Neil Patel paid $50,000 to speak at a conference instead of taking a fee. Eric Siu breaks down the costs: business-class flights, hotels, team expenses. The payoff was higher-quality leads than paid speaking gigs ever generated, making it his most profitable event.
And I still believe people just get that one wrong in which they focus on events that are potentially paying them instead of generating leads. You know, some of the best events that I've spoken at, I actually had to pay to speak, like literally pay to speak. Now imagine someone giving you $50,000 to speak at a conference and then going the other way, we had to fly to that country. Let's call it business class travels, $10,000, $15,000 right now because of fuel prices. And then you got to pay, call it another $25,000 to speak plus hotels and miscellaneous and your team, easily you spend $50,000. So imagine going from getting $50,000 plus all expenses being covered to paying $50,000 in total just to show up and speak at an event. And you know what? The ones I pay to speak at are the highest profitable events we've ever done.
