I'll never forget the feeling I had when that email came across my inbox. It asked where I was, because there was a room of people waiting to hear me speak. I was horrified. I had not even left for the conference yet.

I immediately pulled up my CRM (like HighLevel) and pulled out my contract. My guilt was slightly alleviated when the contract said I was scheduled to speak on a completely different date. Their marketing website and printed program had different dates than the contract, and they never notified me of the change.

It was embarrassing and devastating. I worked with the meeting to make it right, but my contract held. They felt bad that they hadn't communicated any schedule changes. Ultimately, I wasn't responsible for missing it. A good contract saved my rear end and the meeting graciously compensated me.

Speaker agreements are so important, but speakers are often afraid to engage in contract negotiation because, admittedly, it's very uncomfortable. I've had so many prolonged contract negotiations this year alone. I used to be able to submit a speaker agreement and it would come back DocuSigned, or with a signature, in a couple of minutes. Now there's back and forth, legal teams, and lengthy conversations.

Has my agreement changed? Not that much. But the world in which we live has changed, and we have the events of 2020 to thank for a lot of that along with accelerations in AI. Red lines are fine, and I'm happy to negotiate.

Here are some of the most important parts that I have found. But I also use this incredible free tool to detect any contract concerns.

I always write the day of the week, the month, the date, and the year. So it would be Thursday, November 12th, 2026. That is the line that saved me.

I require a down payment to hold the date. Some speakers say 10%, some say 50%, and everything in between. My hope is that the deposit is enough to give them skin in the game, but not so big that we have a huge fight later on if they have to cancel or change.

That's not me being stingy. By saying yes to one meeting, you're effectively saying no to others. It just happened to me this week. I had two meetings competing for the same exact dates, and I said to both, "Hey, here's how both events can work together. I also need a deposit for you to save that date."

Usually, I'll just have two payment dates: 1) a deposit/downpayment; and 2) a payment on the day of. I require all payments at the time of speaking or before, nine out of 10 times. I often include a penalty if they don't pay within a certain amount of time following my presentation. You have to be careful, because there are rules on how you can charge interest or fees, so consult an attorney.

Sadly, many events have big dreams but never deliver. So I have a cancellation clause with an escalating timeline. The closer to the event you cancel, the lower the likelihood that I'll be able to rebook, and the more you owe. I don't have an unreasonable cancellation fee, but reserving that date means I said no to something else.

Clarity on expenses is massive. I've seen contracts that don't specify the fare class for airfare, so someone buys a first-class ticket and the meeting only reimburses coach. I've seen contracts that leave out ground transportation or food or plus-ones, and then there's a fight over it.

The simplest fix is a travel buyout, so there are no surprises on either side. Otherwise, be specific, and ask whether there are caps. I had one speaker write in "cover all air travel and ground transportation" in general terms. When we asked what fare class, they got sheepish. They would only fly first class and required black car service. So we capped it and said, "Hey, we'll pay up to X amount for your transportation," and they agreed.

Recording rights are massive. Is the recording used only for an internal LMS, or is it being used to train AI models? Is there an ongoing royalty or licensing fee if they do use it?

I don't want an AI model regurgitating my stuff, because models often hallucinate and don't deliver the value the way I did. A model interpreting my feedback is far different than someone watching a video of my real presentation.

AI manipulation is massive. This has happened to me more and more. If you're manipulating my image with AI, or replicating my likeness, that's a massive problem and a violation. Put it in the agreement. It's not just images and videos, though. It's bios and course descriptions too. I have great resources for meeting professionals with photos, videos, bios, and intros. And yet, recently at an event, they read an AI-generated intro that added a kid to my family I don't have, and stated professional accomplishments and degrees I never earned.

I try to be as easy to work with as I can. I was driving my son to school just this morning, trying to explain the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. The letter of the law says the speed limit is 45 mph. The spirit of the law gives a little flexibility, because sometimes you're passing, merging, or keeping up with traffic. Even if you're going 46, you're technically breaking the law, but there's leeway.

I'm not saying you should have ambiguous contracts. I'm saying that just because your contract says that if they cancel within 60 days, for example, they owe you the full fee, there might be some leeway. You can credit that toward a future presentation, which is something my contracts have. Or you can help them find another speaker.

If you want to see how your recent agreements stack up, use this free tool from Valle Legal to analyze your speaker agreement.

Until next time,

P.S. I want to hear your story. When has a contract saved you, or when did you wish you'd had one? Hit reply and tell me.