Speaking at Conferences

Nah, mine neither, which is why it seemed strange from the outset when nothing was mentioned. Really good shout though, as that way they can do it all for me and I'm not chasing for payments at the end of the month and they come back stating the 60 day payment terms.

You want? You do it. I come. Sounds good.
 
I go to conferences probably four or five times per year on average - probably double that if you count EU project meetings. Usually I will speak, but occasionally I prefer to give a poster presentation (much more effective at very large conferences IMO - much better subject-driven discussions with interested parties).

When I present academic work for the University, the travel expenses are paid by the project budget (well technically I pay and then claim back afterwards with receipts). When I present work for my own company then I foot the bill myself.

In general, if you are specifically invited to attend a conference, especially if it's a last minute invite, then the conference coordinators should be paying. I'm guessing you're being invited as a keynote speaker of some sort?

Anyway - drop an email reply politely inquiring about travel expenses. Almost certainly the guy will reply with a procedure for claiming back travel expenses. If they reply saying that there are no travel expense payments available then politely decline to give the talk. Expecting you to pay the considerable travel expenses yourself is pretty much unheard of in this situation, so in the unlikely event that this is the case then they are taking you for a mug.
 
randomshenans said:
Just got this from them:

Regarding flights: Normally we don’t pay for travel costs, but given that you are helping us out on such short notice, we’re happy to make an exception and cover a reasonable airfare.

Ha, they don't normally? I did think they were quiet about it! Cheek. They can pay mine, swines.
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Okay, in this case I would politely decline.

If they approach you out of the blue and ask you to speak, then they should be paying for all your expenses: Flights, hotel, conference admission fees, food, and local transport. This is standard practice pretty much everywhere.

Unless you're working for yourself and are presenting self-promoting work, then it's unreasonable for them to expect you to foot the bill yourself. You're already offering your valuable time - it's entirely unreasonable that you should lose out financially in order to advance their agenda.

What kind of conference is it? To be honest, from what you have written above, it seems like very poorly organised.



d_brennen said:
Tell them you need the flights and hotel paid for by close of play today, you'll settle up misc. expenses after. "I know it's short notice but I don't usually do short notice presentations" and all ;)
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Claiming back afterwards is no problem IMO, and in my experience is generally "the done thing". But you need it in writing that they will cover all reasonable expenses for the trip. Frankly, anything less is them taking the mickey.
 
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depends on what kind of conference and what kind of speaker you are. if it's the keynote or you're a VIP then perhaps you might be covered, if not then in all likelihood you (or your business) will cover the cost. it's probably expected that the exposure and networking opportunities will be reward in itself.

our guys do a lot of these and in all cases I've ever seen we have to cover travel and expenses. you may get a free conference pass if it's part of a large event or something but in general you get nada. that said, we've run and organised our own conference type thing and we paid for the keynote speaker and offered to cover the travel of some of our customers who were presenting.

probably industry dependent though, we go to renewable energy (mainly wind) events and seminars and technically specialised engineering events.
 
nin9abadga said:
our guys do a lot of these and in all cases I've ever seen we have to cover travel and expenses.
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Absolutely - but the key difference is that in "usual" circumstances you will choose to attend a particular conference in order to promote work that you have prepared specifically for the conference, and network with people in the field etc.

In this case he has been invited to attend and give a talk at short notice. That's an entirely different kettle of fish.
 
I'm flying out Tuesday afternoon and networking Tuesday night, I'm the first slot Wednesday morning, back on a train to Copenhagen and fly back for Wednesday evening. I have it in writing what they'll cover, which is everything travel related. Only EasyJet flew to Copenhagen from bloody Basel mind. :(

Now, I should probably work out what I'm going to ramble on about for 45 minutes. Governance is my topic. So, here are 100 examples of how NOT to do governance! Ha


I DONE GOT A PROFILE

http://aarhus13.jboye.com/speaker/ross-jones/
 
Also defining the Mobile Strategy going forward from SharePoint 2010 to 2013, and translating heavily used InfoPath 2010 solutions into Access Services 2013 solutions.
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This needs rewording even more than some of the other words on that page.

Good luck with the conference and speech :)
 
Yea, bloody Danes and their words. I'll ping him and get him to make me sound even more amazing. i.e. make stuff up.

And thanks, I might use your style of wording to really captivate the audience!
 
Oh, and be careful what you say, (depending on who you represent) as people will take your words and use them all over the net, with or without your permission.
I have found my comments spread over the net after each presentation as a number of news outlets re-post stories in a continual drive to provide new content online.

Once it is out there, it will stay out there!!
 
I like to call everyone I work with neo nazi fascists.

Due to the nature of what the company I work for do and their drug development, I have to be pretty careful anyway. I'm supposed to have my presentations all vetted by Legal before I do anything.

I mainly fill slides with Google images and Dilbert cartoons.
 
Glad to see you got it sorted :) Hope you enjoy the conference (or at least that it's productive!).


CaptainRAVE said:
I love it - exotic locations, all expenses paid, 1st class travel and then the whole room listening to your every word (in theory) :D
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Who the bloody hell do you work for?! With the University, we are obliged to take the cheapest flight, so usually Easyjet or Ryanair. If we're lucky, then it could be Flybe.

Sometimes it's a ridiculously false economy though... On occasion I've been refused a flight from East Midlands or Birmingham, because there is one that's £10 cheaper from Heathrow or Stansted. Of course it costs a lot more than the extra £10 to get down to London, but apparently that isn't factored into their statistics. Not to mention the extra 6 hours you waste getting to and from London...
 
Duff-Man said:
Glad to see you got it sorted :) Hope you enjoy the conference (or at least that it's productive!).




Who the bloody hell do you work for?! With the University, we are obliged to take the cheapest flight, so usually Easyjet or Ryanair. If we're lucky, then it could be Flybe.

Sometimes it's a ridiculously false economy though... On occasion I've been refused a flight from East Midlands or Birmingham, because there is one that's £10 cheaper from Heathrow or Stansted. Of course it costs a lot more than the extra £10 to get down to London, but apparently that isn't factored into their statistics. Not to mention the extra 6 hours you waste getting to and from London...
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I was once told that the flight I picked was too cheap!

Admin eh
 
Judgeneo said:
I was once told that the flight I picked was too cheap!

Admin eh
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Ha! :D

Well, we got a nice shiny computerised booking system a couple of years back. So these days it's more a case of "Computer says no...".


At least when we were dealing with real people we could go and see them to argue the case for one flight over the other :(
 
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