Scoble talks about speaking engagements, and whether they should be free or not:

Molly Holtzschlag (famous XHTML and Web development expert) writes that she will not speak for food anymore. I’m quickly arriving to the same conclusion. Speaking is fun and all (and good for your career -- one speech I did at a Silicon Valley user group back in the mid 1990s got me a $10,000 raise. So far that one speech has made me about $100,000).

As with most things, there's no hard line here. It all depends on what kind of situation you and your company/product are in. You may well need the exposure more than you need the cash. For some people and firms, that's not the case - and if they don't really need the exposure, then it makes sense to look for their time to be compensated. If you do need the exposure? Then the engagement itself may be pay enough. It boils down to being a management/PR decision.

Technorati Tags: management, marketing, speaking