I have been speaking at conferences and conducting workshops for many years. I have presented throughout the world and consider myself fortunate that I have generally had wonderful experiences engaging with attendees, organizers, sponsors, etc. However, as you will see in this article, one can run across a ‘bad apple’ and it may not initially present itself as a ‘bad apple’. My hope is to enlighten you a bit as you seek to find that speaking spot, sponsorship and attend a conference.

Imagine these scenarios:

Speaker:

You submit your abstract and the speaker form to the conference website. You wait. Then, one day, you receive confirmation that you have been selected to be a speaker. Not only have you been accepted to be a speaker, but your hotel, airfare, and out-of-pocket expenses will be taken care of. You may also get an honorarium for your speech. You feel the immediate rush of adrenalin as excitement at being accepted to speak fills you. With clenched fist, you say to yourself “Yes”! Now, you have to get your presentation polished and prepare any materials for the attendees.

Sponsor:

You see that a conference is offering sponsorship opportunities. Your company decides, based on the list of speakers, agenda offered and impressive banner of resources, partners, past sponsors, etc. You see some readily recognizable organizations: FEMA, Homeland Security, American Red Cross, Roche, Clorox, Siemens, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, etc.   You think, “Wow, this must be a big conference, full of opportunities for marketing and gaining customers”.

Attendee:

You receive an e-mail for a conference on Crisis Planning or Business Resilience or Disaster Management. Or, you may have found the website via a Google search. You are impressed by the list of speakers – Army Generals, Admirals, Prominent Industry Professionals, etc. The Resources, Sponsors, partners banner is impressive as it scrolls past on your screen. You look at the past attendees, the make up of the attendees – CEOs, Senior Executives, Managers, and Professionals. You think, “This looks great, I can network with some interesting people and perhaps enhance my career in the process”.

Red Flags, Reality and Promises Not Kept

The next section is a composite of events that occurred while speaking at several events under the banner of the aforementioned conference organizer, who by the way, changed the name of the conference several times.

Speakers:

You prepare your materials. You pack. Your airline ticket is e-mailed to you. You are happy. You are told, via e-mail, that attendance is pushing 100 people.  You arrive at the airport, fly to the conference destination, pay for a cab to the hotel and check in.   You decide to check on the room where the conference is being held. You expect that the room will be arranged with table after table to accommodate the attendees. You find that the staff from the hotel is there finishing the arrangement of the room. You are a bit taken aback. The room is set up for only 35 attendees or perhaps less.

RED FLAG! You check with the hotel front desk and ask if the conference organizer has checked in. They have no record of any reservation for said organizer.

RED FLAG!  As it turns out, the conference organizer and assistant are staying at another hotel; strange, I wonder why? You ask the hotel if the other speakers (listed on the website have checked in. You are informed that they have not checked in.

RED FLAG!

It is now the morning of the conference. You arrive early to ensure that you are prepared. A nice breakfast is being served. Some of the attendees start to arrive. The conference organizer and assistant are there and you ask about the attendance numbers. You are informed that something must have happened causing the number to drop.

RED FLAG!  You are asked by the conference organizer if you will be willing to moderate, as well as, present. You agree; what a deal! The conference begins, with less than the 100 and less than the current room setup. Undeterred, you introduce yourself, talk about the day’s agenda and comment on the great speakers that are to present after you.   You do your first (and it was supposed to be only) presentation. A short break as the next speaker has arrived and gets prepared. You introduce the speaker, who, it turns out, has a topic that is not on the agenda!

RED FLAG!   The conference organizer asks if you could present another topic as it seems, one of the next speakers had to cancel due to some unforeseen situation. You are thankful that your Flash Drive has presentations that you store on it from other conferences that you have presented at.   The second speaker finishes, the attendees are on a break for mid-morning coffee. You start to mingle and ask how they are liking the conference.

