If you’ve ever thought of speaking at a tech conference, you must be asking yourself, Do the tech conference speakers get paid? If yes, how much? If no, why not?”
The answer is “No.” While a few big name conferences may pay speakers, most of the tech conference speakers do not get paid. Some conferences cover travel and lodging costs, some cover one or the other, and some don’t cover anything at all.
Background
A conference has several components, and the most important components of a conference are the attendees, speakers, organizer(s), and the sponsors. Fortunately, I have been a part of conferences in the past as most of these components. I was a conference attendee. I was a conference speaker, and now I am a conference organizer (C# Corner).
Several years ago, I was invited to speak at one of the most popular tech conferences. But the condition was, I had to take few days off from my consulting work, I had to pay my own airfare, and I also had to take care of my own lodging and food. Of course, I declined. It’s not that I did not want to speak, it was simply that I could not afford to take off of work and also pay all those expenses.
But I always had this question: “Why would a speaker go, leave his or her family, take days off work, and not get paid?”
Today, one of my close friends and C# Corner MVP, author, and Microsoft MVP, Amit Chaudhary, asked the same question.
I this article, I will try my best to answer the same question: “Why do the tech conference speakers not get paid?”
C# Corner Conference
We’ve been doing the C# Corner tech conference (
http://conference.c-sharpcorner.com/) for the past five years. This year, the C# Corner Annual Conference 2016 will be held on March 18, 2016.
So why pay this year?
The C# Corner annual conference is FREE of cost for C# Corner MVPs, key members, partners, and speakers.
OK, here is an example of our last conference. Some numbers may not be exact but they are very close.
For our tech conference, each attendee costs us about Rs.1800 (US$30), mostly for snacks, tea/coffee, and lunch/dinners. In the past, we had up to 1500 confirmations. That means we had to pay a venue for 1500 people in advance. But 30 percent of the people did not show up. Not only did it cost us extra money for the people who did not attend the event, but we also had to organize bigger halls, and pay more. Eventually, the event cost us 1500 X $30 = $45,000. Now that is a big amount for a community website that is not profitable.
Besides this, we had some travel and lodging costs for MVPs, speakers, and core members. For example, we covered two nights of hotel fees for shared rooms. Each room can cost up to Rs.6000 ($100) including taxes per night.
- Conference day: $45,000
- 50 MVPs (25 rooms) + 10 speakers (10 rooms) = 35 rooms x $100 per night = $3,500.
- Travel costs = $5,000.
- Food and other costs = $2,000
- Cost of print media - Brochure, cards, boards, banners
- Cost of website development
- Cost of marketing, promotions, social media
- Cost of event material - stage, audio, projector, DJ, and other people helping
Total cost = $45,000 + $3,500 + $5,000 + $2,000 + $$$ = $55,500 + $$$
In the above cost, I’ve not included my personal travel costs and time, I took off of the work. I’ve also not included all the costs to our guys who have worked on the event for months.
By having a paid ticket, not only it will reduce some of the costs, but it will also ensure that most of the people who have paid for the event will show up.
What about sponsors?
Sponsors are a big help for any conference. While the total expenses of the conference were close to $55.5k, we had about $18k sponsorship. You get the idea.
How much do speakers get paid?
We don’t pay our speakers. For the majority of speakers who are very popular, we will take care of their travel, lodging, and food expenses.
Why don’t speakers get paid?
As you can see from the previous math, a conference doesn’t make money unless it’s a really popular conference like Microsoft Build that charges its attendees $2,500 - $3,500. Even those conferences are not very profitable when you calculate all the costs involved in hosting a conference.
Then why do we do the C# Corner conference?
Now, the obvious question you may ask is, if C# Corner conference doesn’t make any money, then why the heck do we do it?
Well, we do it for the community love. We do it to appreciate C# Corner MVPs, authors, and contributors. Not only does it help them to meet the team but also to build and grow their network. Several C# Corner MVPs met and got H1B visa opportunities in the US, some got networking opportunities with companies, and some got benefits in their careers and jobs.
We also announce our future plans for the community and get MVPs’ feedback on these plans.
What do speakers get out of it?
