Speaking Policies
As you may have noticed, I will happily share information with anyone. I'd love to come to your conference, workshop series, or other event. But, since I have spent so much time and money on this over the last few years, I want to be clear what I do, under what conditions:
I will:
Make a presentation with you, for your audience and their skill level and interests. I will only talk about things I know I can confidently explain or have an opinion on.
Go to any location, at almost any time. Check with me first to make sure it fits my schedule, but in general I do everything first-come, first-served and do not mind travel at all.
Attend your whole event, assuming it is remotely something I can follow.
Be social. I'll answer questions, on stage or off, come to lunches or drinks, and be a top tweeter of other speakers at your event.
Participate however else you ask me. Need a spare person on a panel, to sign books or sit at a lunch table and incite conversation? Okay!
Give away stuff, maybe. I often have spare stuff, like books or software. Stuff I have enough of or don't need. If so, I tend to bring it along and give it away to attendees.
You will:
Make good-faith efforts to be inclusive. I like traveling and speaking, but am a run-of-the-mill, middle-aged, cisgender, heterosexual, white male who has done this a lot. I hope not everyone else looks like me.
Work with me on any arrangements, and to make sure the presentation or workshop appeals to your attendees, and meets their expectations.
Provide graphics as needed (your event logo, for example) to assure my customizations look professional and support your brand.
Provide suitable facilities and materials for workshops. It won't go as well without a good room, paper, Post-It notes, and markers. Plus I probably travel so can't bring them easily.
Assure there's a normal projector. VGA or HDMI, not a silly USB system so I can't attach other devices or see speaker notes.
Cover any travel expenses I incur to get to your event alone, including taxis and related expenses, lodging and a reasonable fee for meals outside the event. If I am already in town or it is otherwise local to me, I won't charge mileage for that. I mean when I have to fly there. You can book this yourself, or reimburse me. Fine with other hacks like having your interns pick me up from the airport.
Pay for my time. I spend a lot of time preparing, but I'll make it simple and give you a deal: pay for the time I am at your event, at my hourly rate. Three days, all day, is under USD5,000 so it's not that bad really. Exemption for some events, such as local meetups. But if you are a company or a large, for-profit event, you can afford it. I am happy to do several things such as a workshop on top of speaking, book signings, poster judging, or whatever else you come up with to help you get value for it.
Have a published code of conduct, and a demonstrated policy of actually abiding by and enforcing it, and of generally providing safe and responsible environments and events.
I don't have any demands aside from those listed. I have no fixed fees. I don't demand money to account for notional lost business, or anything.
Note: I only really speak English. If not all your attendees are fluent in it, tell me so I can deliver the deck early with extra words for translation, or just a full-text English-language guide (printed or online) so everyone can follow along a little better. But tell me in advance.
If you want me to come talk to or train your company, in such a way there should probably be an NDA, you should contact me to arrange this as a piece of paid work, and to make sure it addresses the specific needs of your organization.