For ease of communications, I have summarized here what I need when keynoting or paneling.
Travel
At a minimum, I need to wake up in the city of my presentation, arriving no later than 18:00 the previous day. If the conference has a social event in the evening of my presentation, and I am welcome to it, I prefer to stay for that and network/talk, and depart the next day. This means two nights of lodging. The flight out should ideally be in the 10:00-12:00 timeframe, and no earlier than 09:00.
So if I’m giving a keynote (or paneling) on the 15th, I want at minimum to arrive in the afternoon-evening of the 14th and depart on the morning of the 16th. No flights departing before 09:00, please.
However, if the option is available, I prefer to stay for the entire conference. This also adds significant value to your audience, as people frequently grab me over coffee and other breaks after I have presented to chat a bit more about the topics.
As long as we’re traveling in Europe, keep the ticket prices as low as possible without using Ryanair or Easyjet. For intercontinental flights to the Americas or Asia, I need more comfort to maintain my delivery performance (and health!), meaning business class tickets (but never first class, which is just a waste of money).
My nearest airport is Berlin/Brandenburg (BER), but I’m sometimes flying from one conference directly to the next, in which case Berlin won’t be my city of origin or return. I will be clear about this if this is the case in my calendar. Other airports than BER incur ground transportation cost and time.
See this page for more information needed to book flight tickets (frequent flyer numbers, passport number, etc).
Lodging
My lodging requirements are quite straightforward: a decent nonsmoking hotel room with wireless Internet access.
Financials
The conference where I am delivering needs to cover all lodging costs and travel to/from the conference, either by booking the tickets and hotel in advance, or accepting an invoice afterwards to an e-mail address. The invoice is payable by bank transfer, cryptocurrency, credit card, or PayPal. In the case of small or new conferences, I may decline credit, from hard-earned wisdom.
In addition to lodging and travel, I charge a minimum of 12,500 EUR related to the appearance, details to be agreed upon. This amount is formally invoiced and due 30 days before the presentation is to be held.
What I need from you
I need to know whether you will book flight tickets and/or lodging, or prefer that I do it. In the latter case, I need an email address for the invoice.
In the case where you book flight tickets, I need to reserve the trip in my calendar as soon as you have the flight details.
I need the address of the lodging at least a day in advance of my flight, along with anything particular I need to know about it before arrival.
What I will deliver
A thought-provoking and charismatic performance for your audience, participation in any discussion panels you’d like me in, and any media appearances you would like me to do for your conference.
