Re: Public speaking

**l*@juno.com**

Just a word about non-profits, such as botanical gardens, arboreta,
land-grant colleges, garden conservancies, etc. Part of my work history
includes a stint as executive director of a non-profit. A part of nearly
every non-profit's mission is an educational component and most of those
educational activities are heavily subsidized by grants, fundraising
activities, donations, and membership fees, in addition to the nominal
fee to attend the lecture. Volunteers work their butts off (for free) to
bring money into the organization, so that it can fulfill its mission.

There is no comparison with an individual trying to earn a stream of
income to support himself/herself.  And in most cases, the audience is
coming perhaps not so much to hear a specific speaker (although that's a
bigger draw), as to support the organization.

Marianne Binetti said it best at a GWA seminar in Long Island: There's
enough to go around for all of us, and if we think more in terms of
helping one another (which this thread is doing in spades), we'll reach
people who haven't gardened before and make the whole pie bigger (she
said it much better).

Regards,
Lois J. de Vries
Visit http://loisdevries.blogspot.com

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:04:20 -0500 Ellen Zachos <ez@acmeplant.com>
writes:
> Graham rightly notes than when one of us charges too little, we all  
> 
> suffer.  On a related note, I recently had inquiry from one of my  
> instructors at the NYBG.  He had seen my article in Horticulture and 
>  
> wondered if I'd share my contact info so he could offer the magazine 
>  
> free articles to publicize an organization he belongs to.
> 
> That set me off (of course) and I answered with a long explanation 
> of  
> how offering free articles hurts those of us who try to make a 
> living  
> writing.  I'm not sure he appreciated my p.o.v., but I feel strongly 
>  
> about this.  His point was that the PR he'd receive via the article  
> 
> would be more valuable to him than payment, and after listening to  
> 
> some of you who speak at least partly to publicize nurseries or 
> other  
> enterprises, I wonder how widespread this is.
> 
> I never wrote for free, even when I was starting out.  I firmly  
> believe that part of being a professional is being treated  
> professionally, i.e. being adequately compensated.  This is not a  
> hobby.  We work and study for years, accumulating expertise; that's  
> 
> worth something.  Ask anyone who's been to law school.
> 
> Ellen Z.
> 
> 
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