Speaker agreement

A speaker agreement covers a few hours of performance and a long tail of rights: whether the talk may be recorded and streamed, who owns the recording, what may be done with the slides, and what happens when the event or the speaker cancels. Organisers need the recording rights their sponsors and audiences expect; speakers need their content protected and their fee secured. I draft the agreement, for the organiser or for the speaker, for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Conference and event organisers, corporate event teams, training businesses and membership bodies in England and Wales booking speakers, and professional speakers, trainers and panellists who want an agreement for every booking.

What matters in a speaker agreement

The engagement, the session and the fee

The agreement should state the event, date, venue or platform, the session (a keynote, a workshop, a panel), its length, the audience, the brief and any content the organiser requires or excludes, the preparation and rehearsal expected, and the fee, when it is invoiced and paid, with interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 where the organiser pays late; a deposit on booking with the balance after the event is usual for paid speakers, and unpaid speakers should still have the rights and cancellation terms recorded.

Cancellation by either side and force majeure

The agreement should say what the speaker receives if the organiser cancels (a stated proportion of the fee rising as the date approaches, and expenses incurred), what happens if the speaker cancels (no fee, reasonable efforts to find a replacement, and liability for the organiser's wasted costs only where the agreement says so), the position on postponement, and a force majeure clause defined narrowly, with the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943 in the background for events that cannot go ahead at all; an organiser that moves an event online should say whether the speaker must deliver remotely.

Recording, streaming and the rights in the talk

A talk is a performance, and recording or streaming it requires the speaker's consent under section 180 and following of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; the recording is a film whose copyright belongs to the producer under section 9, usually the organiser, but the content remains the speaker's. The agreement should say whether the talk may be recorded, streamed and made available afterwards, to whom and for how long, whether the organiser may edit it, use clips in marketing and sell access, and whether the speaker receives a copy and may use it; a speaker who sells the same talk elsewhere will want limits.

Slides, materials and intellectual property

Slides, handouts and materials are the speaker's copyright under section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the agreement should license the organiser to reproduce and distribute them to attendees for the event and afterwards as agreed, with no right to adapt or reuse them for other events, and with the speaker responsible for clearing third-party content (images, quotations, music) they include; the speaker's name, image and biography may be used in promotion as the agreement permits, with approval of wording where the speaker wants it.

Travel, expenses and the speaker's requirements

The agreement should state who books and pays for travel and accommodation (the organiser, or the speaker at cost with approval), the class of travel, per diems, the speaker's technical and accessibility requirements, the organiser's obligations for the room, equipment and a technician, and the speaker's obligations to arrive by a stated time and to attend a briefing; where the speaker travels abroad, visas and insurance should be allocated.

Status, exclusivity and promotion

A speaker with many bookings, their own content and control over their performance is self-employed, and the agreement should say so, with the speaker responsible for their own tax; the organiser may ask for exclusivity (not speaking at a competing event within a stated period), which should be limited in time and scope, and should set the speaker's obligations on conduct, confidentiality about the organiser's clients and attendees, and promotion of the event through the speaker's channels where agreed. The organiser's liability should be limited to the fee and the speaker's to the fee received, with neither excluding liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

What it costs

Consultancy or contractor agreement, £595. Drafted for your business. Five working days.

Template set for repeat use, £895. One master agreement plus a short-form schedule you can reuse for every engagement. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the consultancy and contractor agreements page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A clear, express assignment of intellectual property to your business
• Confidentiality provisions that protect your business information
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Clear treatment of status, so the arrangement is not accidentally something else
• Payment, deliverables and termination provisions that match how you work
• A reusable structure, so the next engagement costs you nothing

What is not included

• Employment status determinations and off-payroll working assessments, which need your accountant
• Tax advice
• Disputes with a contractor you have already engaged
• Immigration and right to work compliance

Questions I am often asked

Can we record the keynote and sell access afterwards?

Only if the speaker consents in the agreement, which it provides for with the uses, the period and whether the speaker shares in any revenue. Recording a performance without consent infringes the speaker's rights.

The speaker cancelled a week before. What can we recover?

What the agreement says: usually the fee is not payable, the speaker helps find a replacement, and wasted costs are recoverable only if the agreement provides for it. A fine unrelated to the loss is a penalty.

Can the speaker reuse our event's recording in their own marketing?

If the agreement grants them a copy and a licence to use it, yes, within the limits stated. The agreement settles it in both directions.

Related guidance and services

• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595
• Trainer agreement for a training company

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.