to have a fee. An event has a budget and they may offer you
something better than the next spot, but at the end of the day, they decide.

Lots of speakers are presenting at places that are barely paying for travel
and accommodations, in hopes of attracting more influential and higher-paying
gigs.

So, your talk sounds great, and has a specific target audience. I'd seek out
the best conferences for that audience and try to get in. Once you're there,
you'll see what the pay day looks like, but probably not until then.

------
imp
How much value would you get out of speaking if it were free (assuming they
pay for travel)? If you told them a price and they said no, would you be okay
walking away from the opportunity?

------
teach
I left out a lot of details so this post doesn't turn into veiled self-
promotion, but I'll happily answer if any of you need more information.

------
Oxryly
Identify that maximum amount you'd be comfortable charging, then add 15%.

