Should I Charge for Speaking Engagements?

After all the discussion in the comments of the last post about money and ministry, I thought I’d better tackle the topic!

Here’s the issue in a nutshell:

if speaking is a ministry, should we charge for it?

People come down on both sides of this argument, and I don’t want to argue that one is necessarily right. What I do want to do is throw some thoughts out there and start a discussion, because my dream for this website is that it be used as a resource for those beginning to speak; not that I have the final word on everything!

So, in no particular order, I present some of my thoughts on the issue:

1. We must always be open to God’s guidance

Because God is at the center of everything we do, we have to rely on His guidance for our ministry. That means that there may be times that we don’t charge. Corrie ten Boom, for instance, felt very clearly called never to charge a cent. She survived just on what churches gave her, and lived a very modest life. Many great heroes of the faith did similar things.

We are a business, but we aren’t solely a business. At times, even if we do normally charge, we may choose to forego the money so that we simply speak for Him. If we’re never open to that, then we’re shutting the door on God. So money can never be the absolute deciding factor.

2. Many speakers rely on their income to meet their budget

At the same time, many of us who speak rely on that speaking income to live. We can’t do things for free, and Scripture says that “the worker deserves his wages”.

In addition, when I speak it takes a lot of time. I have hours of preparation and prayer, and usually I’m driving at least two hours one way. That’s most of a day gone, and often a whole weekend. That’s a day I’m not spending with my children. A day I’m not spending with my husband. A day I’m not volunteering at church.

If speakers were never to be paid, it is unlikely that people would continue to work as hard as many speakers do. They simply can’t afford that much time away from their families unless there is also some kind of a reward. Many speakers that I know, for instance, are the second income earners in their families. Their money funds the family vacation, or the trailer, or the family outings and dinners out. Their income builds their families.

3. Most ministries do charge

Very few ministries today are free. At the very least, they have to cover their costs. As a speaker, I have costs in maintaining a website; travel time; creating promotional materials; and maintaining a home office. But I also have the opportunity costs of the things that I could be doing with my time that I’m not doing. I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with transferring these costs onto the church that is asking you to speak.

4. If you don’t charge, you often aren’t as valued.

It’s sad, but true. People value what they pay for. They don’t value what is free. If the church has paid, they will expect that what you say will be meaningful, insightful, and practical. If they don’t pay, they also may not be spiritually preparing for the event to the same extent. I know this doesn’t sound like a fair assessment, but many ministries that I have been a part of find that they have better success in the long term offering paid events than free events. People take the paid events more seriously, and are more likely to try to remember the message and apply it. It’s not seen as entertainment as much as it is seen as something meaningful, relevant, and valuable.

The same thing happens on an organizational level. If a church has to put budget money towards an event, they are more likely to put prayer and effort into getting people out to the event. They want to make it as worthwhile as possible. If they didn’t sacrifice for it, it is, ironically, harder to get volunteers to staff it and to build enthusiasm for the event.

5. When established speakers charge, we actually make room for other speakers to gain experience.

That may sound counterintuitive, but let me explain what I mean.

I’ve found lately as my schedule has filled up that charging is one way that I can decide which engagements to take. Does this mean I always say no to engagements that don’t pay? Of course not. But we also have to think about it this way.

I am an established speaker. Churches will pay for me. On the other hand, some churches won’t pay for speakers who aren’t established. So let’s imagine that there’s a speaker out there whom we’ll call Susie Beginner. Susie is a gifted speaker, but she doesn’t have a lot of experience, and she doesn’t have many marketing materials.

Church A is looking for a speaker for a particular weekend. They have 90 women coming, and are willing to pay, and expect a good speaker. Church B has 25 women, and isn’t willing to pay. Let’s say that I take the engagement from Church B. Church A won’t hire Susie Beginner because they know little about her. So Church A hires someone from out of province or out of state, spending way more money than they wanted to. And Susie Beginner doesn’t get a chance to build up her own credentials and gain some much needed experience. If I took the engagement at Church A, on the other hand, and gave Church B Susie’s name, chances are they would hire Susie, and all would be well.

When established speakers don’t charge, I think we crowd out the field and don’t allow beginners to move up. That’s not always a good thing. As I said, there still are times when I don’t charge, but that really depends on nudging from God.

So what do you think? Should we speak for free? There are always going to be times when God is going to lead us in that direction. But is it wrong to ask for money? Absolutely not. We are providing a valuable service, that is also costing us money. That should be acknowledged and taken into consideration when we are hired.

Now, those are my thoughts. Please share yours, and don’t be afraid to disagree!

Speaker Bureaus: Yay or Nay?

Ann Dunagan asked a question in the comments about whether or not having a speaking bureau representing you is a good idea. She writes:

I have a specific question for you. Do you think it’s important, or beneficial, to have a speaker management service to secure a broader or wider range of future speaking engagements? Do you know if the majority of Christian speaker services operate on a commission basis, and do you think a speaker management service could help to “get the word out” regarding a particular speaker to a broader audience?

