I've worked at places like these that have exorbitantly paid speakers at events - I think 'status by association' is actually a reasonable answer. When your typ

I've worked at places like these that have exorbitantly paid speakers at events - I think 'status by association' is actually a reasonable answer. When your typical employee is making a few hundred thousand a year, and you throw company parties that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars - paying 50k-100k for a headline speaker is just part of it all. You have people planning these events trying to impress a group of hard-to-impress people ("Meh, the free lobster bar was better last year") - you would probably pay as much to get a super famous pop star to show up, and for these firms, bragging about Janet Yellen being at your party is probably worth a lot more than bragging about Lady Gaga being there.