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Given the answers regarding payment, which are in line with what I already assumed to be the case, I'm wondering how many speakers make a sustainable living. M

Given the answers regarding payment, which are in line with what I already assumed to be the case, I'm wondering how many speakers make a sustainable living. Many of those I know are consultants or freelancers, i.e. there's no employer to cover the expenses and no revenue is generated while they're doing speaking gigs. While the marketing value of being a high-profile, sought-after speaker and expert certainly can't be underestimated, when speaking at a conference most of the time you aren't exactly speaking in front of your target audience in terms of marketing but in front of fellow designers, developers, you name it ... Giving a talk at an event certainly is a great personal experience and a tremendous personal growth opportunity. However, I can't help but wonder if for a self-employed consultant regularly doing speaking gigs really pays off business-wise. Perhaps someone with personal experience in that area could shed some light on that?

Lukasa 9y ago
I can't speak to consultants, but as an experienced conference speaker I can tell you that it vastly improves my employability. I cannot stress enough how much some modicum of "fame" in a community greases the wheels of employment. You don't need to be at the Guido van Rossum level of famous to get this benefit: just being known and respected by enough of the "right people" helps enormously. Software engineers often underestimate how much of our industry is built on "who respects you". If respected people trust you to know what you're talking about and to do good work, it makes it much easier to find good jobs and get well paid. (For those who hate public speaking, similar benefits accrue to those who write great blogs or notable, innovative OSS projects.)
ghaff 9y ago
Some consultants do speaking gigs as a way to increase visibility and gain clients. However, when I was an industry analyst, I rarely did speaking if I wasn't being paid for it. In general, we didn't find that travel and speaking "for the exposure" was a good use of time and money.

Lukasa 9y ago

I can't speak to consultants, but as an experienced conference speaker I can tell you that it vastly improves my employability. I cannot stress enough how much some modicum of "fame" in a community greases the wheels of employment. You don't need to be at the Guido van Rossum level of famous to get this benefit: just being known and respected by enough of the "right people" helps enormously. Software engineers often underestimate how much of our industry is built on "who respects you". If respected people trust you to know what you're talking about and to do good work, it makes it much easier to find good jobs and get well paid. (For those who hate public speaking, similar benefits accrue to those who write great blogs or notable, innovative OSS projects.)

ghaff 9y ago

Some consultants do speaking gigs as a way to increase visibility and gain clients. However, when I was an industry analyst, I rarely did speaking if I wasn't being paid for it. In general, we didn't find that travel and speaking "for the exposure" was a good use of time and money.