How to Find Speaking Opportunities as a Founder

If you'd like to be on a stage in Vancouver next May, your proposal is due on November 20. That's when submissions close for DesignThinkers Vancouver, which runs May 4 and 5, 2027. It's easy to start looking for speaking opportunities in March, when the spring programs are already full and the forms have been closed for months.

This guide is for a founder who sells what she knows (consulting, design, bookkeeping, coaching, any service) and wants more of the right people to think of her first. It uses calls for speakers open as of November 2026, each read on the organizer's own page, to show the real timelines. Those calls will close within weeks, but the events behind them run every year, and the gap between deadline and stage is the part worth learning.

If you want speaking to be your income this year, a speakers' bureau will serve you better than this guide. If a podium makes you miserable, skip to the podcast section; a guest spot can reach the same people from a chair.

How do you find speaking opportunities as a founder?

Look in three places: calls for speakers that conferences post on their own websites, organizations that book speakers all year (chambers of commerce, associations, meetups, webinar series), and podcasts that take guest applications. Start with the rooms your clients already sit in, then work outward.

The second group is the one founders skip, and it's the easiest way in. The Richmond Chamber of Commerce keeps a speaker application on file, and when an event needs your topic, "our team will get in touch with you." Startup Canada asks would-be webinar speakers to send an email "telling us a bit about yourself and your key area(s) of expertise." Neither has a deadline, so a note you send this week counts as much as one sent in March.

Pick by audience before prestige. A talk to other founders feels good, but if you sell to non-profits or HR teams, the right stage is the conference those buyers attend to learn. It's the same logic as finding your first clients in rooms where your buyer already spends time.

Where are calls for speakers posted?

Mostly on the event's own website, on a page called "call for speakers," "call for proposals" or simply "speak." Some events take submissions through Sessionize, a submission tool; PyLadies Vancouver's call lives there.

Searching "[your industry] call for speakers 2027" finds the bigger ones. For the smaller ones, bookmark the associations, chambers and meetups your clients belong to and check them each season. Listing sites copy deadlines and don't always update them, so read the organizer's page before you write a word.

Read the whole page, too, because the rules sit in the small print. GBTA Canada refuses commercial content outright, WBENC requires video or evaluations from a past talk with every proposal, and the Halifax Chamber says membership isn't required but "preference will be given to current Halifax Chamber members."

How far ahead do conferences pick speakers?

In the seven calls below, proposals are due between three and six and a half months before the event, and, where they say, the answer takes five weeks to four months. Some calls open long before that: POSSIBLE started taking 2027 submissions on August 4, 2026, eight months before its April event.

These were all open on November 5, 2026, when this was written. GBTA and Michigan close within days; they stay in the table because their timelines are typical.

Call	Proposals due	Event	When you hear back
GBTA Canada, Toronto	November 10, 2026	April 19 to 21, 2027	January 2027
Michigan Celebrates Small Business	November 13, 2026	April 19 to 20, 2027	By December 18, 2026
DesignThinkers Vancouver	November 20, 2026	May 4 to 5, 2027	Not stated
POSSIBLE, Miami Beach	December 11, 2026	April 5 to 7, 2027	Late January, if shortlisted
SHRM HR-X Live!, Chicago	December 15, 2026	June 27 to 30, 2027	By April 16, 2027
TEDxOvertown, Miami	January 10, 2027	June 26, 2027	Not set yet
Inspired City Summit, Kelowna	January 15, 2027	April 17, 2027	Not stated

Spring events take their proposals in the fall, and a fall event can still be open in spring: the Toronto edition of DesignThinkers, on October 21 and 22, 2027, takes proposals until April 16. When you find an event you'd love to speak at, note when its call opened and set a reminder for a month before that next year.

The odds matter too. GBTA Canada expects to accept 12 to 14 sessions for the whole conference. And some big stages barely use their open call: Web Summit Vancouver says its team mostly fills stages by invitation, and if you haven't heard within seven days, you can assume the answer is no.

What if you've never spoken before?

