Samuel Scott 🎤
@samueljscott.bsky.social
Keynote marketing speaker: http://bit.ly/2Y2l1Q5. Columnist at The Drum. Member: Toastmasters International, CIM UK. [email protected]
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Marketing Speaker for Global Conferences Samuel Scott
Marketing truth from an expert trade journalist. Samuel Scott shows the truth of the present and future of the marketing industry as a neutral observer with nothing to sell.
www.samueljscott.com
Hello, 2025! Now that events are back in force, I'm booking marketing speeches, workshops, and corporate trainings for this year on sustainability, ad performance, B2B strategy, and other topics.
Learn more: www.samueljscott.com/marketing-sp...
Learn more: www.samueljscott.com/marketing-sp...
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
As an academic that feels very odd to me-- I've organized a lot of conferences and sessions over the years, and have *never* asked anyone to travel and speak for free. Even with small non-profits, we've always offered some sort of honorarium. Baffling.
December 28, 2025 at 12:21 PM
As an academic that feels very odd to me-- I've organized a lot of conferences and sessions over the years, and have *never* asked anyone to travel and speak for free. Even with small non-profits, we've always offered some sort of honorarium. Baffling.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
Got asked to speak for free to millionaires about the machinations of billionaires. No travel expenses either. Sadly, I cannot pay my Scottish Gas bill in “prestige”.
January 11, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Got asked to speak for free to millionaires about the machinations of billionaires. No travel expenses either. Sadly, I cannot pay my Scottish Gas bill in “prestige”.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
The worst possible conference financial combo: TestCon Europe in October. Full ticket price is 1350 euros. Meanwhile there is no speaker hotel / airfare. I don’t plan to volunteer to cover these costs, only for conferences with <200 ticket prices! Pay speakers or all will be commercial pitches.
December 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
The worst possible conference financial combo: TestCon Europe in October. Full ticket price is 1350 euros. Meanwhile there is no speaker hotel / airfare. I don’t plan to volunteer to cover these costs, only for conferences with <200 ticket prices! Pay speakers or all will be commercial pitches.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
I seriously don't know how GDC continues to be as important as it is to the game industry when they keep charging that much just for entry ($1500 this year!), and continue to hold it in the most expensive city in the country. And STILL don't pay speakers.
Just unreal.
Just unreal.
November 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I seriously don't know how GDC continues to be as important as it is to the game industry when they keep charging that much just for entry ($1500 this year!), and continue to hold it in the most expensive city in the country. And STILL don't pay speakers.
Just unreal.
Just unreal.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
Consistently amazed at organisations charging hundreds of pounds for conference tickets ask me to speak for free. I don't walk into a barbers and ask if I can have a free haircut.
Completely different if it's a school/uni etc... happy to do that for free.
Completely different if it's a school/uni etc... happy to do that for free.
February 26, 2024 at 3:59 PM
Consistently amazed at organisations charging hundreds of pounds for conference tickets ask me to speak for free. I don't walk into a barbers and ask if I can have a free haircut.
Completely different if it's a school/uni etc... happy to do that for free.
Completely different if it's a school/uni etc... happy to do that for free.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
If you are charging over a thousand bucks for passes to a conference that draws thousands of people you can pay speakers in more than “exposure”
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
November 4, 2025 at 8:08 PM
If you are charging over a thousand bucks for passes to a conference that draws thousands of people you can pay speakers in more than “exposure”
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Thank you for coming to my TED talk
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
it is incredible that they never pay speakers. The content. It's so rich and they make you pay for it through vault access. It's an incredible business model.
September 23, 2025 at 1:18 AM
it is incredible that they never pay speakers. The content. It's so rich and they make you pay for it through vault access. It's an incredible business model.
The term "performance marketing" is a fundamental misunderstanding of both "performance" and "marketing."
September 2, 2025 at 7:02 AM
The term "performance marketing" is a fundamental misunderstanding of both "performance" and "marketing."
Conferences and events in the real world are increasingly important today. www.thedrum.com/opinion/2025...
