The Hidden Labor Behind Guest Speaking in Education

Guest speaking in educational settings is often described as informal or voluntary. From the outside, it can appear straightforward: a professional agrees to speak, a class or audience listens, and the session concludes. What is less visible is the amount of work required to make that exchange function well for everyone involved.

This labor is rarely centralized. It is distributed across faculty, career center staff, administrators, and speakers themselves. Because much of it happens outside formal job descriptions, it is easy to underestimate how much coordination guest speaking actually requires.

On the institutional side, preparation begins well before a speaker enters a classroom or virtual room. Someone identifies a potential speaker, determines fit with a course or program, coordinates schedules, communicates expectations, manages technology requirements, and ensures compliance with institutional policies. These steps are necessary whether the engagement is paid or unpaid, formal or informal.

Faculty and staff often carry this work alongside other responsibilities. Guest speaking is rarely the primary function of a role, yet it demands attention to detail and follow-through. When engagements scale — across departments, programs, or semesters — the cumulative time investment becomes significant.

Speakers, too, contribute substantial labor that is often unacknowledged. Preparing for an educational audience differs from preparing for a conference or corporate setting. Speakers adjust language, select examples that align with academic content, and anticipate questions from students who may be encountering the field for the first time. Even when speakers are experienced professionals, this preparation takes time.

For industry speakers — professionals who speak occasionally rather than as part of their primary occupation — this work is often done outside working hours. For professional speakers — those for whom speaking is part of their livelihood — educational engagements require additional adaptation, as institutional contexts differ from corporate or public events in structure and expectation.

Logistics add another layer. Calendar coordination, last-minute changes, technology testing, consent forms, and follow-up communication all require attention. When something goes wrong, resolution typically falls to staff who are already managing multiple priorities.

Because this labor is fragmented, it is rarely measured. There is no single metric that captures the hours spent preparing, coordinating, and supporting guest speaking. As a result, the work can appear lighter than it is, particularly when engagements are described as “just one class” or “just an hour.”

In response, some institutions have begun to rely on shared discovery and coordination tools rather than individual outreach. Platforms like SpeakerPost have emerged to support this work by making speaker discovery, availability, and context more visible in one place. The value of these systems is not speed alone, but continuity — reducing repeated effort across departments and making guest speaking easier to sustain over time.

This invisibility has practical consequences. It can limit how often guest speaking is attempted, constrain who is invited, or place the burden on a small number of individuals who are willing to absorb the effort. Over time, this can narrow participation and reduce diversity of perspectives, even when intentions are inclusive.

Some institutions have begun to address this by creating clearer processes for identifying and coordinating speakers, often supported by shared platforms that centralize discovery and communication. These systems do not replace relationships; they support them by reducing administrative friction and making expectations clearer for everyone involved.

Guest speaking remains valuable precisely because it is relational rather than transactional. Recognizing the labor behind it allows institutions to support it more sustainably. When the work is visible, it becomes easier to distribute responsibility, broaden participation, and maintain consistency across programs.

Understanding guest speaking as labor does not diminish its value. It clarifies what it takes to make these exchanges possible — and why thoughtful infrastructure matters, even for activities that appear informal on the surface.

---

About the author

Komal Kapoor is the founder of SpeakerPost and a professor who works at the intersection of education, industry, and career development.