# Following up with contacts after a conference talk: what a speaker agency takes on and what stays with you

Author: Marin Niehues, Stage Starter · Published: 2026-05-05
Topic: Speaker Agency (https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/topic/speaker-agency/)
Source: https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/following-up-after-a-conference-speaker-agency/

A speaker agency handles everything up to the talk, from submission to follow-up with organisers and support on the way to the stage, while you hold the conversations afterwards. Anyone following up with contacts after a conference builds on a conversation that only you had, and so this part stays with you. Everything that brings that audience together can be handed over, from researching conferences to shaping the talk and submitting it. This article shows where the line between the two parts runs, when and how to get in touch with your contacts, and what data protection law allows.

**A speaker agency for experts takes on the stretch up to the stage, including the follow-up with organisers. The conversations with people in the audience are held by the expert, because they continue an exchange that only the expert had.**

## What does following up after a conference mean?

In the conference world, following up describes two activities that involve different people and fall at different times. The first comes before the talk. A conference collects talk proposals through a call for papers, which is a public invitation to submit, and the programme committee, the group that decides on the proposals, often replies only weeks after the call has closed. During that time someone keeps the deadlines in view and asks the organiser for the current status after the announced decision date. That is the follow-up with organisers.

The second activity begins after the talk. People in the audience have asked questions, swapped business cards or connected with you, and anyone who wants to win clients through the stage gets back in touch with them. For the split between agency and expert, one difference is enough: following up with organisers concerns deadlines, forms and replies, and can therefore be handed over, whereas following up with future clients builds on a conversation that you had yourself. How the weeks after a talk unfold as a whole is described in [what happens after a conference](/en/blog/after-the-conference/).

## What does a speaker agency take on up to the stage?

Up to the stage, a speaker agency takes on everything that lies between your expertise and a place in the programme. The work begins with the talk and its abstracts. An abstract is the short description of a planned talk that the programme committee reads before it decides. This is the work [Stage Starter](/en/) takes on for you: we find the right calls, write the submission and submit it. We develop the talk and abstracts from a conversation with you, you approve them once before the start, and after that no individual submission comes back to you for approval.

After that comes a long phase of waiting. Of 2,189 abstracts in our own submissions for clients, 1,374 have been decided, and 94 of those were accepted, around 7 per cent per abstract. At conference level we reach up to 19 per cent per conference, while 5 per cent at most is typical in the market at this volume of submissions. The figure sits above the per-abstract rate because we often submit several abstracts per conference and one acceptance is enough. Behind these figures stand dozens of open matters with different organisers, each with its own deadline and its own form.

Following up is about getting information, and for a call for papers the follow-up comes after the announced decision date and asks about the status of the decision. Such enquiries cost the organiser little time when they come from someone who knows the proposal and has the form and the contact person to hand. Anyone handling them alongside a full client calendar does so in bursts, and a deadline that slips by in the meantime costs the proposal its chance. What happens between submission and acceptance is covered in [following up after a call for papers](/en/blog/following-up-after-a-call-for-papers/). Once the acceptance arrives, we settle technology and slot with the organiser, meaning the length and time of the talk in the programme, and accompany you to the stage.

## How do you follow up with contacts after a conference?

You get in touch with your most important contacts within two to three working days, while both sides still remember the conversation, and a second contact follows after around two weeks, according to our experience.
The first message works when it picks up the actual conversation. Someone who approaches you after a talk has a problem in mind and wants to know whether the speaker can solve it. A message that takes up that problem and brings something useful, such as the slides, a source from the talk or an answer to the open question, gets read, while a generic thank-you email with a sales pitch disappears in the inbox. What such an email contains and why it works is explained in [follow-up after the conference](/en/blog/follow-up-after-a-conference/).

On LinkedIn, the best time to connect is on the day of the conference or the day after, with a short personal note that mentions the talk or the conversation. With a note that picks up a question from the Q&A, the recipient places you straight away, while a request without a note gets lost among all the others. Connecting makes you findable and comes in addition to the message about the conversation, and a post about your talk gives new contacts a reason to get in touch themselves.

Then there is the way B2B purchases are decided. In B2B, several people usually decide on an order together, known as the buying centre, and buyers spend only a small part of their buying journey in direct conversation with potential suppliers. Someone who approaches you after a talk is therefore often one of several participants, and the conversation at the conference is one of the few occasions on which that person meets you as a human being. How such a group is made up is explained in [the buying centre in B2B](/en/blog/buying-centre-b2b/).

## Can I email contacts from the attendee list?

Marketing emails to people on an attendee list require their prior express consent under German law, and this applies to businesses as well. The German Act against Unfair Competition requires this for advertising by email, and the General Data Protection Regulation requires a legal basis for any use of personal data. A list that an organiser passes on to speakers usually covers only the purposes the attendees agreed to when registering, and cold outreach by email is rarely one of them.

The situation is different for people you have spoken to. Someone who hands you their card and asks for the slides or a meeting has consented to receiving exactly that, and a personal message about it is fine. Adding them to a newsletter goes beyond that request and needs separate consent. This article provides an overview and does not constitute legal advice.

