How to Find Speaking Opportunities as an SLP
If you’ve ever thought, “I could give an entire presentation on this,” you’re probably closer to becoming a speaker than you think.
For most SLPs, the hard part isn’t figuring out what to talk about. You already have expertise, experiences, and ideas that could help other clinicians. The harder question is: Where do you find opportunities to share them?
Speaking opportunities for SLPs are more accessible than they may seem and you don’t have to start with a national conference. From your school district to state associations, podcasts, webinars, and professional conferences, there are plenty of ways to get in front of an audience.
In this post, we’ll walk through exactly where to find speaking opportunities as an SLP.
How to Find Speaking Opportunities as a SLP
Speaking opportunities for speech therapists exist in more places than you'd think. Here are seven real places to start looking.
1. Your School District
Districts pay outside presenters for professional development constantly, and if you already run staff trainings for free, that's your fastest way in. Ask the director of special education or the PD coordinator directly whether they bring in paid presenters, then tell them exactly what you'd want to present on.
2. Your State SLP Association
Most state associations run an annual conference with their own call for proposals. State SLP association speaking opportunities tend to have far less competition than a national stage, which makes this one of the easier places to land your first yes.
3. ASHA Convention's Call for Papers
ASHA's Convention runs its own call for papers every year, usually opening in late winter and closing by early spring. You'll put together a short proposal covering your topic, a session description, and what attendees will walk away knowing. Reviewers want content that's useful and clearly explained, not polish, which is exactly what you already do when you break down an eval for a room full of parents.
4. Condition-Specific SLP Conferences
If you specialize in an area like AAC, apraxia, or fluency, organizations built around that specific diagnosis or population often run their own SLP call for papers. They tend to want practitioners who work with real caseloads, not just researchers, which puts you in a strong position.
5. University CSD Programs
Communication sciences and disorders programs bring in guest speakers for classes and continuing education events, especially practitioners who can speak to what the job actually looks like day to day. Reach out to a program near you and ask whether they have a process for booking guest speakers.
6. AAC and Assessment Companies
Companies that make AAC devices, assessment tools, or other SLP products hire speakers for their own conferences and webinars. Most don't advertise this widely, so you'll usually need to reach out directly and ask what their process looks like for pitching a talk.
7. Referrals From People Who've Seen You Speak
Some of the best speaking opportunities never show up in a call for papers or a Facebook post. They come from someone who saw you present once, or heard about the training you ran for your building, and thought of you later. They also show up in the SLP Facebook groups and regional networks you're already part of, posted well before anything goes anywhere official. Saying yes to smaller, even unpaid opportunities early on is often what fills your calendar down the road.
Once You Land a Speaking Opportunity
Booking the gig is the exciting part, but it's not the finish line. The next question is usually the one that stops people cold: what do I charge for this?
That's worth figuring out before someone asks and you freeze on the spot. Paid Speaking for SLPs: How to Turn Your Expertise how to pitch yourself with confidence, and what to do with that first yes so it turns into more opportunities instead of a one-time thing.
The other piece people forget until it's too late is tracking. Once you're pitching more than one place at a time, you need a simple way to remember who you reached out to, what you said, and who still owes you a reply. The tools I use to run my SLP business covers what's worth setting up before things get busy, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Found Your Speaking Opportunity? Here's What Comes Next
Knowing where to look is only half the equation. Once you land a real speaking opportunity, whether it's a district PD day or a spot on your state association's program, you still need a signature talk, a rate you can say with confidence, and a plan for what happens after the talk ends.
The Speaker Accelerator gives SLPs five weeks of live coaching to build all of it: a signature talk built from your existing clinical expertise, a rate you're not afraid to say out loud, and a real backend that turns one opportunity into several more. Past students have booked their first paid engagement and earned back their full investment before the program even ended!
