Thread by @swardley

X : How much does a professional speaker make in a year?
Me : Err ... I guess that depends upon who they are?
X : Can you give me an idea?
Me : No, I'm not a professional speaker. I don't make money from it. I work in research for a company. Ask someone who speaks for a living.

X : I'm trying to work out how much to charge?
Me : Great. I have no idea.
X : But you do lots of speaking.
Me : In 8 years, covering 200+ talks, I will have made from speaking ... let me think .. $0. I work for a company. You need to speak to someone who makes a living speaking.

X : You speak for free?
Me : No, the company charges ... sometimes not if it's more of a community thing. It's a discussion. Speaking takes me away from other things I need to do, so it's a useful constraint and I have to balance things. Making a living from speaking sounds hard.

X: I heard that people can make a lot from public speaking?
Me : If you're famous then I'm sure you can. However I suspect most people telling you that you can make a lot from public speaking are also selling rather expensive courses on how to do public speaking.

Oh ... actually, I do a have nice collection of decorative plates, mugs, pens and quite a few books and possibly a life time supply of moleskin notepads which are extremely handy.

X : You wouldn't recommend being a tech speaker then?
Me : I'm more about maps than tech but I'm nit picking. Oh, speaking is a delight. You get to met lots of really interesting and wonderful people from all different parts of life. Do it for that and a chance to give back.

... there are few things as awesome and overwhelming as having someone come up to you and tell you that something you spoke about has helped them. That's what you do it for - those moments of internal joy from helping others.