I’m seeing a lot of threads on honoraria for speaking at unis and wanted to add my 2 cents worth. I hope this is helpful. Here goes:

Your time=$. If you are lucky to be salaried by a uni, time away lecturing= time away from teaching, students, research, family etc. If you are contingent faculty, then that’s an automatic loss. Travel $ on credit card= interest.

Travel is *hard*. On your body, your mind, your family. It always takes me a day or two to recalibrate post travel. Sometimes more if events are intense. You have to factor that in. Travel there+ back, event, meetings minimum 2 days. Plus recovery, rescheduling life.

I’m very lucky to be repped by a fabulous speaking agency. That= immense privilege. I say no to 99% of asks because I don’t have time and freebies are not worth it. Too hard on my family+me.

Now we can zoom lecture at will! So much easier. An hour+ emails to sort timing. 2 hrs at most vs 2-3 days. I’ve done a bunch of these this fall (no honoraria)- some trade lectures (folks spoke in my classes) some for fun groups... because I wanted to!

Once we get back to New Normal things will change. I would ask for, a minimum, $1k for a day, plus all travel expenses. What extra will you spend in childcare for example? What will you lose? Is it worth it? Only you can know.

We have to put our feet down. Now that we can zoom anywhere, traveling to Hard To Get To Uni to give a lecture and meet with colleagues is not worth it, IMHO, unless it is say close to family or friends (I’m a big fan of the double dip)

Ultimately it’s your time, your choice. My rec= don’t speak without $ and upfront travel costs fully covered (reimbursement for plane tickets= malarkey) AND a contract. I’ll be cutting back a lot on non essential travel. I’ve had enough.