# Speaker agency contract: term, notice period and guarantees

Author: Marin Niehues, Stage Starter · Published: 2026-08-25
Topic: Speaker Agency (https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/topic/speaker-agency/)
Source: https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/speaker-agency-contract/

A contract with a speaker agency should settle the scope of work, the term and the notice period, clarify who may use the texts, and promise no guaranteed outcome. Whether a talk makes it onto a programme is decided by the programme committee, the group that votes on submissions at a conference, and no agency can promise that decision in a contract. What an agency can promise is work over several months, such as searching for conferences and writing and submitting abstracts (the short descriptions of a planned talk). This article goes through the five points where a contract of this kind needs clarity and gives a clear recommendation for each.

**A good contract with a speaker agency describes activities you can check and states the length and end of the collaboration before you sign. Acceptances and talks stay outside the contract, because the organisers decide on them.**

## What should a speaker agency contract cover?

A contract with a speaker agency needs five points, and they decide whether it prevents later disputes:

1. the scope of work, station by station,
2. the rights of use to the texts produced,
3. the term, including a review point,
4. termination and the handling of submissions in progress,
5. the question of guarantees.

Legally, the contract is classified by what the agency owes. Under German law, a contract for services (§ 611 of the German Civil Code) obliges the provider to do the work, and a contract for a specific result (§ 631) obliges it to deliver that result. An agency cannot promise a talk as a result, because third parties decide on it, so the ongoing submission work is typically a contract for services with ongoing payment. Many agency contracts contain elements of both types, for example when writing the abstracts is agreed as a finished deliverable, and the classification then follows the wording of the specific contract. This article provides an overview and does not constitute legal advice.

The questions to ask in the conversation before you sign are collected in [Ten questions for a speaker agency](/en/blog/questions-to-ask-a-speaker-agency/). Services, prices and models of all agency types are set out in the [speaker agency guide](/en/blog/speaker-agency-guide/).

## Scope of work: what the monthly fee pays for

A phrase such as “support with conference research” says little in a contract as long as it is unclear what the agency actually does. A speaker agency that gets experts onto conference stages has six stations to work through. At the start come the talk topic and the abstracts, then conference research and submission, and at the end the follow-up and the support up to the stage. Submissions go in through a call for papers, the public announcement with which a conference collects talk proposals. A good contract lists each station separately, because every station that is missing stays with you.

[Stage Starter](/en/) does this work for you: we find the right calls, write the submission and submit it, then we follow up and accompany acceptances all the way to the stage. You supply your expertise and approve the talk and abstracts once before the start, after which we submit in your name without putting each submission in front of you. You hold the conversations after the talk yourself, and this boundary belongs in the scope of work too, because it says where the agency’s work ends. Collaboration starts from €990 net per month.

A volume clause belongs in the contract as well: how many conferences the agency works on each month, by which criteria it chooses them and what report you receive about it. An operation that works on volume reaches at least a hundred submissions to around twenty conferences in the first month and at least fifty a month after that. With a monthly report you can see after a quarter whether the work is running, without waiting for acceptances.

## Who owns the abstracts an agency writes?

You may use the abstracts permanently if the contract grants you an unlimited right of use, and that is exactly what you should have written down. Rights of use are the permission to use and to change a text. Under German law, copyright lies with whoever created the text, provided the text qualifies for protection, which very short abstracts do not always do, and where the work was joint it can belong to both sides together (§ 8 of the German Copyright Act). Copyright as such cannot be transferred under German law, so what a contract grants are rights of use.

Where nothing precise is agreed, those rights reach in case of doubt only as far as the purpose of the contract requires (the purpose-of-transfer rule, § 31(5) of the German Copyright Act). In an agency contract that purpose is mainly submission to conferences, so use after the contract ends is not secured. Before you sign, clarify whether you may keep submitting and editing the texts after the end, whether that right is unlimited in time and place, whether the agency may use the texts for other clients and whether it names you in its own references.

**One sentence on rights of use**
Have the contract state that you may continue to use and edit the texts developed for you after the collaboration ends, without limits in time or place.

## What minimum term makes sense with a speaker agency?

A term of at least three to six months with a fixed review after three months makes sense, because that is when the first conference decisions arrive. In the market you will find contracts that can be cancelled monthly as well as minimum terms of several months. Between a submission and a conference’s answer there are often weeks, sometimes months, and according to our analysis of 2,415 conferences that publicly advertise speaking slots for 2026, the median time between the submission deadline and the start of the conference is 50 days. In our own submissions for clients, 815 of 2,189 abstracts were still undecided, because many conferences reply only after their call has closed. A contract for a single month therefore sets the wrong yardstick, since after four weeks hardly any conference has decided.

A long fixed term without a review point has the opposite weakness: it ties you to an agency whose work you cannot yet judge. Before you sign, the contract should therefore say whether it can be cancelled monthly or has a minimum term, and whether it renews automatically. An automatic renewal needs a deadline you can put in your calendar.

If you do not want to commit straight away, you can begin with a smaller step. The Speaker Audit, from €2,000 net, delivers a written roadmap and is credited when you book the agency.

