Looking for help massaging your meeting budget to include a featured keynote speaker? Or trying to determine if you need a speaker at all? Check out Robert Farmer’s article, “Talk Ain’t Cheap (But It Doesn’t Have to Bust the Budget),” in the June 2009 issue of MPI’s One+ magazine, available online here.

The article includes insights from The Speakers Group’s own Shawn Ellis as well as from Sam Silverstein, president of the National Speakers Association, and from Marc Reede of Nationwide Speakers. Highlights include:

• Negotiate Value Not Price
• Reasonable Offers Accepted
• Keynotes Still Key

Farmer writes, “Most planners agree that a dazzling keynote address is still one of the best ways to motivate attendees. Even as budgets are cut, it remains important not to shuffle the speaker out of the mix entirely. This is part of the overriding issue of the value of meetings in general.”

How do speakers respond?

“…speakers are answering by delivering more value rather than lowering fees,” Silverstein said. “So planners may not be directly negotiating fees, but they are negotiating budget. …we are trying to work together to build a bigger pie.”

Click here to read the full article on MPI’s web site.