A Tale of Two Conferences

Those of you who read my blog know that I speak at EMS conferences around the country. It's an enjoyable sideline and a nice way to supplement my income, but not something that I'll ever do frequently enough to make a living at. I make a fair bit of money doing it, but the real reason I do it is to have a chance to hang out with my EMS tribe a half-dozen or so times a year, decompressing, commiserating, sharing contacts and ideas, and consuming adult beverages after I'm done speaking for the day.

The honorarium I charge is not insignificant, but neither is it prohibitively expensive. I've refused to waive my honorarium when asked by bigger conferences who can well afford my fees, and been known to waive it altogether for small conferences struggling to build an attendance. I've even been taken on hunting trips in lieu of an honorarium, and would do so again in the future.

The point is, it's not about money. It's about professionalism and courtesy.

There is a large state EMS conference here in the south where I refuse to submit proposals any longer, simply because in five years, I never once got so much as a confirmation email for any proposal I submitted. I've been asked by EMS system administrators and even conference committee members from that state why I've never submitted a proposal to speak there, and told them, "I have, and five years ago I'd have spoken for free. But when you don't even get a confirmation email, much less a rejection letter, eventually people give up."

I skipped a year speaking at my own state EMS conference – where I speak for free every year – simply because the people I submitted proposals to lost them, and nobody ever bothered to check why they hadn't heard from me.

I've lectured at two similar conferences that I've thoroughly enjoyed, both held on the same weekend every year. Both had similar attendance – maybe five hundred people at most – and both are in states largely served by volunteer EMS. The attendees are great; warm and welcoming people passionate about their profession – or avocation, in the case of the volunteers – and thirsty for knowledge. I had a rollicking good time at both conferences.

I've given clinical presentations and keynote speeches at both conferences, to packed rooms, and I got excellent evaluations from both.

But one conference has a committee that is courteous, proactive, and stays in contact with its speakers, and the other has a faceless bunch who won't even answer your emails. One lets you know early on if your submission doesn't meet their needs, and the other, you find out you weren't selected when your colleagues get their speaker contracts, and you don't.

One conference pays you on-site, and the other, you have to hound for the money they agreed to pay you, and they finally get around to sending you a check a few months later.

One conference offered me a speaking engagement for 2012, which I turned down because I had already submitted proposals to the other conference held on that same date.

That's a mistake I won't make again, especially after multiple emails to the other conference went unanswered.

Here's a little tip for those of you who sit on your state's EMS conference committee, or are involved in booking speakers:

These national speakers you covet? If you want them to speak at your conference, be aware that there may be others vying for their services on that same date, and the one they choose will most likely be the one that treats them best, not necessarily the one that pays them the best. We're also busy people. We often have to juggle work schedules to come speak at your conference. None of us makes his living "doing the speaker circuit." And believe me – we talk and compare notes. We tell each other what conferences to submit to, and which ones to avoid.

Recently, several nationally known speakers just put another conference on their avoid list.

And to you folks in Nebraska, I'm sorry I won't make it to your conference in 2012, but I'll see you again in 2013. I'm looking foward to it.