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About
Barb Speaking
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May
I help you find what
you're
looking for?
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What most
homeschoolers mean when they ask "Do you speak?" is
whether or not I speak at conventions. Yes, I do,
and if that's what you're interested in, my "terms"
are right here on this page. (Skip on down to
"Speaker Fee" right below this pink box.)
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If what you are
actually interested in is bringing me to your town to speak at
my own one or
two-day conference, click here to go to my page on how I
work that.
If you're wanting me to come and speak at
your homeschool support group, click
here.
If you're wanting me to come and speak at
your homeschool convention, scroll down this page to that
info.
If you're
looking for my current Speaking Schedule, click here.
(Note: I have not been doing
a lot of speaking right now. If I do one a month for half
the months in a year, that is all "my plate" can handle. In fact, I do not pursue
speaking engagements at all. I consider all invitations,
but this is not the season of my life for a lot of speaking, so
don't be surprised at how few speaking engagements there are!)
Or
if you're looking for a brief bio
on me, go about 3/4 of the way down this page.
(Well, it's SORT of brief!)
First let me define "convention" and "conference" for you ~ how *I* define
these two words... :-)
A convention is a state or area event, where there's a curriculum fair and
several speakers, with several workshops taking place at the same time in
each "workshop block." So one workshop block might have anywhere from four
to ten workshops. ...
A conference is what I call *my* seminar events, and these are focused
events, with just one speaker the whooooole time: me, in particular. :-) It's all one cohesive event, and they attend all 9 of it. They therefore
get the whoooole message; the "heart 'n' soul" of it, and the "art and
science" of it.
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About Barb Speaking
at your Homeschool Convention:
SPEAKER FEE - I
ask an honorarium of $500 to $1,000, no matter how many workshops I present.
If it is your custom to pay a larger honorarium to your speakers, and you are
able to afford it, I have no
problem receiving whatever you might deem acceptable. My heart is to share with homeschoolers the message of freedom in
following Him for how to truly educate the children He has put in our
care, but this is at a great price for myself and family. My time
away from our home and business needs to be best spent, and also, it cannot *cost* us beyond what we
are already paying in time to do this. Therefore, I do have some
"requirements":
~
TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK at
most if not (preferably) all of your workshop blocks
~ FREE BOOTH
at the curriculum fair.
~ TRANSPORTATION ~ We need for you to get us there
and back home.
~ LODGING
at a motel to be provided.
~ SPEAKING ~ I would like to have input on:
~ which workshops I do
~ the times at which I speak
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Here are
the specifics on each of the above:
TRANSPORTATION:
Depending on how far away from me you are, this would be either,
you would cover:
~ AIR: Flights
for two: myself and one assistant,
plus a
rental car. (By the way, we do
not consider this "pay," but just getting me there and
back, which
I mention only because of those (few) who have actually considered
airfare to be "pay"! Of course it actually IS "pay" ~
but only to
the airline company!)
We need to make the arrangements for the flights and car rental, and
you reimburse us. The many scheduling considerations on
our end necessitate our needing to take care of this.
I need to arrive there the day before the seminar, set up the room
I'll be speaking in and our booth so that I can be ready to go in the
morning.
~ CAR/MILEAGE:
50 cents per mile. Plus parking, if that's necessary. We
would possibly return home that evening after the conference is over,
depending on how far away we are ~ so we're looking at one or two
nights lodging.
LODGING:
We need to stay at a hotel, and mid-range
is fine. (It doesn't
need to
expensive, but the super cheap ones always have problems... like ants crawling all over the wall right by my bed... a loud clanky
heater... etc.)
If your conference location
is adjacent to a hotel, we would ask that we be lodged in that hotel so
that I can have a "quiet place of escape" during the conference to go and
re-group, pray, and gather my thoughts for my *next* workshops. This
is especially important if the conference does not have a designated
speakers room.
We need to stay at a hotel rather
than in a home because I need to be free to prepare mentally, emotionally and
spiritually for my upcoming workshops. We have found that staying in a
home is difficult for a couple of reasons. For one, after a day of
teaching, I need to "crash" in privacy and quiet. Also, almost
always when staying at homes, I found myself having to talk late into the
evening when
I'm already running on "empty". Even just regular
conversation is usually overwhelming at that point. It would be
totally enjoyable in a
different situation, but not this one.
BOOTH:
We need two 8-foot long tables or three 6-foot tables. (We make an
"L" out of the two tables. Or we could make a "U" out of the 3
six-footers.) My husband or a friend always comes with me, so the
only time we would need a volunteer to "man" ("woman") our table while I
am speaking is if Dave and I are both speaking at the same time, or if one
of us needs to take a quick break.
SPEAKING /
WORKSHOPS: I would
like to speak a
minimum of 4 times
each day (assuming you have that many workshop blocks); preferably
5 or 6. In essence, I want to be speaking the whole time I am
there, other than a couple of breaks for lunch and a short rest. This is because it is a
poor and inefficient use of time for me to sit at
my booth and explain my message to one or two people at a time when
I could be presenting it to ~ and connecting with ~ a large group at
once. Click here
to see the specific workshop titles I offer. Here is a list of Barb Shelton's Past Speaking Engagements
if you'd like to see that.
I
don't need to have
control over when I speak;
I'd just like to be able to work with you. At one
convention, my last two workshops ~ on the how-to's of high
school which are at the heart of my high school message ~ were scheduled
at the same time as a Ladies' Tea (with a big-name speaker) *and* the preparation time for their Homeschool Graduation Ceremony. First, I was concerned and
disappointed that these workshops (of mine) were the
last two workshops of the convention, when convention attendees are
exhausted, and many do not even stay to the end. Plus these
two workshops are my most intense ~ requiring an alert mind. There's no way the planners could have known that
without discussing it with me, but had we discussed this long before the
convention, it could have been planned differently. I do realize that
someone has to be last,
but what I
had a hard time understanding was why a Ladies' Tea and prep for
graduation would be scheduled
during my ~ or any ~ workshops. The room they put my workshop in could have
accommodated 300, yet there were no more than 50. And those two are
usually my
most-attended workshop topics.
As for which workshops...
Because my message is multi-faceted, I need to work with you on
which ones to present at your convention. I realize that YOU
are the ones with the vision for your event, but on my end, it's
important that I come to present the *heart* of my message, and
not just the "externals." So we can talk (or email) about
this, and I'll explain it further. I know we'll be able to
come up with a combo that we'll all be happy with!
HANDOUTS:
The way we work this, which is most likely what you do
anyway, is that I send you my
originals; you copy and staple
the handouts
for the number of attendees you have coming. Responsibility for paying for these
is yours.
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BRIEF BIO ON BARB:
For your convenience,
here is a brief a bio on me: (You are welcome to shorten it if you
need to, but just run it by me first.)
| Barb Shelton inadvertently became a "homeschool pioneer" without ever intending to do so.
She, with husband Dave, homeschooled their three children for 26
years, ending only because the youngest graduated (in 2006) and
there was no one left to homeschool! She has written 8 books for homeschoolers
and 7 CD's all of which are on topics of vital interest to burning-out as well as brand new and wanna-be homeschoolers. With vulnerability, humor, and God's Word,
Barb has helped hundreds of parents recover from and avoid the pitfalls of listening to the loud and numerous voices of the world, inspiring them to hear the voice of the
Lord for their own unique children.
Her heart is to refresh and equip the brethren (and "sisteren") and help them grasp God's vision for the education ~ the
true education ~ of their children. |
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