## What stays with you after the talk

You hold the conversations after the talk yourself, because the judgement of whether you can solve a problem forms in the conversation with you, and every later message builds on it. At Stage Starter this part therefore stays with you. As an experience value: a talk brings around five serious conversations, these lead to two meetings, and every third meeting turns into paid work. Because the preparatory work sits with us, your calendar stays free in the two weeks afterwards for the meetings the talk has produced.

**Experience values: a talk and its consequences**
- around 5 conversations | serious conversations after a talk
- around 2 meetings | arise from those conversations
- every third meeting | leads to paid work

For experts, a single assignment from one of these conversations is worth more than any fee a professional conference would pay. A consulting engagement of twenty days brings in a multiple of a beginner's fee of €1,000 to €3,000, as the [guide to speaker fees](/en/blog/speaker-fees-guide/) works out. That is why Stage Starter brings experts onto professional stages where their clients are sitting.

## Why the work before the talk influences the contacts afterwards

How many people approach you after a talk, and what they expect from you, is decided long before the stage. A programme committee selects talks that promise its audience a benefit, and the audience at a professional conference consists of people from one sector with a shared professional problem. An abstract that names that problem puts the talk in front of listeners who really have it.

**The choice of conference and the shaping of the abstract determine which listeners come to you after the talk, and with what expectation. At Stage Starter, this work before the talk is ours.**

Anyone who wants to skip this work can buy a slot. Pay to speak means that an organiser sells speaking slots, usually as a sponsorship package, and that quickly costs €10,000 or more for a single speaking slot. Even €10,000 equals a good ten monthly fees at Stage Starter, where the collaboration starts from €990 net per month and covers the whole operation before the stage. Whether the audience of a purchased slot matches your future clients is something you check alone with pay to speak, and sponsored sessions are often not labelled in the programme, yet professional audiences recognise them by their content as soon as a talk sounds like a sales pitch.

**Who does which work until the conversation after the talk**
Task | Submitting yourself | Pay to speak | Stage Starter
Talk and abstracts | you, alongside your day job | you, for the purchased slot | we develop both, you approve once
Choice of conferences | you research and check deadlines | the organiser sets the offer | we research conferences with an open call
Submission and follow-up with the organiser | you, reply by reply | not applicable, the slot is bought | we, in your name
Conversations after the talk | you | you | you
Cost | working time | quickly €10,000 or more for a single speaking slot | from €990 net per month for the whole operation

## Who the model pays off for most

The split pays off most for experts with a full calendar, whose client acquisition has so far run on referrals, whose assignments are of high value and who want to reach a specialist audience. If one client won brings in more revenue than a year of monthly fees, the collaboration has paid for itself. Your share is the time for the conversations in the weeks after the talk. Anyone who handles submission and follow-up alone loses the working days they later need for those conversations, and does well to set them against the flat fee. Anyone who wants a written roadmap in advance starts with the Speaker Audit from €2,000 net, which is credited when you book the agency.

**At Stage Starter, a speaker agency takes on everything up to the stage, from the talk through submission to the follow-up with organisers, from €990 net per month. You hold the conversations with contacts after the talk yourself, the most important ones within two to three working days, and because the preparatory work sits with the agency, you have the time for them.**

**Sources**
The acceptance rates come from Stage Starter's analysis of our own submissions for clients. The information on email marketing is based on the German Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The numbers of conversations and meetings per talk and the time spans for following up are experience values from our work.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can an agency follow up with my contacts after a conference talk?

At Stage Starter you hold the conversations after the talk yourself. We take on everything up to the stage, from the talk to the follow-up with organisers. Following up with people in the audience presupposes an earlier conversation, and you were the one who had it.

### What does follow-up mean for a speaker agency?

It means the enquiry to the organiser after the announced decision date, once an abstract has been submitted to a call for papers: the agency clarifies the status and answers open questions from the programme committee. It ends with the conference accepting or declining, and it is separate from following up with people in the audience, which lies with the speaker.

### How quickly should I follow up with contacts after a conference?

You contact the most important people within two to three working days, while the details of the conversation are fresh. A second contact follows after around two weeks. Both figures are experience values from our work.

### What should I write in a follow-up email after a conference?

A follow-up email refers to the actual conversation and brings something that helps the recipient, such as the slides or the answer to their question. It closes with a suggestion for a short call, and a list of services stays out.

### How do I connect on LinkedIn after a talk?

Send the request on the day of the conference or the day after, with a short note that mentions the talk or the question from your conversation. A post about your talk gives new contacts a reason to get in touch themselves.

### Can I email contacts from the attendee list (GDPR)?

Marketing emails to people on an attendee list require their prior express consent, in B2B as well. The organiser passing on the list does not replace that consent. Someone who asked you for materials in conversation may, however, receive them from you personally.

### How many clients does a conference talk bring?

As an experience value, around five serious conversations lead to two meetings, and every third meeting becomes paid work. No agency can guarantee an acceptance, because the programme committee decides, and the client decides on orders.

## Where the agency's work ends

When choosing an agency, it is worth asking where its work ends and which parts it leaves to you. A reliable answer names the conversations after the talk as your task and shows at the same time what lies with the agency up to the stage. If you want to know which professional stages suit your topic and how much time that leaves you for the conversations afterwards, talk to us in an [initial consultation](/en/erstgespraech/).