So let’s deal with this piece by piece. First:

Do you think it’s important, or beneficial, to have a speaker management service to secure a broader or wider range of future speaking engagements?

Just because a speaker bureau represents you doesn’t mean it will actually get YOU engagements. Chances are they represent many speakers, and there are some that they will tout more than others simply because of personal relationships, or because they already know this speaker is good and delivers a quality program.

In addition, the biggest speaker bureaus won’t take you on unless you already have some established credibility. They don’t like being thought of a “training grounds”. They’re there to connect the best speakers with the right audiences. So it’s unlikely that a bureau will take you until you’ve already achieved professional status.

Some bureaus, though, are organized by speaker trainers to begin with. CLASS, Carol Kent, and Proverbs 31 Ministries come to mind here. You go through their training, and they select those candidates that they think showed the most professionalism and giftedness to represent. This may not be a bad route to go, because you can often develop a personal relationship with the bureau since you attend their training anyway.

Remember, though, that most speakers (myself included) get along without a bureau just fine. Agencies can lend credibility and bump you up to the next fee level, but you also have to prove yourself worthy of these engagements before they’ll book you for them. It’s sort of a chicken and egg conundrum.

In short, if you want to try it, look carefully at what they offer and what the terms are. Talk to other people who are represented by them. And then by all means, send a demo tape. But do I think it’s necessary? Absolutely not.

Next part of the question: Do you know if the majority of Christian speaker services operate on a commission basis?

Yep. They sure do. I think the industry standard is about 15%, but it could be higher than that. You also need to be very sure about competition clauses, because some bureaus refuse you the right to book yourself. If you sign on with them, they have to do all bookings. So if you get a request that comes through you personally, you are obligated under contract to put it through them, and give them the commission.

Last part: Do you think a speaker management service could help to “get the word out” regarding a particular speaker to a broader audience?

Not really. I think a speaker management service can get the word out to those who come to their site already. But they don’t tend to advertise for particular speakers.

On the other hand, it is not really hard to market yourself, especially on the internet. Start a blog on women’s ministries, with lots of tips, and women’s ministry leaders will come to your site. Start an ezine and start collecting names of women’s ministry leaders. Participate in blogs and forums about women’s ministry. Twitter. Join Facebook groups about women’s ministry. The possibilities are endless.

I get about 25 new email addresses added to my lists everyday from the internet marketing I do, and that’s something I’ve only really started in the last few weeks. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s already been growing exponentially. And if you think about it, that’s 750 new email addresses a month. That’s a lot of people I can send quality information to, who then keep hearing my name and are reminded about me.

Can a speaker’s bureau replicate that? I don’t think so.

The other thing to realize is that speaker’s bureaus are very good at getting national engagements. Few are regional, though you may be able to search for regional speakers. But it’s very likely that if you go through a bureau, and you’re successful (which is no guarantee), you will spend your life on planes. I’m not really willing to do that yet, since my children are still at home. I prefer to speak within a five hour drive of home. But that’s okay, because there’s millions of people in that radius, and lots of possible venues. It is easier for me to market myself deeply in this region than it is for a national speakers’ bureau to do this.

If you want a national audience, it may be the way to go. If you want to build your name regionally first, you’re probably better going alone.

I hope that helps! What do the rest of you think? Are any of you with a speakers’ bureau?

Transparency = Authenticity

In one of my recent posts, I talked about how being transparent and vulnerable–without glorifying sin–gives you instant credibility with audience members and makes your message more accessible and believable.

If the Christian church routinely practiced transparency and vulnerability, I think we would be much healthier. If we admitted where we struggle, and where we have fallen, people would see that the glory goes to God.

The problem is that if you admit you struggle, people immediately begin to judge you. And, like most things in Christianity, there is a healthy balance. Someone who is struggling too much should not be ministering; they should be working things through with God. There is a time and season for everything.

Nevertheless, I think the message that we often give is that you have to have it all together to minister. Which means that nobody can ever minister, because no one has it all together!

If you haven’t read that post, I encourage you to do so now. In the meantime, here’s an email I received in response to it. Instead of writing in the comments she sent it to me, but said that I could post it here:

How right you are Sheila ,when you say that making yourself vulnerable makes us believable and “expert.” I found that out when my first husband and I presented at Marriage Encounter. It was that experience that moved me to share honestly about the death of a spouse and the grief journey. So many who lost spouses and heard me speak come to thank me with something like, “I could never do it, but I am so glad that someone has the courage to say what it really is like.”

In my opportunities to speak about those topics and about using the difficulties in life as a means of growth, I am always amazed at the rapt attention of the audience when I share honestly from my own struggles. There are always some waiting to talk with me and share some of their own after such meetings. I am both humbled and gratified to be used in such cases. Death isn’t a favourite topic, so I think it limits my speaking engagements on the very topic that people most need to have more understanding. (Well maybe the most from someone who has experienced such comments after the death of a husband of forty years, like “I know just how you feel. I lost my cat last week and we’ve had her for 13 years! —or six weeks after his death “Why do you always look so angry?” or “It’s time now to leave it behind and get on with life!”)

