It is often said that the only thing people fear more than death is public speaking.

Whether you're a student giving a short presentation following months of stressful research or a working stiff sifting through pie charts in front of your boss, public speaking is rarely fun. Some people, however, can make a living giving speeches, and still others get paid wads of cash just to show up. Throughout the country and even internationally, a handful of famous individuals have been collecting speaking fees like food samples at Costco. Likely due to a high demand and their undoubtedly busy schedules, politicians sometimes see the biggest of these paychecks. Former President Bill Clinton is one of the most famous of these speakers--since leaving office, he has raked in tens of millions of dollars on the speaking circuit.

In 2006 alone, Clinton made between $9 million and $10 million in speaking fees after giving 352 speeches in a single year, including appearances in Canada, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and China, just to name a few. Sounds like a lot, right? That dollar amount was actually from only about 20 percent of the speeches he gave. For the rest of the speeches, he either waived the fee or gave it to his charitable foundation.

Not surprisingly, many other politicians have taken to the lecture circuit to supplement their incomes. According to salon.com, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee netted close to $140,000 in speaking fees from 2006 and 2007. Not to be left out, salon.com also reported that former New York mayor and former presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's speaking fees from a speaking tour in 2006 and 2007 topped $9 million. Former presidential candidate John Edwards landed over $285,000 in speaking fees from nine colleges and universities in 2006, according to Fox News. In fact, the same report claimed that Edwards charged approximately $55,000 for a single speech that year at UC Davis--the largest sum of the nine institutions. The presentation's title? Poverty, the Great Moral Issue Facing America.

It appears that just about anyone who steps foot in the public limelight can roam the country in search of public presentation paychecks. Donald Trump, already renowned for his monetary prowess, has always been able to locate dollar signs, and he did not disappoint his fans in 2005 when he signed a deal to deliver a presentation titled How to Succeed in Real Estate. Unlike the aforementioned politicians, who settled on fees in the mere five- to six-digit range, Trump's fee for delivering three of these hour-long real estate talks was $1 million each.

Luckily, not every notable out there has a Trump-sized price tag attached. Nationwidespeakers.com has a list of speakers broken down into fee ranges for your paying pleasure. From the "$100,000 and over" group, you could have anyone from Robin Williams to Lance Armstrong drop by. Personalities like Sean "Diddy" Combs, Mia Hamm, Magic Johnson or Rachael Ray (among many others) fall between $50,000 - $100,000 per event, which sounds like a recipe for a good time all-around. Still other lesser-known speakers have fees as low as $7,500--approximately one-seventh of one John Edwards.

Not to be left out are the thousands of dollars handed out to celebrities for simply showing up to an event. Socialite Paris Hilton was paid $1 million dollars to "wave at crowds" in Austria, according to Fox News. When he was married to Britney Spears, Kevin Federline charged about $20,000 per party appearance, reported MSNBC. Night club owners obviously don't require their guests to have the same level of proficiency at orating as the university circuit does.
 

Sources:

washingtonpost.com; foxnews.com; learningannex.com; msnbc.msn.com; nationwidespeakers.com; salon.com