Yep, buyers are still in cost-cutting mode and industry media is too happy to help. Last month’s article in Meetings and Conventions magazine was a fount of ideas to trim the budget.
Ideas to lower speaker costs: go to universities (yep, our tax dollars at work) and to “scour the D-list.” This is a riskier move than most of them realize. My prediction: these suggestions will come back to bite many planners in 2010. It will only take one less-than-stellar keynote to make these folks scramble for higher ground. And you better believe they won’t blame the budget. These poor speakers will get slammed all over the place.
How newbies can dodge this bullet: don’t be afraid to walk away from an opportunity too good to be true. And the rest of us need to get tough with our network. If anyone asks for a “professional discount” get something in return. It’s only fair.
Tags: Marketing, Speaking, strategy, Vickie Sullivan