Live experiences are the best way to build trust
In a market flooded with AI-generated everything, there’s one thing the technology can’t fake, says Kevin Ruiz of Spiro – the moment someone looks you in the eye, shakes your hand, and decides, ‘I bel...
www.thedrum.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Conferences and events in the real world are increasingly important today. www.thedrum.com/opinion/2025...
Quick thought:
The Cracker Barrel rebrand is just the latest example of everything looking the same because of an obsession with "optimization" and "best practices."
Alex Murrell of UK brand agency Epoch once put it perfectly in "The Age of Average": www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the...
The Cracker Barrel rebrand is just the latest example of everything looking the same because of an obsession with "optimization" and "best practices."
Alex Murrell of UK brand agency Epoch once put it perfectly in "The Age of Average": www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the...
August 23, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Quick thought:
The Cracker Barrel rebrand is just the latest example of everything looking the same because of an obsession with "optimization" and "best practices."
Alex Murrell of UK brand agency Epoch once put it perfectly in "The Age of Average": www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the...
The Cracker Barrel rebrand is just the latest example of everything looking the same because of an obsession with "optimization" and "best practices."
Alex Murrell of UK brand agency Epoch once put it perfectly in "The Age of Average": www.alexmurrell.co.uk/articles/the...
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
Autism conference in MN wants autistic speakers to center community voices but doesn’t offer honorarium (is asking people to speak for free) 🙄
August 4, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Autism conference in MN wants autistic speakers to center community voices but doesn’t offer honorarium (is asking people to speak for free) 🙄
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
Unless you’re a charity/NFP organisation, I strongly believe event organisers should pay speakers, even if it’s just a token gesture (at the very least covering expenses.) And speakers - don’t be afraid to ask! We have to make a living and lord knows that won’t be from book sales 😵💫
August 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Unless you’re a charity/NFP organisation, I strongly believe event organisers should pay speakers, even if it’s just a token gesture (at the very least covering expenses.) And speakers - don’t be afraid to ask! We have to make a living and lord knows that won’t be from book sales 😵💫
Just watched Pump up the Volume (1990) for the first time. I can't believe I never saw it when I was young.
It might be THE best Gen X movie.
The trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLDe...
It might be THE best Gen X movie.
The trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLDe...
Pump Up The Volume Original Theatrical Trailer (1990)
YouTube video by Matt M
www.youtube.com
August 15, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Just watched Pump up the Volume (1990) for the first time. I can't believe I never saw it when I was young.
It might be THE best Gen X movie.
The trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLDe...
It might be THE best Gen X movie.
The trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLDe...
"If you want to scare a digital agency, online ad network or online media platform, ask how many humans saw your ad."
That's my new @thedrum.bsky.social column in which I applaud Barb UK for now measuring the humans who watch certain YouTube channels on TVs.
That's my new @thedrum.bsky.social column in which I applaud Barb UK for now measuring the humans who watch certain YouTube channels on TVs.
Barb will use human panels to measure YouTube. Now, what about the rest of the web?
The Promotion Fix’s Samuel Scott believes putting humans back into the heart of measurement is important to help combat fraud. The column is inspired by the UK’s Barb rolling out measurement of YouTub...
www.thedrum.com
August 12, 2025 at 6:24 AM
"If you want to scare a digital agency, online ad network or online media platform, ask how many humans saw your ad."
That's my new @thedrum.bsky.social column in which I applaud Barb UK for now measuring the humans who watch certain YouTube channels on TVs.
That's my new @thedrum.bsky.social column in which I applaud Barb UK for now measuring the humans who watch certain YouTube channels on TVs.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
I want to keep my dumb car and my dumb house full of dumb furniture and dumb appliances and I want all the AI-infested, data-stealing, hackable "smart" devices to leave me the fuck alone.
The apartment lights go out. The smart shutters start to roll up. An internet-connected boiler is remotely turned on.
But the residents didn’t trigger any of these actions. It’s a demonstration of how AI can be hacked to create real-world havoc.
But the residents didn’t trigger any of these actions. It’s a demonstration of how AI can be hacked to create real-world havoc.
