"There was a UWWG event... Dayna was also supposed to speak (keynote?). She backed out within a few weeks of the event and created her own waterpark gathering in just a couple months time.
I'm very unsure of dates, but am sure that I could see that it was a very sleazy thing to do."

Failed to show for La Leche League conference (account below).

Also note her claim to have spoken at several LLL and Attachment Parenting conferences from 2001 to 2007 (??)

Connecticut conference (added demand for her family to stay at a water park hotel late in negotiations, and didn't do a good job of speaking)

Advertised speakers for cruise, let them go, told participants they had cancelled.

Crowded out the organizer of the cruise, with a contract (unclear whether she created it).

Promised three people a position at Rethinking Everything, cancelled with two (or three) after offers were detailed.

Offering speakers a space in a room, rather than a room of their own (while demanding two rooms on the cruise ship, and a water park, and claiming that it was customary for whole families to be flown internationally for speaking, which is is not and never was).

When speakers withdrew from Rethinking Everything in 2013, their names were left on the website until many people demanded that it be updated. Or perhaps until the owner required it. Clarification welcome.

I will put this out there on my very negative experience with Danya and Joe as a Conference Coordinator. I run the La Leche League of Maine/ New Hampshire Area Breastfeeding and Parenting Conference. When I first started working with the conference committee I was made aware by the then Conference Coordinator that Danya Martin had been asking for years to speak at the event. When I asked why they hadn't had her speak she said somehting along the lines of "because she is a pain in the ass and it is never enough". I let the comment go. I have heard in passing that Danya was a LLL Leader at some point but have never had that confirmed. I have been a Leader since 2004 and never interacted with her as a Leader.

When I took over the Conference Coordinator job Danya was one of the first people to contact me. She sent me congratulations on the job and offered to speak at the event. Our group is a local nonprofit geared to help mothers and babies. Our primary focus is on breastfeeding. I didn't have space in my calendar for schooling sessions that year so I turned her down. She pushed, and pushed and pushed. She sent me a DVD of her Dr. Phil episode. She spoke of what an expert she is, how lucky we were to have her in the area. In essence she drove me nuts.

The next year when I was planning the event I gave in. We were going to have what we called a "schooling choices panel" basically a few moms with different experiences sharing their stories and offering info on what was working for their families. Danya jumped on it when I offered her a spot. The very first question she sent to me was how much we were going to pay her. Our organization is small. It is extremely rare for us to pay speakers (especially someone who was a Leader or used to be a Leader). I told her we had no budget for that. She hemmed and hawed about not being paid and asked to sell her books at the event. After much annoyance I offered her a free vendor space. She offered to donate a toy kitchen from Joe for our silent auction. Then after demanded free advertising space for the donation. She also offered Joe to do a Father's session. I signed them both up for sessions. They sent me speaker contracts and I started sending out Conference flyers stating they were speaking.

As out event approached she contacted me no less than 15 times about how she really wanted to do an entire session on unschooling alone. (I explained MANY times that "off topic" sessions have to be balanced with multiple view points and I didn't have the time and space to offer lots of sessions about schooling choices which is why we were doing a panel in one session.)

Joe was supposed it ship us the toy kitchen for the donation but never did. She explained that they would bring it to the event. Wed (3 days before our Conference) she called again asking to do a solo session. I explained that even if I wanted to change it I couldn't. All the sessions were signed up for, program booklets printed etc. She then out if the blue said that the family needed a hotel room for the nights before and after the event. (The conference location was only a little over an hour from their house). I told her I didn't have the budget for that. They were receiving free admission to the event and we were buying their lunch (just like all the other speakers).

The night before the event I was at the Conference location setting up. I got home at 11pm to a message on my answering machine stating that she and Joe had been feeling sick all week (there was no mention of this Wed when we spoke) and wouldn't be able to attend the Conference. There was no apology no intention to help cover their absence just "we aren't coming". I was in a panic. I had a Fathers session with no one to speak and an empty spot on my schooling panel. I contacted local friends and managed to fill the spots by 8am the next morning but to say they left me in a lurch would be a major understatement. The promised kitchen was never delivered and no apology, etc was ever given.

It was 2009 Sandra. I still have copies of the program booklet where they are listed as speakers and the free ad they wormed out of me. It is funny too because that year we had a dentist, a local family physician and a world known lactation consultant speak and none of them asked for payment.