RED FLAG! I will reflect on Attendee comments in the section reserved for Attendees (below). Needless to say, you are finding that suddenly you (as moderator) are receiving some interesting comments (from Attendees and Sponsors). Back after break, you proceed to have to give another speech as the speaker scheduled to be there has also had another unexpected diversion and cannot make it to the conference.

RED FLAG! Lunch time, thank goodness! Maybe we can get this mess of speakers not showing up fixed. Alas, that is not to be.   You end up as the sole speaker for the afternoon sessions. Of course, you make an attempt to rummage through your Flash Drive to find speeches that you have that match or come close to the agenda.   Which, by the way, is not the agenda that was featured on the website.

As I cited earlier in this section, the above occurred over the course of several conferences. Not included above; some RED FLAGS!

RED FLAG: You get to airport and your ticket is not valid. You have to pay airfare. Of course, the conference organizer says they will reimburse you.

RED FLAG: You have to pay for your hotel instead of it being billed to the organizer. Of course, the conference organizer says they will reimburse you. In order to save some space, the “Of course…” also applies to out of pocket expenses.

RED FLAG: You check for honorarium, expenses, etc., is returned for “insufficient funds”. Actually, this happened many times (so you start charging for the bank fees to process the notice to you that the check sent to you was no good).

RED FLAG: “The check is in the mail”. Or via e-mail: “I sent you a check for $X,XXX.XX”. Seems that they never arrive in the mail. And, of course, you send an angry e-mail to this fact. The response” “Give me another week and I will take care of it.”

RED FLAG: You are scheduled to speak at the first conference of 2019. You are a day away from getting arrangements for flights; you already have been told what hotel you are staying at. You decide to call the hotel and speak to their conference staff. Staff informs you that they cancelled the conference as the became suspicious that it might be a scam. You contact some of the other speakers and find that they either did not know about the conference or have not been informed about the status. The conference organizer responds to you by e-mail, stating that due to low registration, the conference was cancelled by the organizer and not the hotel (strange as the hotel seemed to be more of a valid source of information on cancellation reasons).

RED FLAG: The organizer stops responding to your e-mails and calls. What could have happened? Some unexpected tragic event?

RED FLAG: Other colleagues that you contact or that have contacted you (a University – name withheld) and you find that the conference organizer owes them too! In fact, the organizer has bounced checks to them (so you find that you are not alone). By the way, the conference organizer told me several times that they had paid the University. Seems that every time I correspond to my University contact, they tell me that they are still awaiting payment.

RED FLAG: You are told that you will be asked to speak at conferences (Milken Institute for example) for larger fees. You are also told that there are requests for you to do in-house workshops for large organizations (household names in technology, banking, etc.). They never materialize.

RED FLAG: The name of the conference changes often. Of course, this is, according to the organizer, an effort to stay up to date and to entice registrants with a title that is keeping up with the times.

Sponsors:

My experience with sponsors was limited since most were not very happy to have come with display booths and high expectations of attendees browsing their offerings. There were a few confrontations that I had to deal with (as the conference organizer did not show up at the conference and the assistant was off on an errand, break (or perhaps, hiding).

RED FLAG: Clever advertising on a website needs to be validated, vetted and scrutinized.

RED FLAG: Refunds never materialize and discounts for the next conference float like dust in the wind.

RED FLAG: The exhibition space is in the back of the conference room or just outside in the hallway that is used by, well, everyone.

Attendees:

RED FLAG: If you used a credit card to register, you may find that it has been charged several times. Of course, you approach the conference moderator (me as I am moderating) and ask about the refund that you feel you deserve for the overcharges. I tell you to contact the conference organizer as I am only speaking and moderating and do not have any administrative functions. The conference assistant gives even less of an explanation or apology, telling you to contact the conference organizer. Good luck; you will eventually get this resolved, but it may take several frustrating months. I still get an e-mail or two from attendees who ask for help getting hold of the conference organizer.

RED FLAG: You are impressed by the list of speakers – Army Generals, Admirals, Prominent Industry Professionals, etc. – check them out to ensure that they are actually speaking at the conference that you are registering for.