So, if speakers don’t get paid, and even spend their own personal money to speak at a conference, then why do they speak? Speaking at a tech conference has several benefits, and each speaker evaluates their benefits in their own ways:
- A stage to showcase and build your name
- Great PR opportunity that may bring in some businesses
- Networking and business opportunities
- Branding and promotions
- Recognitions and awards
- Meeting people who you will never meet otherwise
- Giving back to the community
Pamela Fox writes on
getting benefits from conference speaking, including: It gives me a moment to step back and reflect, it gives me a new way to share knowledge I’ve accumulated, it gives me a way to learn new knowledge from many developers at once, and it gives me an opportunity to meet the amazing developers of the tools I use.
As an attendee:
I have benefited a lot just by attending conferences. I have met so many authors, trainers, and speakers. I met Bill Gates at one of the conferences. I have become friends with some of the people I have met at conferences. I have done business with some of them, and I’m still doing so. So the sky's the limit.
We bring speakers to the conference that you may never get a chance to meet otherwise. For example, you will see Glen Block, Jason Beres, DJ, and many other speakers that you may never meet otherwise. They don't go to India often. Even I visit India a couple of times, and the conference is the only time when I am available to meet in person.
References:
Share your thoughts by posting a comment below
Jochen BartlauPosted Apr 20, 2022, 10:00 AM
Thanks for the insights, Mahesh!
Upendra Pratap ShahiPosted Jan 24, 2020, 7:00 PM
Nice one information and explained properly
Dipa MehtaPosted Jan 23, 2020, 7:30 PM
I am glad to be part of C-Sharp Corner. It would be better to realize this spirit by attaining the conference.
Ashutosh GuptaPosted Jan 23, 2020, 6:46 PM
Well said Mahesh, i personally believes that there are two types of speaker one who has developed their carrier in mentoring/teaching and Speaking on multiple forums, they may look for pay but another hand people like us who already has one earning resource does not need to be paid for speaking on such forums. C# corner is a forum where people shares their knowledge by either writing or speaking which comes by experience and each forum opens many opportunities and learning/networking etc etc as you mentioned.
Amit Kumar SinghPosted Aug 13, 2019, 7:13 AM
Nice one .... Informative Article
Tushar SharmaPosted Mar 14, 2018, 3:52 PM
Very Nicely Described. Even after all this the dedication of our speakers towards the community has always been an inspiration to me. I also want to be the part of this spirit.
Satyaprakash SamantarayPosted Feb 20, 2018, 12:00 PM
Very nice description..........
Sagar Pandurang KapPosted Feb 18, 2018, 11:10 PM
Efforts appreciated of who make the conference..
Kasam ShaikhPosted Feb 18, 2018, 4:05 AM
Fantastic detailed! Respect for all who put-in efforts to make conference a huge success. One of my best move to get associate with C# Corner..it really help me grow... MVP, Speaker..and many more to go...
Dr Naveen SharmaPosted Dec 18, 2017, 9:37 AM
Gave great insights to my peers, who always thought that I get the huge sum of money for my delivering sessions after intense research work and spending days on my final presentation.
Manav PandyaPosted Nov 11, 2016, 12:12 PM
As a starter member , all the information given above is fact that we should accept , but i dont mind to not getting paid after become "MVP" or speaker etc , even im eagerly waiting to become MVP and wanna meet such a Dominant persons out there , C#corner given me a lot of help to build my self ready so i am ready for any upcoming conference or ventures
Ahmed KhateebPosted Nov 10, 2016, 8:17 AM
And some people don't know the worth of such conferences, they just don't bother if it's paid.
Hussain PatelPosted Nov 2, 2016, 10:13 AM
Nicely said - there are more benefits for a speaker and the community than monetary benefits.. one day I would speak at conferences..
Satish Kumar VadlavalliPosted Nov 2, 2016, 8:00 AM
Nice explanation as always
Ketak BhalsingPosted May 18, 2016, 8:23 AM
Surely will try and attend one conf...
Bhuvanesh MohankumarPosted May 18, 2016, 4:08 AM
Well said
Ano MepaniPosted May 18, 2016, 1:56 AM
C# Community gives a indirect opportunity to author, speaker to make their own space by contributing to their knowledge as well as provide a lots of common as well as complex issue while developing some thing in different application stack, which covers most of programming language. I am very grateful for this community and Mahesh Chand sir for giving opportunity To grow my knowledge.
