Andrea's function as a speaker agent
(It's not only marketing
and promotion, but also
advocacy and negotiation)
For fun, answer our survey... Why Don't You Have a Speaker
Agent? This assumes you have
achieved a level of success and are receiving large
fees.
Clients of my promotion campaigns
find that once
we have achieved a good amount of visibility and
recognition for them, they begin to receive quite a few
invitations to speak. At first a client may try to accept
every one until they find they can't keep up the
pace.
At some point they decide they really want someone they
trust to assess the inquiries and the invitations for their
merit, but also to handle the discussions about fees and
contract terms.
Andrea Reynolds International launched an agency for
speakers in 1990. It arose out of Andrea's own need for an
agent to handle all the invitations she was receiving. All
she wanted was an agency to handle the contracts and take a
commission from her fees. She contacted talent agents,
speaker bureaus, Pr firms, ad agencies, etc. Nobody wanted
to speak on her behalf and take their cut!
She didn't need anyone to market her or generate the
invitations - her appearances on national television, radio
programs across the country, and coverage in the business
press brought her plenty of speaking invitations. Out of
sheer frustration, she created her agency Experts Who Speak
to firstly handle her own speaking engagements, and then
those contracts of other speakers she marketed through her
Marketing and Management firm, Andrea Reynolds
International.
Now she negotiates contract terms and fees
for:
1. Speakers who have been,
or are, clients of ARI,
2. Speakers who have
reached the point of success who need an agent to assess
the over-abundance of speaking opportunities and weed out
those which are inappropriate and arrange those which are
acceptable.
For resources on self-representation visit:
Contract Template, Contract Evaluation and: Contract Class