Meeting industry media is abuzz on two things: the economy’s impact on events and how folks can keep their jobs. Watch for a glut of what I’m calling false positives. Here’s how it works: job fearing meeting planners make themselves indispensable by cutting costs of meetings. How do they do that? By talking you into reducing or waiving your speaking fee. And how do they talk you into reducing and waiving your speaking fee? With flattery. By telling you all those great things about your speaking, how much they would like to work with you, etc., these buyers (who answer to the “real” buyers) let you believe that doing them this favor will create a “relationship” with them in the future.

Tread carefully here. There are niches that it’s worth foregoing your fee for. The problem: niches in this economy are a moving target, and every group thinks exposure to them is profitable. If you can hammer out a plan of ongoing exposure (via the website, any publications, etc.), then it might be worth reducing your fee. If the group is a false positive, I would politely decline. This is the time to target, not be everywhere someone else wants you to be. I’m going to be discussing niches in depth during the upcoming Here’s the Deal call on Recession-Proof niches on March 10th. Click here for details and to register.