A(nother) polite notice to course and conference organisers

I was once more invited to speak at a "major" quant conference. And once more, I'm happy for this invitation. I answered with the usual "I would be delighted to speak, I have proprietary and timely research that I would happy to present at my usual conditions: fair speaker fee and expenses".

They said it was good to have me on board, and asked for the subject and title; I provided (copyrighted) material in relation to a seminar proposal. My name and material was used on the conference website. They also asked me to provide marketing material for their conference.

Two months and many exchanges later, where I repeated my conditions. They confirmed my speaking slot, but when I asked to confirm the exact fee and the expenses mechanism, they told me that they plan to discriminate against me (yes, they put the discrimination in writing) and not offer me a fair retribution: "small budget for speakers and I want to increase XXX by supporting some XXX XXX from the industry with their travel to the event". Their proposal is no fee and contributing to roughly one third of expenses (!!!), claiming that "previously [...] you hadn’t charged a fee". Strange argument to claim that because they were inequitable once, they have the right to continue so. Moreover their claim is wrong as I received a fair retribution for my speaking contribution at their previous events (even if not directly from the organizers).

I could only repeat them what I mentioned before. A one hour seminar requires one day of preparation, on top of the research itself. Any fee below a one day salary for a managing director/partner is a bargain to them.

After further back and forth, I had to explain what "fee" and "expenses" mean:

  • Fee: at least the equivalent of one third of a consulting day at partner level (this is very cheap, given the research and preparation time)
  • Expenses:
    • International transport (actual ticket cost, not "I have seen once a cheap ticket on internet") and local transport
    • Hotel (conference or close-by hotel for the conference duration - yes, I sleep and shower every day, not once a week)
    • Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner for the conference duration - yes, I eat three times a day, every day).

I have not received any feedback about fees and expenses but different emails asking further proprietary and copyrighted material for their website and agenda and asking me to book their preferred hotel at my expenses!

Notice: Please read my notice:  A polite notice to course and conference organizers

Related blogs:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Multi-curve framework book: new edition in progress

Image
Subject: Interest Rate Modelling in the Multi-curve Framework: Foundations, Evolution, and Implementation It has been more than 10 years since I wrote the first edition of the multi-curve framework book. What happened in those 10 years? Why did it take me so long to start a new version? It took me roughly 10 years to write the first edition. The reason it took so long at that time, was that I did not know that I was writing it! I thought I was writing a couple of pages on an obscured and theoretical idea that there was not a `` one curve to rule them all '' but multiple curves. It turned out that it became the actual practice for very clear and important reasons. That was the excuse for the first edition, what is the excuse for the second edition? Since the first edition, many things happen, in particular: March 2015: BCBS - IOSCO: margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives and mandatory variation margin July 2017: The future of LIBOR -- actually it
Read more

Rigged: part 1 - Will there be a part 2?

Image
I have been reading book “Rigged: The Incredible True Story of the Whistleblowers Jailed after Exposing the Rotten Heart of the Financial” (Andy Verity, Flint, June 2023) for some time. It was published several month ago, but I just finished it. To my defence, I have to say that I don’t feel comfortable reading fiction where the “bad guys” are systematically winning by cheating. The book is the story of the miscarriage of justice done in the LIBOR manipulation story. The book content did not surprise me. For anybody having worked on a (swap) trading desk, it is clear that what was described by the accusation was impossible. It is not possible for some middle level trader to create a multi-year, multi-desk, multi-bank international conspiracy over open lines, broker lines, on open offices etc. without all around them, including compliance and senior management to be fully aware of what is going on. Moreover the regulators cannot be ignorant of the situation, except pleading complete in
Read more

A personal statement on the IOSCO Statement on Alternatives to USD Libor

IOSCO has issued a document called “Principles for Financial Benchmarks” in 2013. As such it acted as an (unofficial/unelected) lawmaker. On 3 July 2023, the same IOSCO issued a “ Statement on Alternatives to USD Libor ”. The Statement looks like a tribunal judgement from a trial with no public hearing, no witness, and no defense right from a tribunal with no mandate to judge. And publish on the day before Independence Day! Some personal comments on the document. Transparency The statement indicated “Administrators should consider whether to improve the transparency of their rates". The IOSCO document lack minimum transparency. It does not indicate in any way the “varying degrees of vulnerability of concern“ of the analysed benchmarks. The name of the benchmark are not even indicated. This creates a culpability by association to all non-SOFR benchmarks. The statement refers to a Review of Alternatives to USD Libor ; to my knowledge, the review itself is not available. The st
Read more