Author Topic: Building a webinar site, how to pay speakers?  (Read 2066 times)

EMon78

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Building a webinar site, how to pay speakers?
« on: October 24, 2016, 12:04:54 PM »
Hi everyone. As always, thanks to this website for all the help and guidance, its one of a kind. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with running webinars including guest speakers? I'm building a website currently for a nitch educational market and want to include both live and taped versions of the webinars. I plan on hosting at least some if not many of them, but would eventually bring in other experts in the field as well. How do you determine what to pay other speakers? Is there a percentage split that is typical? Do I own the rights to the webinar tapes for future use or pay a split on any future income they bring in? If seminar is live in person, do I pay them differently than what I would if its online? Fixed rate or percentage split? I realize there are many different routes to go and some of it will come down to negotiating what kind of audience the speaker brings in compared to what my site does, but I'm looking to find some general ideas of what to expect and what speakers may be asking for. Thanks again.

Cpa Cat

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Re: Building a webinar site, how to pay speakers?
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2016, 12:25:50 PM »
There's usually two ways -

1. Pay the speaker directly at a fixed rate. This is probably ideal if you're developing the content and hiring someone else to essentially voice act it. In this case, you own your content.

2. Pay the speaker to both develop the content and speak. In this case, you would normally pay the speaker royalties for each customer who purchases/views the webinar. In this case, the speaker generally retains ownership of the content, but your contract could include a period during which you have the rights.

EMon78

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Re: Building a webinar site, how to pay speakers?
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2016, 09:15:41 PM »
Thanks for the feedback. Are you familiar with royalty split percentages? I'm guessing My cut would be smaller than the author's. 30/70???

Cpa Cat

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Re: Building a webinar site, how to pay speakers?
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2016, 08:24:27 AM »
Thanks for the feedback. Are you familiar with royalty split percentages? I'm guessing My cut would be smaller than the author's. 30/70???

It really depends on the level of service you'll offer and how many views the writer can expect to get, as well as exclusivity. For established websites, the author's cut is often less than the website's.

If you expect the content to be exclusive - a higher cut for the content writer.
If you offer a lot of production services to help them develop their content - a higher cut for you.
If your website is popular - a higher cut for you.
If the content writer is well-known and will attract viewers - more for them.
If the webinar is live (requiring the speaker to be available consistently).

That said - it's not something I regularly do. I believe when I looked into it, the royalty split very much favored the platform owner 20-30% for the content developer, the rest for the platform. But in that case, all I had to do was write the content, the website arranged to do the peer review, the application for certification (this was for professional education credit), the technology aspect, the marketing.

EMon78

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Re: Building a webinar site, how to pay speakers?
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2016, 06:36:51 PM »
Gracias.