Free sample speaker contract templates

To help you grow your business, we've created a fairly simple yet reliable speaker contract template in Word and PDF versions so you can use it over and over.

What's in this model?

• Practice

• Ownership and protection of intellectual property

• Payment details

What is a speaker contract?

A speaker contract is a legal agreement between two parties for speaking services. The document details the expectations and responsibilities of both parties for speaking out in order to establish a healthy legal relationship between them.

What is a lecturer?

A lecturer is someone who gives presentations to a larger or smaller audience. Conferences are usually hosted by schools, universities, and other institutions that offer various programs for students and other attendees. The conferences are also organized by experts in different fields, such as entrepreneurship or finance, to transmit their knowledge to the participants.

What are the types of speaker contracts?

Speaker contracts can be divided into two categories: contracts in which speakers are paid according to the number of people who attend the conferences, and contracts in which speakers are paid according to the amount of material they present.

Contracts based on the number of participants are generally larger, but they also require a lot more work. Speakers who lecture in this category generally earn more money than speakers who lecture in the second category. In addition, speakers who give lectures on behalf of a public body such as a university or research institution tend to give high-level presentations because they have a limited time to present their ideas and they can't afford to be too long.

Contracts based on the amount of material submitted are less common. In this category, speakers are paid for each material they make, such as papers or a book, or they can be paid according to the number of copies they sell. Contracts based on the amount of material presented are generally shorter than contracts based on the number of participants.

What is the speaker contract for?

If you are planning an event and want to make it unforgettable, you need to hire a speaker. To protect the reputation of your event, you must formulate an appropriate speaker agreement for your project. These types of contracts help you maintain the quality of your event content. 

Apart from that, the speaker contract helps you in the following aspects:

• Communicate to the speaker what is expected of them.

• Make sure the speaker follows your editorial, behavioral, and production policies and guidelines.

• Get the speaker's permission to use their data in different ways.

• Define responsibilities and legal actions in the event of a dispute.

Important Terms

What should a speaker contract contain?

If you are considering formulating a speaker contract, you should keep these things in mind:

Practical aspects: 

- It is very important to specify in your contract that when and where to arrive, what to bring, the length of the session, the deadline for submitting slides, the format of the slides, etc.

Payment details: 

- You must add the amount of compensation, method of payment, additional fees and other expenses to your contract.

Ownership and protection of intellectual property: 

- It is very important to specify the ownership of the intellectual property of the event or project. You must specify who will have the right to own it and how to protect the content.

Exclusivity : 

- You must specify that no one will present the same content at another conference.

Authorization section: 

- You can include the section where you can request the speaker's permission for the following:

• Permission to use images of speakers and a recording of their speech

• Permission to share speaker slides

Termination clause: 

– It is very important to add the termination clause in your contract in order to avoid any conflict in the future. This includes who will have the right to terminate and how you can terminate a contract.

Other issues your contract should cover include: What will happen if a speaker does not show up? What happens if the event is canceled or postponed?