How to get the most from bringing in guest experts and speakers

Guest experts are an invaluable way to add value to your event, course or program. They can supplement your own expert knowledge in areas that are valuable to your audience.

If you invite a guest expert along to provide expert knowledge for your audience or as a draw card to your event, course or program, then getting the most out of their time and allowing you to be free to use the components of the presentation for future use, is incredibly important.

Whether in person or online, there is no doubt that guest experts add value through their insights and knowledge. For them, it’s a way to actively contribute to communities they are a part of, by taking on a speaking or presenting role. For you it’s an opportunity to leverage their profile and level up your brand off the back of working together.

Undoubtedly you would be aware of just how much your business can benefit from a guest expert, but most of us don’t think beyond getting them involved. What we want to draw to your attention is some of the common risks that we see arise that have costly repercussions and cause no end of headaches.

Ensure your guest experts will hit the mark

Whenever engaging a guest expert, you shouldn’t just assume they will know what you need. Provide clear direction to your guest experts about who your audience is and what they need. While you may think a guest expert would do this already, it is worth preparing a clear brief. This way your guest expert will know exactly what you need and your audience will receive something that is truly valuable - it is a win/win situation.

If it is online you might need to prepare them for the platform and how it will be used to ensure they can deliver with the degree of quality you, and they will be proud of.

Give your guest expert timelines for what you need from them beforehand (think bios, their preferred headshots etc). Consider providing your guest expert with specific information. For example, give them context as to where the audience is in their business/life journey. It might be wise to highlight some key talking points or themes you want to ensure they draw focus to. Taking this step can help ensure what they present is highly relevant for your audience. After all, how they perform or present is also a reflection of you and your business.

Paying your guest expert

While not a risk, it’s important to raise this point because it is an important one. As business owners we know the value of time and expertise. Just as your time is precious, so too are your guest experts. By offering payment, you are able to create a clear exchange of value.

Perhaps you have a large platform or a highly engaged audience, maybe your speaker will be able tap into your audience by speaking with them about their own products or business. No matter the win for the speaker, paying them is still preferred.

By offering your guest expert payment, they are more likely to put greater time and effort into preparation than someone who is unpaid. Of course there are those rare gems who give 100% to everything, paid or voluntary, but they are the exception. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

If you are not in a position to pay a speaker for a guest appearance, that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t agree to provide a service for you, but you might have to offer another form of compensation or benefit to them in exchange for their time.

If your speaker has a business of their own, allowing them to pitch their product or promote a service at the end of their presentation can mean that your event is viewed as an investment with a high chance of engaging future clients or customers. If you can show that you have a large or highly engaged audience, that can be enough of a value add where you are unable to offer payment.

If you pay them it makes it a “cleaner” transaction. Especially when you intend to use their content and repurpose it in some way or use it again and again in your course or program.

Avoid losing the ability to use your guest expert’s content

Before you sign a guest expert, make sure you seek permission to record your guest expert and re-use the footage, audio or still images. You may even wish to be able to use any slides or resources they used.

You may want to be able to share it afterward with people who couldn't attend. You may even have plans to save it online and use it for future offerings, along with other content.

While you could do that without issue, here's what we know can create headaches for the organisers. Imagine, after the event, that the guest expert reaches out to you saying they don't want you to reuse the recordings in any way.

This has happened to people who have onsold recordings, repurposed content and packaged it into online courses, even possibly sold a lot off the back of the guest expert’s profile.

While many business owners would honour their guest expert's request, you really want to avoid this from happening to start with! You will want to have the freedom to reuse that content in some way into the future.

To avoid issues like these, ensure your guest experts sign a release. A release is a legal document that you can send your guest expert that can give permission for you to use their presentation or material in different ways. That way they will be aware that you intend to reuse the recording beforehand and either agree to it, or not.

By having them sign a release like our Guest Expert Release template, you have alerted them to the possibilities of use, and then are free to repurpose the content (as per the terms in the release) without issue.

If you haven't set clear terms of the engagement, royalties or payment for ongoing use may be requested. If you cannot afford to pay, then your only option will be to re-edit content or remove it from wherever it’s been used and uploaded. This creates even more problems, especially if you have sold other products like online courses, memberships, subscriptions and resources that contain their content.

You must ensure they licence you to use the content. and that you own it to do with as you wish in your own program, including repurposing it and using it on your course platform, for example.

Often guest speakers are draw-cards, and by being able to use their face, name and even a snippet of their presentation can draw people to your platform or product. So, a guest expert release can be an incredibly valuable tool. Being able to cut, edit, re-work and refresh content will mean you can potentially continue to use the guest speaker’s presentation for years to come (or as long as it’s relevant and useful to you).

To ensure that your agreement when signing on your guest expert includes where ownership of the video or audio will lay, that you will continue to credit the speaker with their knowledge, that you can have some creative licence over elements of the final cut.

If you aren’t clear up front about what you can and can’t do, you may find your guest expert demanding royalties. If you are using their material or using it on paid and subscription platforms this can especially be true, even if you change from a currently free or one-off payment type plan to a subscription or paid service down the track.

You don’t want to get your guest expert off side, to spook them by making them feel that they are losing control of their intellectual property. The way you word your agreement, or ‘release’ really needs to include enough details that you can have the flexibility you need, while also reassuring them that you will be respectful of the content’s original intent and give credit where practical.

You might also like to include that you are able to use their name and image in promotional material, both for the original presentation and then if desired, for future use.

Your guest expert has valuable information to share with your audience that can enhance the quality of your own materials. But to really get the most out of it, both for yourself and your future clients or audience, you need to ensure you have the rights to the materials that will allow you to continue to use, promote or sell the content as you need.

Get the most from your guest expert

Whether you are hosting a guest expert in person or online, making sure both you are on the same page is important.

Providing your guest expert with a release for them to review and sign is essential. Both you and they will benefit from this important preparation and you will give yourself greater freedom and confidence to use the content in your business as you wish.

Requesting your guests review and sign a Guest Expert Release ensures you’re both on the same page from the beginning. Take a look at our Guest Expert Release template. You can find it here.

Host a podcast? We have a guest release specifically for podcast guests here.




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Online CourseEmma Heuston