I’m maybe running off in the mouth (or the key board) but you struck a key with me and I just wanted to say “Amen, sister!”

Ruth Smith Meyer

I’m going to answer some specific questions in upcoming posts, including one on how I started, and one on speaking bureaus. So come back soon! And if you want to be kept informed when I have more resources available, or when a particularly good post is up, just sign up here!

Keeping in Touch

I have so appreciated all the comments on Twitter and Facebook and through email from all of you who are reading this blog! I want to keep you updated on what I have planned.

First, a few of you have asked for my complete story on how I started speaking originally. Never fear; that’s coming! It will be my next post.

Next, I’m planning a number of things that I hope to launch soon. The first is a 6-week e-course that will help get your speaking ministry launched. You’ll get information on how to get bookings, market yourself, and craft talks.

I’m also looking at making some more in-depth resources on how to build your speaking ministry, how to create products to sell, and how to increase back of room sales.

If you want to get in on some of these things, would you sign up? I’m going to do a survey soon on what people really want to know, and I want to be able to keep you updated when these things launch. I KNOW they will help you. I’m going to make quality materials that will help you grow your ministry and expand your reach.

All you have to do is go here and enter your email! Thanks so much, and I’ll contact you soon!

How Do I Build Expert Status?

In order to be invited to speak, people generally need two things:

1. They need to be perceived as an expert
2. They need to be perceived as someone who can speak

We’ve talked a little bit about the second one in some previous posts. Now let’s talk about how to be perceived as an expert!

You may not feel like an expert. But you are an expert in something! You’re an expert in yourself, for instance, and what God has done in your life. That is something real, vital, and alive, and no one else can tell that story or claim that.

You’re probably an expert in some of the struggles you’ve had, whether they be with parenting, or marriage, or depression, or grief. I talk a lot about grief because of my son who died. As soon as you’ve had an experience like that, you automatically are given legitimacy. Another friend of mine, Joane Goodwin, has based her speaking career on her struggle with depression. She’s part comedienne, and her presentations are lively and encouraging. I know others who have built their speaking career on divorce. They’ve been divorced, and they then turned around and helped counsel others. From that grew their own expertise, even if it’s not something they would ever have chosen.

It’s hard to talk about the really difficult things in our lives, but often this is where God uses us most. Do you remember 2 Corinthians 1:4, which says:

“who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

God designed it so that when we go through suffering, we turn around and share that with others as encouragement. It’s not easy. It’s difficult to talk about the things that have hurt us most, especially if those things involved mistakes we ourselves made. But it’s important, as I’m going to go on to share.

Another reason to share these deep things is that I believe it’s part of the fulfillment of Romans 8:28:

For he makes all things come together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

God wants to turn even your deepest mistakes and your deepest struggles into something good, and I believe that the way this is done is by sharing them with others in a way that glorifies God, rather than glorifying sin.

The neat thing is that honesty and transparency=credibility. When you get up to speak, and you are honest and vulnerable about what you’ve been through, the audience begins to trust you, and are ready to here what you have to say.

On the other hand, if you stand up there and start to share the five secrets to building a great family, or three ways to be a good friend, the audience’s first thought is, “who are they to tell me what to do? How do they really know this will work?”. That’s when you really need to be acknowledged as an expert. Anyone will listen to Billy Graham tell them what to do, or Rick Warren, or Liz Curtis Higgs. They’re big names. They’re unlikely to listen to you, though, unless people already know who you are.

There’s nothing wrong, of course, with building expertise the normal way: writing books and articles, and becoming known in your sphere. This is a good thing, and I have done this. But I still feel that to be an effective speaker with the goal to see lives transformed, vulnerability and openness is actually more important than published credentials. Both help; but one is indispensable. And that one is the openness to share what God has brought you through.

It all comes back to the point of speaking as a Christian ministry. We speak so that God can transform lives using our words. We are the vehicle that He uses. And to do that, we need to be real and we need to make a connection. When all you do is share information on how to parent best, or how to be a good friend, you impart knowledge. But when you share your struggles, and your failings, people relate to you. They know you’re real. And they are touched.

My husband and I speak at marriage conferences (you can see a clip of us here and here), and we share a lot of information that will help couples build communication and intimacy. But we know that the times that we are most effective, and the times that we get through to even the most difficult person, is when we share the huge mistakes we made in our first years of marriage. Keith still chokes up when he tells the story. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s good, because it shows we’re not up there to glorify ourselves. We’re not up there to say that we have it all together. We’re up there because we have walked where they walked, and God has rescued us, and we want to show them that path.

You need to be an expert to have an audience, no doubt. And we do need to build credentials. But the main expertise we have is in what God has already done in our lives. When we share that openly and honestly, people are touched. When we shy away from admitting any mistakes we made, and just try to show people how they can be amazing Christians, often our talks fall flat. People need to relate to you. They need to know that you understand them. If you are honest when you talk, they will feel it, and they will be more willing to hear what you have to say.

And honesty and openness automatically makes you an expert! So start sharing your real story. Start being vulnerable, in an appropriate way. And see what God does!