Advancing YOUR agenda
Too many speakers make a classic error. They blindly restrict their remarks to guidelines proposed by the event's coordinator.
That's not exactly the way this business works. A speaking engagement is a quid pro quo: your expertise and drawing power in return for the exposure and industry credibility that your host's event offers.
Implicit here is the fact that views you express will be exactly that. Yours.
Naturally, if you're booked for a session exploring a certain theme, you can't stray too far off base. Total surprises are seldom well received, either by audiences or by organizers. But still, at the end of the day, it's you up at that podium. You alone.
With fair notice, you call the shots.
Bottom line: you have more control over your speaking themes than you may realize. Sure, you may have to play a little hardball up front to advance your own agenda. But why should public speaking be any different than the real world?
Speaker’s Notebook: A Guide to Savvy Speechwriting