Invited talks--"worth it" for tenure and promotion?

[futureapppsy2]

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Much to my surprise, I've been getting a fair number of invitations for invited talks (legit ones) the past two years, and I almost always accept them because 1) it's good PR, 2) as a research nerd, I like talking about this stuff, 3) it shows "national prominence," and 4) they often pay a few hundred dollars. Is there any upside or downside to doing these in terms of tenure and promotion at an R1?

Thanks!

 

[WisNeuro]

Granted that they don't take a significant amount of time away from other job duties, I can't imagine that there'd really be any downside. Plus, it would likely also be good PR for your institution, as well as good networking opportunities. Interested to hear from anyone on a tenure committee.

 

[Justanothergrad]

I dont see your TNP being an issue either way 🤘, but it's good self promotion / Univ promotion and the honorariums are a nice plus. I'd tend towards doing them as well when reasonable

 

[PsyDr]

Increasingly, these conferences are asking to record. I suspect they will sell your recordings at a later date.

 

[Ollie123]

Most places I've spoken ask permission to record. I imagine any university selling recordings of outside speakers without their permission or cutting them in would be opening themselves up to quite the lawsuit. Could of course be different depending on where exactly you are speaking. Conferences are another matter.

I usually go for it barring situations where I have limited time, albeit not for the reasons you state. If you do it, definitely don't treat it like a conference and feel like you need fresh material. Recycle the heck out of those talks. I've seen a certain director of an NIH institute give more-or-less the same talk 3 times in 3 different settings (and probably a 4th time but I didn't go because....see above).

My main reason for doing it was networking. A little different during COVID, but normally an invited speaker gets scheduled for other meetings. I've had some interesting ideas and collaborations emerge from those.

While its not common, be warned that some are also covert job interviews. I know multiple people who got invited to give a talk and got surprised with a job offer afterwards. So it can be a good way to either make a leap to a new place or negotiate more resources from your home institution if you want to play that game.

 

[ExpertHoopJumper]

I was talking about just this thing with my postdoc mentor (who is also a dean and a "heavy hitter") as I prepare to join a faculty. Their advice to me, contrary to other advice I've received/read, was to say "yes" to everything, especially opportunities to potentially get your name and face in front of power people. They suggested that your name recognition will elicit additional speaking opportunities which will then lead to invitations to task forces, consensus panels, etc because the powerful players who construct these prestigious things will more readily think of you. Opportunities such as these can very well play a role in your tenure review.