Would you like to have Paris Hilton as a guest-speaker? You could, if you can afford to compete with a $1 million pricetag for a one hour class. This is what The Learning Annex offered the socialite to conduct a talk on "How to build your brand".

It is still unknown whether Hilton has accepted the offer, but if she does she will become the Annex's second-highest paid guest speaker, after Donald Trump. Trump gets paid about $1,5 million per appearance. Bill Zanker, president of the Learning Annex, said that Hilton is the ideal person to talk about building a brand, especially to those members who own small businesses. And I have to admit, she is a pretty good person to talk on the subject of branding.

Many companies and institutes are starting to opt for celebrity guest speakers, but they all come at a pretty high price. Popular speakers in the UK include Lenny Henry, Tony Robinson and Stephen Fry. Entrepreneurs such as Peter Jones are also in demand but their availabilty is very limited.

There are also many new companies, such as Now You're Talking, springing up that provide a service whereby they help you book a celebrity guest speaker. This seems to be a new emerging market in the luxury services industry. Have you had any experience of working with celebrity speakers?