RED FLAG: You are impressed by the banner of Resources, Sponsors, partners as it scrolls past on your computer screen. You really need to check to see if they are actually sponsors and partners. They may be a resource, but so if Google and any other organization that published information that could be useful to someone wanting to learn more about disaster planning, crisis management, crisis leadership, business resilience, etc. Read, assess, realize – clever wording is an advertiser’s oldest trick.

ED FLAG: Impressed by the logos of the past attendees; impressed by the composition of the attendees – CEOs, Senior Executives, Managers, and Professionals. It is all too easy to present statistics that are so skewed as to make them invalid.   Yes, there were CEO’s in attendance at some of the conferences – CEO of a small enterprise (read as mom and pop business – no offense intended here). They came to learn about issues that cause them to lose sleep at night. They wanted help, but did not have much of a budget to pay for it. Again, no offense to the attendees is intended; you may have expected more from the agenda presented vs. the agenda at the conference; the speakers or speaker when all the others did not show up. I can only hope that you at least were able to get some helpful information.

Concluding Thoughts

As I write this article in early April 2019, I realize that the conference website still has me and others listed as speakers, still has the ten venue cities that are listed as conference locations, still has the same banner advertising of Resources, Sponsors and Partners. I can only say that you need to beware! Do your ‘due diligence’ and do not take the advertising at face value.

While some may reflect on this article and think that the author was very naïve to continue speaking at these conferences (and you may be right); understand that these events did not all happen at once. Bounced checks did not occur regularly and in some instances, they were actually paid (with real money!).

My advice to speakers is that your knowledge and reputation should be of paramount concern. As a consultant and speaker reputation and knowledge are all you have when it comes to getting a contract for an engagement.  We often fail to see the collateral damage that can occur by accepting speaking engagements from unethical operators; that is, until after the fact. We are all travelers trying to make ends meet and grow our businesses, our skills, etc. How we experience the journey is important, not what we see during our travels.  Recognize that we are all swayed by factors that have nothing to do with logic or reason. There is a natural tendency not to see transparent vulnerabilities due to diagnostic biases. Some final bullets of interest:

• I am on Invoice # 17 and still waiting to get paid.
• Innovative, aggressive thinking is one key to making a good decision on speaking, sponsoring, attending.
• Recognize that there is no alternative for ‘due diligence’.
• If you register with a credit card, check with your card issuer and quickly put a stop to multiple charges on your card.
• Call the hotel convention staff and see what they think regarding the conference. It can be very enlightening.

I hope that your conference experiences, whether as a speaker, sponsor or attendee are insightful, educational, and fun. Please feel free to contact me for more details or questions that you might have. I am off to prepare another invoice…

About the Author

Geary Sikich – Entrepreneur, consultant, author and business lecturer

Contact Information: E-mail: G.Sikich@att.net or gsikich@logicalmanagement.com. Telephone: 1- 219-922-7718.

Geary Sikich is a seasoned risk management professional who advises private and public sector executives to develop risk buffering strategies to protect their asset base. With a M.Ed. in Counseling and Guidance, Geary’s focus is human capital: what people think, who they are, what they need and how they communicate. With over 28 years in management consulting as a trusted advisor, crisis manager, senior executive, and educator, Geary brings unprecedented value to clients worldwide. He regularly speaks at conference throughout the world and has published over 450 articles and 4 books on business continuity, risk management, crisis management, and issues analysis.

Geary is well-versed in contingency planning, risk management, human resource development, “war gaming,” as well as competitive intelligence, issues analysis, global strategy, and identification of transparent vulnerabilities. Geary began his career as an officer in the U.S. Army after completing his BS in Criminology. As a thought leader, Geary leverages his skills in client attraction and the tools of LinkedIn, social media and publishing to help executives in decision analysis, strategy development, and risk buffering. A well-known author, his books and articles are readily available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Internet.