I agree it can take a long time to prepare a keynote worthy talk. However, it certainly can be lucrative, take a look at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl

I agree it can take a long time to prepare a keynote worthy talk. However, it certainly can be lucrative, take a look at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167682/Blair-worlds-best-paid-speaker-pocketing-364-000-just-hours-work.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1167682/Blair-worlds... (apologies for linking a Daily Hate article). Note that a lot of keynote speakers will be asked to talk because of something they've done (e.g. NASA astronauts) and will be able to reuse at the same talk multiple times (or at least part of it). Having said all that, I never meant to imply it was unfair that keynote speakers are paid or that they shouldn't be.