Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/121480
Speakers Required To Promote Your Conference In Social Media Must Follow FTC Endorsement Guidelines By Jeff Hurt We've come a long way, baby! ~ Loretta Lynn The times they are a-changing. ~ Bob Dylan The catch-phrases are abundant that our world and work continues to evolve. The Ever-Evolving Conference Speaker Contract Nowhere is this evolution more evident than some conference speaker contracts. I have personally seen a change in some conference speaker agreements that I sign. I am often now required to do more than just show up and present. I'm being asked to blog on the event, create promotional videos, tweet about the event and more. Jenise Fryatt, co-owner/marketing director for Icon Presentations AV for events, recently wrote about speaking on social media for a large industry conference. Her speaker agreement required her to: • • • • • • Record a 60-90 second promotional YouTube video to be posted on the conference site Tweet about her specific session and the conference in general at least twice monthly using the event hashtag Join the organization's discussion group on LinkedIn Join existing conversations on the discussion group and share details of her session Add the event as one she's attending and share her participation with her connections on LinkedIn Promote her attendance/session on her blog and in her newsletters I applaud this conference and its leadership for leveraging social media and asking the speaker to 22 help promote the event through social media. I think this is definitely what many conferences should do. I am also assuming that Jenise was given some type of compensation for her presentation, whether it was free registration, travel, lodging and expenses, a discount on registration or even paid a stipend or honorarium. Regardless, she signed a contract that she would speak and also promote the conference and her presentation in social media. That implies there was some type of exchange for services. The Revised FTC Endorsement Guidelines And Speaker Social Media Conference Promotion While I wholeheartedly support requiring speakers promote the conference and their session in social media, conference organizers need to fully understand the FTC Social Media Endorsement Guidelines here. According to the revised 2012 FTC Endorsement Guidelines, if a person receives money, product, discounts or services to promote and post about a product, then the person must disclose the arrangement of compensation. When the person does not disclose that relationship, the FTC can take both the person and the company to court. In short, if you as a conference organizer require your speakers to promote your conference and their session in social media, and you give them some type of compensation for speaking and promotion, then the relationship must be disclosed. Even if you give them a discounted or free registration, the relationship must be disclosed. How should it be disclosed? How often? What exactly does the speaker need to do? CONNECTIONS | SPRING 2013