Many thanks to @VoiceofBarry for the title idea!

I had an interesting experience last week as a speaker for a group, and it reminded me of some of the more interesting gaffs organizations have pulled on me when they invited me to speak. For fun, I thought I’d put it in the format of what to do to ensure a speaker will never come back.

1. Take the food away

I was asked to do a lunch seminar, and I had been told there would be pizza. I like pizza!

But there was no time for me to eat before my presentation. Good thing I had grabbed a snack beforehand. Moments after I finished speaking, the left over pizza had been taken away.

Moral: Make sure someone saves food for the speaker.

2. Tell the speaker to arrive 15 minutes early and then leave her waiting in an empty room for 15 minutes

Yes, this happened to me.

Moral: One of the organizers should always be early to welcome the speaker.

3. Ask if the speaker has to pay

I was walking into a meeting and checking in. The greeter asked me to fork over $20, the meeting fee. I reminded her that I was the speaker. She yelled over her shoulder, “Does the speaker have to pay?”

Fortunately, for them, the answer that came back was “No.” I would have walked out otherwise.

Moral: When you invite someone to speak to your organization, it’s understood that the speaker gets in for free.

Anyone else have speaker horror stories to share?

Tags: Speaking

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 9:40 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.