Hackers Hijacked Google’s Gemini AI With a Poisoned Calendar Invite to Take Over a Smart Home
For likely the first time ever, security researchers have shown how AI can be hacked to create real world havoc, allowing them to turn off lights, open smart shutters, and more.
wrd.cm
August 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
I want to keep my dumb car and my dumb house full of dumb furniture and dumb appliances and I want all the AI-infested, data-stealing, hackable "smart" devices to leave me the fuck alone.
Finally saw it out in the wild.
My thought: American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad was laughably accused of "eugenics," but it could have used an attractive person of any race, and the jeans-genes pun would still have worked.
My thought: American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad was laughably accused of "eugenics," but it could have used an attractive person of any race, and the jeans-genes pun would still have worked.
August 8, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Finally saw it out in the wild.
My thought: American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad was laughably accused of "eugenics," but it could have used an attractive person of any race, and the jeans-genes pun would still have worked.
My thought: American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad was laughably accused of "eugenics," but it could have used an attractive person of any race, and the jeans-genes pun would still have worked.
The Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story grew up and opened a store at the Tel Aviv Port.
August 1, 2025 at 7:36 AM
The Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story grew up and opened a store at the Tel Aviv Port.
Everyone talks about building "trust" and "thought leadership" on LinkedIn and elsewhere.
But has anyone ever actually measured those brand metrics through quantitative market research surveys to see any actual effects?
But has anyone ever actually measured those brand metrics through quantitative market research surveys to see any actual effects?
July 30, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Everyone talks about building "trust" and "thought leadership" on LinkedIn and elsewhere.
But has anyone ever actually measured those brand metrics through quantitative market research surveys to see any actual effects?
But has anyone ever actually measured those brand metrics through quantitative market research surveys to see any actual effects?
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
I was asked earlier this year to *chair* an event taking place in June for no fee, which would have included the prep too.
Tickets sold online for the conference were £1k+ each.
Tickets sold online for the conference were £1k+ each.
And no, "exposure" isn't a fee. If an author needs exposure, they can always get it by arranging a talk at a local bookshop or library. They can get it on social media, or in the local press. Literary festivals need authors, not the other way around. Without authors, they wouldn't exist.
July 26, 2025 at 9:42 AM
I was asked earlier this year to *chair* an event taking place in June for no fee, which would have included the prep too.
Tickets sold online for the conference were £1k+ each.
Tickets sold online for the conference were £1k+ each.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
And no, "exposure" isn't a fee. If an author needs exposure, they can always get it by arranging a talk at a local bookshop or library. They can get it on social media, or in the local press. Literary festivals need authors, not the other way around. Without authors, they wouldn't exist.
July 26, 2025 at 9:30 AM
And no, "exposure" isn't a fee. If an author needs exposure, they can always get it by arranging a talk at a local bookshop or library. They can get it on social media, or in the local press. Literary festivals need authors, not the other way around. Without authors, they wouldn't exist.
Reposted by Samuel Scott 🎤
Anyone know any good Google Ads paid search spend forecasting tools?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
July 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Anyone know any good Google Ads paid search spend forecasting tools?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
Anyone know any good Google Ads paid search spend forecasting tools?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
July 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Anyone know any good Google Ads paid search spend forecasting tools?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
As in, what spend will yield what results -- and knowing when you'll hit the S-curve plateau?
Whenever you see the adjective "performance" in relation to advertising or other comms tactics, you can just replace it with "short-term."
Short-term marketing
Short-term advertising
Short-term channel
Short-term campaign
Short-term marketing
Short-term advertising
Short-term channel
Short-term campaign
July 23, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Whenever you see the adjective "performance" in relation to advertising or other comms tactics, you can just replace it with "short-term."
Short-term marketing
Short-term advertising
Short-term channel
Short-term campaign
Short-term marketing
Short-term advertising
Short-term channel
Short-term campaign
Watching the Lionesses in @weuro2025bot.bsky.social -- go England!
It still feels weird to hear "God Save the King."
It still feels weird to hear "God Save the King."
July 22, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Watching the Lionesses in @weuro2025bot.bsky.social -- go England!
It still feels weird to hear "God Save the King."
It still feels weird to hear "God Save the King."