Speaker agreement, Cadence Summit and Dr Ingrid Solveig
Speaker agreement template covering the fee, travel and the recording
Most speaker agreements fall over on two things nobody wrote down: who books the flight, and what happens to the video afterwards. This three page example answers both, with a table that names the payer for every travel line and a clause that lets the organiser keep clips of up to 90 seconds while copyright in the talk stays with the speaker.
The document, page by page
Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.
Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Parties and headline terms
- The conference, the speaker, and a stats strip with fee, length, date and audience.
- 1. The session
- The 40 plus 5 minute keynote, the stage and check times, and the signing table and podcast interview.
- 2. Fee, travel and expenses
- The $4,000 split in two, and a five row table naming who books and who pays each travel item.
- 3. What is due, and when
- Five dated deliverables with an owner against each, from the abstract to the recording link.
- 4. Recording, slides and promotion
- Consent to film, the 12 month platform window, copyright staying with the speaker, and what can be cut.
- 5. If it cannot go ahead
- The 60 day hinge, what each side owes inside it, and how a postponement works.
- 6. General
- Independent contractor, insurance, the code of conduct, and the signing page for both parties.
How to adapt this document
For an unpaid community talk, delete the fee clause and keep the travel table, because the argument about who pays for parking happens whether or not there is a fee. For a workshop rather than a keynote, replace the single stage time in clause 1.2 with a session plan and add a maximum number of participants, since a workshop that doubles in size is a different job from the one that was quoted. For a talk the organiser wants to put behind a paywall or turn into a course, do not stretch clause 4.2: write a separate licence with its own fee and term, because the difference between promotion and a product is exactly where speaker relationships break. In every version keep the 60 day hinge symmetrical, and keep the illness and bereavement sentence.
What makes this document work
The travel table names a payer for every line
Flights and accommodation are booked by the organiser. Airport transfers and meals away from the event are booked by the speaker and reimbursed, capped at $90 a day on receipts. Anything else needs written approval first. Five rows remove the conversation that usually happens by email two days before the flight.
The recording consent has an end date and a size
Clause 4.1 lets the organiser show the keynote to ticket holders on the event platform for 12 months and cut clips of up to 90 seconds for promotion with no time limit. Clause 4.2 keeps copyright with the speaker and stops the organiser selling, editing or teaching from the slides.
Cancellation is a ladder with 60 days as the hinge
More than 60 days out the speaker returns any deposit and nothing else is payable. Inside 60 days the speaker helps find a replacement, and if the organiser cancels the full $4,000 is payable with non refundable travel reimbursed. Illness and bereavement are treated as more than 60 days out, which is the humane line most agreements leave out.
Questions people ask
Who owns the recording of a conference talk?
The organiser owns the recording as a film, while the speaker keeps copyright in the talk and the slides. That is why this agreement grants a licence rather than transferring anything: the organiser may show the keynote for 12 months and cut 90 second clips, and may not sell the slides, edit them or use them in a paid course.
Should a speaker agreement cover the slide deck separately?
Yes, because the deck outlives the event. Clause 4.2 keeps copyright with the speaker and lets the organiser give the PDF to attendees for 12 months. Without that sentence a deck ends up in a members area or a training pack years later, which is the complaint speakers most often make after an event.
What is a reasonable cancellation term for a speaker?
Something symmetrical with a clear hinge date. Here it is 60 days. Outside it, either side walks away and any deposit is returned. Inside it, a cancelling speaker helps find a replacement and a cancelling organiser pays the full fee plus non refundable travel. A one sided clause is the fastest way to lose a speaker's goodwill.
Should the fee be paid before or after the event?
Split it. This agreement pays half within 14 days of signing and half within 14 days of the keynote, on invoice. The first half signals the booking is real and covers the speaker's preparation, and the second keeps the organiser's leverage until the talk is delivered. Expense claims are separate, sent within 21 days and paid within 14.
What should a speaker have to deliver, and when?
Put it in a table with dates and an owner. This one asks for the title and abstract and a photograph and biography by 8 December, and the slide deck as a PDF by 4 March. The organiser owes the run sheet and host brief by 25 February and the recording and feedback by 8 April. Deadlines with no owner slip.
Is a speaker an employee of the conference?
No, and the agreement says so. The general clause makes the speaker an independent contractor who pays their own tax and carries public liability cover, and requires both parties to follow the attached event code of conduct. That last part matters more than it looks, because it gives the organiser a stated standard rather than an improvised response.
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