????學者，特別是美國頂級商學院教授的演講出場費，絕對不是小數目。

????許多教授的演講費在2萬至4萬美元之間，而這還只是屬于中等價位。如果你想讓最搶手的演講嘉賓走到講臺后面，你可能至少需要準備10萬美元。

????“身價高與他們所處的大學有一定關系，特別是如果演講者跟麻省理工學院(MIT)、西北大學(Northwestern University)、哈佛大學(Harvard University)或其他著名院校扯上關系的話，”高管演講公司(Executive Speakers Bureau)老板理查德?舍爾普說。“與特定學術機構有關聯往往是信譽的保證：‘如果某人是哈佛商學院(Harvard Business School)的大教授，說明他足夠優秀，也許我應該去聽聽他的高見。”

????三位商業演講費最高的學者，也就是邁克爾?波特、克萊頓?克里斯滕森和約翰?科特，都來自哈佛商學院。單憑一場演講，戰略大師波特可以賺得15萬美元。他的同事，“破壞性創新”這一術語的創建者克里斯滕森可以斬獲10萬美元，領導力專家約翰?科特的單場演講費則為8.5萬美元。

????透徹明晰、重點突出的學識是一位演講者價值的另一大組成部分，舍爾普說，“因為他們在一定時期內獲得了其他人難以匹及的知識水平。”

????全球演講者公司(Global Speakers Bureau)顧問阿利斯泰爾?魯梅娜說，組織經常尋求的是這樣一些演講者，他們能夠解決“正在傷害公司”的具體問題（比如，實施計劃和政策時碰到的問題），所以演講中介公司喜歡推銷商學院教授在特定領域的獨到見解。魯梅娜說，企業界或許希望達特茅斯學院(Dartmouth College)塔克商學院(Tuck School of Business)的維杰?戈文達拉揚分享他在創新和戰略領域的專長，他的演講費上限為5.5萬美元。決心增強公司內部領導力的企業或許會對麻省理工學院斯隆商學院(Sloan School of Management)講師兼倫敦商學院(London Business School)教授唐納?薩爾青睞有加。

????企業界的趨勢可能會影響演講主題的選擇和特定演講者的人氣。BigSpeak演講公司(BigSpeak Speakers Bureau)營銷總監克里斯?約翰遜表示，一些大公司紛紛采用一種“軍事化模式”培養領導者，這個趨勢助推曾經擁有準將軍銜的耶魯大學管理學院教授托馬斯?考爾迪奇成為了一位冉冉上升的演講明星。盡管考爾迪奇目前的出場費還處于業界低端（1萬至2萬美元），但不斷增長的情商演講市場已經提升了這位老兵的身價。考爾迪奇曾經擔任過西點軍校(West Point)行為科學教研室主任，任職時間長達12年，約翰遜說，他在如何確認組織內領導者這類“軟技能”方面擁有豐富的專業知識。

????約翰遜說，企業家精神的崛起催生了對創新類演講的濃厚興趣，進而為密歇根大學(University of Michigan)斯蒂芬?M?羅斯商學院(Stephen M. Ross School of Business)教授杰夫?德格拉夫等專家創造了需求。

????舍爾普說，領導力向來是商學院大牌教授的熱門演講主題。西北大學凱洛格高管領導力學院(Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute)主席道格拉斯?科南特對領導力的精辟見解備受各界珍視，他單場演講費的起價為4.5萬美元。

????一些主題來來去去，也有一些主題已經隨著新發展和新問題的出現而改變。高管演講公司的舍爾普說，6年前，公司時常邀請有影響力的學者幫助它們解決跟工作場所的代際差異有關的問題。“那段時期，時不時有組織要求我們安排一位擅長這個領域的演講嘉賓，”他說。“但現在，它已不再是熱門話題。”

????然而，許多公司仍然致力于幫助擁有不同背景和技能的員工更好地協同工作，BigSpeak演講公司的約翰遜說。但這類問題現在集中在了精通技術，但缺乏團隊合作技能的員工身上。他說：“人們真的需要知道如何跟個性不同的同事打交道。”

????Talk, when it comes from some of the country's top business school academics, is far from cheap.

????Fees for speeches by the many professors in the mid-level price range run from $20,000 to $40,000, while it can cost $100,000 or more to put the most sought-after speakers behind a podium.

????"Part of it is the universities that they come from, if they're associated with an MIT or a Northwestern or a Harvard or whatever the case may be," says Richard Schelp, owner of Executive Speakers Bureau. "Being associated with a certain institution brings with it a level of credibility: 'If somebody is good enough to be a professor at Harvard Business School, maybe I should listen to them.'"

????The three highest-paid business speakers from academia -- Michael Porter, Clayton Christensen, and John Kotter -- all come from Harvard Business School. For a single speaking engagement, strategy guru Porter can earn $150,000. His colleague Christensen, who coined the term "disruptive innovation," pulls down $100,000 a talk, while leadership expert John Kotter's speaking fees are $85,000 an appearance.

????Intensive, focused scholarship forms another large part of a speaker's value "because of the level of knowledge that they've attained over a period of time," Schelp says.

????Organizations often seek speakers who can address specific concerns "hurting the corporations" such as problems with the implementation of plans and policies, so speakers bureaus promote business school professors' particular areas of expertise, says Alistair Rumena, a consultant at Global Speakers Bureau. Companies may want Vijay Govindarajan from Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, whose speeches draw fees up to $55,000, for his expertise on innovation and strategy, Rumena says. Firms determined to ramp up their internal leadership may look to Donald Sull, lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a professor at London Business School.

????Trends in business can affect both topic selection and the popularity of certain speakers. A move among some major corporate players to adopt a "military model" for grooming leaders has turned Yale School of Management Professor Brig.-Gen. (retired) Thomas Kolditch into a rising star, says Chris Johnson, marketing director at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau. Kolditch commands fees at the lower end of the spectrum: $10,000 to $20,000. But a growing market for talks on emotional intelligence has fueled demand for the former soldier, who served as head of behavioral sciences at West Point for 12 years and has specialized knowledge in "soft skills" such as identifying leaders within organizations, Johnson says.

????The rise of entrepreneurship has generated strong interest in speeches on innovation, creating demand for experts such as Jeff DeGraff, professor at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business, Johnson says.

????Leadership has always been a popular subject of speeches by prominent business school professors, Schelp says. Douglas Conant, chairman of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute at Northwestern University, delivers highly prized insights on leadership at prices starting at $45,000 per speech.

????Some themes come and go, and others have been transformed by new developments and concerns. A half dozen years ago, companies were regularly bringing in influential academics to present solutions to problems related to generational differences in the workplace, says Schelp of Executive Speakers. "Every other organization that would call us would ask about having a speaker that could present in that area," he says. "Now it's not a hot topic anymore."

????However, companies are still focused on helping employees with different backgrounds and skills work well together, says BigSpeak's Johnson. But such issues now center on tech-savvy employees who lack the skills to function well in teams, Johnson says. "People really need to know how to deal with a disparate range of personality types," he says.