Krishna Rajput SinghPosted Feb 19, 2016, 8:03 AM
awesome Mahesh Chand sir really very inspiration for me because i want be good speaker coming soon....
Vivek KumarPosted Feb 9, 2016, 1:06 PM
Nice explanation :)
Prakash TripathiPosted Feb 4, 2016, 1:06 AM
Look forward to meet you in person in coming conference and yes with selfie :)
Prakash TripathiPosted Feb 4, 2016, 1:01 AM
Thanks a lot Mahesh for nice explanation as always. It cleared some of my doubts as well.
Pramod ThakurPosted Feb 3, 2016, 11:21 AM
nice explanation
Saineshwar BageriPosted Jan 30, 2016, 8:32 AM
Good Answer to question we love C# Corner Conf
Upendra Pratap ShahiPosted Jan 27, 2016, 8:05 AM
This provide a better platform to meet geeks and expose your knowledge as well as experience and they pay honor to geek with certificate and prizes.
Ankit BansalPosted Jan 27, 2016, 6:22 AM
Very transparently explained...Thanks for this Mahesh Sir...And I wanna tell you that C# Corner is the only community who inspired me to work as a Software Developer. This was the first Payment to me from C# Corner. Also, I started blogging after Joining Dhananjay Sir's Delhi Chapter on AngularJS in Feb 2015. This was the Second Payment and the third payment was of Selected as C# Corner MVP. So, you always pay, not money but a lot more than that...Thanks to C# Corner...Cheers to All..Thanks once again..
Destin JoyPosted Jan 26, 2016, 10:55 PM
Good Mahesh:)
Pankaj Kumar ChoudharyPosted Jan 26, 2016, 7:39 PM
Who Said that C#-Corner doesn't paid. It Paid me every Month and Every Day. It Paid me in form of respect,New friends and Some time in form of a Job.Last Time i Gave an Interview ,Three person was selected for Final round(I also one of them). I think all of three have same level of knowledge, But i got the more priority , because they found that i am also work as a blooger , write article and also selected as C#-Corner MVP. This was plus point for Me. So never say that C#-Corner don't paid. It paid but in different form that is more than Money.........
Chervine BhiwooPosted Jan 26, 2016, 11:19 AM
Well Said! I also takes several day off to speak in local conferences. The gain in learning and networking is amazing! + Its fun!!
Hemant MahajanPosted Jan 26, 2016, 10:11 AM
sad but true. Straight from your heart!
Francis SusaimichaelPosted Jan 26, 2016, 5:13 AM
Solved many of my questions! Thanks Mahesh :)
Humayun Kabir MamunPosted Jan 25, 2016, 10:43 PM
Nice explanation...
Hussain KhawajaPosted Jan 25, 2016, 5:22 PM
Interesting.
Mithun PattankarPosted Jan 25, 2016, 1:12 PM
To answer a question we don't paid, to write article we don't paid, to submit a blog we don't paid then why we need to get PAID for speaking. In fact all of us have created our BRAND name out of C# Corner then attending conference with minimum expense should be THANKSGIVING to C# Corner
RameesPosted Jan 25, 2016, 8:19 AM
Well said.
Mohammed IbrahimPosted Jan 25, 2016, 4:40 AM
nice
Afzaal Ahmad ZeeshanPosted Jan 25, 2016, 1:49 AM
What I feel about it is that, asking a non-profit community to give you some profit is a very stupid idea (sorry, if it sounds rude!). But, in my 1 year (just a few days more than a year), I was paid by C# Corner in matter of respect, love and membership. What I find interesting in sharing my content here is that I get a lot of support from this community and most of the time many questions are asked which lead me to a new chapter. I have never been a speaker, ever, maybe I'm just so young for that, but if I ever had to speak for this community, I'd do it for free, because I will be paid with enough respect and I understand the board members are not just trying to ask us to make our own arrangements, they just don't have another option... And if someone doesn't feel it right, if they cannot manage it, it is "better" to just say no. :-)