## Termination: what happens to submissions in progress

The notice period is the time between the declaration of notice and the end of the contract. In agency contracts its value depends mainly on what happens to submissions in progress during that time and afterwards. A conference that received a submission in the last month of the contract often answers only after the collaboration has ended. The contract should say who then speaks with the organiser and who agrees the speaker agreement, the arrangement between speaker and organiser about date and rights.

The handover includes the conference list and the status of each submission, plus the texts in editable form. It also matters in whose name the accounts on submission portals are held, because with an account in the agency’s name the history of your submissions leaves with the agency. How a switch in the middle of a term works is described in [Switching speaker agencies](/en/blog/switching-speaker-agency/).

Under German law, the right to terminate a long-term contract for good cause cannot be excluded and therefore applies even during a minimum term (generally § 314 of the German Civil Code, for contracts for services § 626). It requires a genuine reason, for example that agreed services keep failing to appear, and in the case of a breach of duty it usually requires an unsuccessful formal warning first (§ 314(2)). For services based on particular trust, § 627 adds a right to terminate at any time unless the contract validly excludes it, so it is worth checking whether your contract says anything about this.

## Can a speaker agency guarantee talks?

No speaker agency can guarantee talks, because the programme committee decides whether a talk is accepted. Our own submissions for clients show where the rate lies: of 1,374 decided abstracts, 94 were accepted, about 7 per cent per abstract, and per conference we reach up to 19 per cent acceptances, whereas 5 per cent at most is typical in the market at this volume of submissions. A fuller evaluation is in the article [Acceptance rates for calls for papers](/en/blog/call-for-papers-acceptance-rate/).

**Our submissions for clients in numbers**
- about 7 per cent | acceptance per decided abstract
- up to 19 per cent | acceptances per decided conference
- 815 of 2,189 | abstracts still awaiting a decision

What can be promised in a contract is activity: the number of conferences worked on each month, a fixed reporting rhythm, response times to your questions and submission before the deadline. Have these activities, from research to support on the way to the stage, listed individually in the contract before you sign. A success fee sounds like a guarantee and merely shifts the question: the contract then has to define what counts as success and what happens if the organiser withdraws, and the agency has an incentive to submit where an acceptance comes most easily, even if few potential clients sit there.

At the other end sits the purchase of a stage. With pay to speak, organisers sell speaking slots, usually as part of a sponsorship package, and that quickly costs €10,000 and more for a single speaking slot. When a bought slot can make sense is explained in [Sponsored talk and pay to speak](/en/blog/do-speakers-have-to-pay-for-the-stage/).

**Three contract models at a glance**
Criterion | Success fee | Stage package | Stage Starter
What you pay for | an acceptance or a talk | a speaking slot | work from research to support up to the stage
What it costs | commission per success, set by the provider | quickly €10,000 and more for a single speaking slot | from €990 net per month for the whole operation
What the contract must clarify | what counts as success and who chooses the conferences | presentation in the programme and refund on cancellation | scope of work and a single approval of talk and abstracts before the start

**The contract points at a glance**
All six stations with a monthly volume, an unlimited right of use to all texts, a review after three months, rules for acceptances that arrive after the end, and promises about activity rather than about talks.

**A contract with a speaker agency protects you if it describes the scope of work in separate stations, clarifies the rights to the texts and settles term and termination. What it promises is activity, and the conferences decide on the talks.**

**Sources**
Stage Starter analysis: our own submissions for clients and our analysis of 2,415 conferences that publicly advertise speaking slots for 2026. Legal classification under the German Civil Code (§§ 314, 611, 626, 627, 631) and the German Copyright Act (§§ 8, 31).

## Frequently asked questions

### How long does a contract with a speaker agency run?

A contract with a speaker agency should run for at least three to six months, with a fixed review after three months. Anything shorter makes little sense, because conferences often decide weeks or months after the submission. Ask before signing whether the contract renews automatically and with what deadline.

### What minimum term is usual with a speaker agency?

The market has contracts that can be cancelled monthly as well as minimum terms of several months. Three to six months are advisable, because in that time the first conference decisions arrive and you can judge the work. A long fixed term without a review ties you to a service you do not yet know.

### Can I cancel a contract with a speaker agency?

Yes, by ordinary notice under the terms of the contract, and for good cause even during a minimum term (§ 314 and § 626 of the German Civil Code). In the case of a breach of duty, an unsuccessful formal warning is usually required first. Clarify in advance what happens to submissions in progress and to acceptances that arrive after the contract ends.

### Do I own the abstracts a speaker agency writes?

Yes, if the contract grants you an unlimited right of use, and you should have that put in writing. Under German law, copyright stays with the person who created the text, provided it qualifies for protection, and the rights of use are granted by contract. Without a clause, they reach in case of doubt only as far as the purpose of the contract requires.

### Is a success fee with speaker agencies reputable?

A success fee is permissible, but it only moves the guarantee question into the definition of what counts as success. It creates an incentive to submit where an acceptance comes easily, even if few potential clients sit there. Check therefore who chooses the conferences and what applies if the organiser cancels.

### Can a speaker agency guarantee talks?

No, because the programme committee of the conference decides whether a talk is accepted. An agency can commit to the volume, choice and quality of submissions. Per conference we reach up to 19 per cent acceptances, whereas 5 per cent at most is typical in the market at this volume of submissions.

If you want to go through working with Stage Starter in detail before deciding, we can clarify scope and process in an [initial consultation](/en/erstgespraech/).