Dave deBronkart’s Post

Is it just me, or is it getting harder to document expenses for expense reports? It appears that either the accountants are becoming worse and worse jerks, OR (equally possible) they're being defrauded by fake expenses, so they need more proof. At the moment I'm dealing with two recent events for which I received no pay and for which allowed expenses were cheap & cheesy ... yet even submitting a copy of the actual hotel bill and airfare confirmation isn't enough - they need to see A SCREEN SHOT OF MY CREDIT CARD STATEMENT to prove I actually PAID it. I mean, this is LABOR, to assemble this stuff. I used to pay an assistant to do it for me, but without income that's not feasible. I'm considering telling future requests that I want a no-documentation per diem. Honestly, they need to realize what a burden this is. What about you? Are you encountering this? Do you just suck it up, when people say they'll reimburse, but then they make it really hard? Do employers do this, too, or is it only conference organizers? Grace Cordovano, PhD, BCPA . Christine Von Raesfeld 💜 . Andrea Downing . Anna McCollister p.s. Here's to organizers who still use decent common sense! Recent examples for me include @DevDays and Health Level Seven International. Thanks!

I will ask again: do any of you know of any speakers anywhere whose business has improved by hiring one of these firms? This is not snark. I'm truly wondering, because I have been hustled by numerous of them through the years. I've never hired one but I'm curious if there are any known examples of their success.

Yikes. Any defenders? On the surface of it, this reminds me of how auto industry executives colossally embarrassed themselves with their tone deaf trip to Washington on their private jets, to beg for a taxpayer funded bail out around 2008!

I know a modest amount about #GenAI's ability to hallucinate or confabulate, but I have to say, this one stumps me. Back in April I thought I'd ask GPT-4 for some good #patient speakers, and look what it gave me. ELIZABETH HOLMES. Of Theranos. Who is NOT a patient, and who IS in federal prison. Grace Cordovano, PhD, BCPA . Grace Vinton . Regina Holliday . Danny Sands, MD, MPH . Hugo Campos . Anna McCollister . Danny van Leeuwen . Kiran Dattani . Josh Mandel, MD

I am sooooo tired of the endless stream of companies with this pitch and no promises. So I'm curious: have ANY of you #speakers out there ever gotten good results building a #speaking business with advice / promotion firms like this?

"If patients are not told about a full disclosure program, is it really full disclosure?" My answer is instant: No, of course not. I'd even call it corrupt. Wouldn't you? Thank you Helen Haskell

When The Enterprise World announces its "visionaries" list, be aware that it's horsecrap. I expect they won't disclose that it's purely a pay-to-play advertising package. Here's the flattering email they sent me... "positives and strongholds" indeed.