Discussion
I've been invited to speak at a *very* prestigious school. But their policy is to provide dinner and standard class rail fare to a reasonably close city ... and no fee.
Should I accept?
It is a *very* prestigious school, and I could do it for exposure and the CV. But as @virtuosew points out ...
People die of exposure.
So ... should I accept? Or should I say that my policy, now that I'm reasonably established, is not to give unpaid talks to well-funded institutions.
@vla22 I suspect this is for a student society, and they generally have neither funds nor discretion.
CC: @virtuosew
@ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew I mean you could set your fee at minimum wage - which means unless you live quite close to them, the train ticket'll be more expensive.
@virtuosew @ColinTheMathmo Do you do this charitably to spread your message, or is this your profession? If the latter, don’t do it to raise your profile - you already have that and should now be getting paid for that. I do presentations because it raises my company’s profile for contract work, but they pay me. As a freelancer, this is how you earn your money and you shouldn’t give away your product for free. If they put it online, maybe ask for a percentage of advertising revenue?
@Martin_Whitworth It is my profession, and I don't need the exposure ... but I expect I will enjoy the evening.
Just ... tricky.
CC: @virtuosew
@ColinTheMathmo @Martin_Whitworth @virtuosew I'm with Martin here: if well-established speakers go about doing this sort of gig for free(ish), it makes it harder for less-established speakers to get paid. "Who are you to ask for £x00? [Y] did it for travel and dinner."
@icecolbeveridge That is, to some extent, my major concern. But equally, I think this is probably (though it's not crystal clear) for a student society. Generally they have no money, and no discretion.
So I do worry about setting (low) expectations for other, less established speakers.
@ColinTheMathmo I’ve done free stuff if I think I’ll enjoy the experience. When it stops being fun, I decline doing them for free.
I’ve also found a good answer to “our company policy is X” is “well my company policy is Y”. People who get off on following policy seem more likely to accept that as an answer than a more logical justification!
@ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew If you (very reasonably) go with the latter, be clear that less established people need paying too!
(and yeah, the rest is expenses, and this makes sense inside academia for networking, but...)
@ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew (FWIW, I've arguably been a bit of a scab myself, in that I get enough to network on this basis via welfare - the "nearest train station" would have to be pretty near for me not to at least ask whoever's running it how to cover the last leg with a hint of "help on day plz?")
@flippac @ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew unless the "reasonably close city" is within a shortish walk of the school (e.g. Windsor Riverside for Eton) then I think it would be Very Much Not On not to offer a lift from the station.
@pozorvlak @ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew And if it's that close then someone to at least meet you should that be needed, yeah
(...it's a Good Idea if that kind of thing doesn't need clearing with a disability office, or to put it another way the clearing process is likely to be an undue burden)
@flippac Don't focus too much on the closeness or distance ... they're offering to pay my travel provided it's not extreme.
I'm just trying not to give too much away about which school it is.
CC: @pozorvlak @virtuosew
@ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew They'll be indirectly making money out of you. (Part of these schools' marketing strategy is that their pupils get access to interesting people.)
You could ask for a donation to an educational charity?
@eleanorrees It's for a student society ... I doubt they'll be making money out of me at the level of the school.
CC: @virtuosew
@ColinTheMathmo @virtuosew If it's a fee-paying school, then they should definitely be paying you.