Start where first-timers are invited: meetups, chamber events, webinars and panels. A five-minute talk is a real talk, and the recording from it is the thing bigger events ask for.

PyLadies Vancouver says it plainly: "No experience needed, and first-time speakers are very welcome." It takes five-minute lightning talks and 15 to 30 minute talks, and calls itself "an ongoing call." If a local group you like has no form at all, write to the organizer and offer a talk; the worst answer is a no.

Each small talk does two jobs: practice, and proof. The Halifax Chamber asks keynote and pep-talk applicants for video of past talks, WBENC wants video or evaluation results, and NAWBO asks for references from two or three organizations you've presented for. So ask every host, however small the room, whether you can have the recording.

A panel is another gentle start, since the moderator carries the structure. So is pitching a session with a client as your co-presenter, which gives organizers a real result to put on the program. The person who started a Reddit thread on finding speaking slots had been sending conference proposals with no luck and asked whether smaller events might be "more welcoming to new speakers." PyLadies Vancouver answers that one in writing. And some stages don't want a track record at all: TEDxOvertown says previous speaking experience "is not a requirement," though selected speakers must attend every coaching session from February to June.

How do you pitch a talk?

Send a specific title, a short abstract that says what the audience will be able to do afterwards, a bio of three or four sentences, and proof you can hold a room. Then fill in the organizer's form exactly as it asks, because the form is how they compare you with everyone else.

The forms ask for close to the same things. Michigan Celebrates Small Business wants three to five learning objectives, how you'll keep people engaged for 45 minutes, a short bio and links to past video. The Halifax Chamber asks what the topic is, why it matters, what attendees will learn, and what makes your perspective unique.

Your title does most of the work. "How we cut client onboarding from three weeks to four days" tells an organizer who it's for and what they'll get; "Tips for better onboarding" tells them nothing. Write the abstract around the room's problem, with your own story as the evidence.

Leave the sales pitch at home. GBTA wants "no commercial content," WBENC says a talk "is not a showcase for promotion of business," and TEDxOvertown says a talk "is not a résumé, a sales pitch, or simply a personal story." Teach the thing you're good at, and the room will work out who to call.

Your bio is three or four sentences on why you're credible on this topic: your role, a result with a number in it, and any outside recognition, like an award. If you've been meaning to put yourself forward for one, here's where business awards for women founders open their calls.

A speaker one-sheet is a single page for when there's no form: headshot, one line on who you help, two or three talks with what the audience takes away, your short bio, a link to video and how to reach you. Update it after every talk.

How do you get on podcasts?

Find shows your clients listen to, check whether each one has a guest form, listen to a couple of recent episodes, and pitch two or three specific episode ideas in a short email. Expect silence more often than a no.

Some shows publish a route in. The Startup Canada Podcast has a guest application form, and Eric Saumure's Small Business Big Insights takes pitches by email, though he notes that "guest selection is very selective." The Female Startup Club application warns that "we cannot get back to everyone," so don't read silence as a verdict on you.

Saumure's FAQ also says "guests cannot pay to be on podcast," a rule that suggests some shows do take money. A guest spot you pay for is advertising, and it's worth judging the way you'd judge an ad: by who listens and what it costs to reach each person who could hire you.

Should you speak for free?

Often, yes, as long as the room is full of people who could hire you and the organizer is clear about what you get. Most of the open calls in this guide pay nothing or don't say, so the useful question is whether this particular room is worth the day.

The pages are upfront about it. GBTA Canada doesn't pay speakers or cover travel. WBENC offers no honoraria and covers no food, lodging or travel. The Conference for Women in Central Pennsylvania asks speakers to work "pro bono publico." The Halifax Chamber's Wonder Women conference gives every speaker two tickets worth $520, says more is "to be discussed during the review process," and has paid breakout and pep-talk speakers an honorarium in previous years. SHRM lists stipends among its speaker benefits.

Some events sell their stages. POSSIBLE runs its open call alongside sponsorship that includes "a thought leadership component". There's nothing wrong with that, but it's a purchase, so weigh it like one.

Say no when your buyers won't be in the room, when the travel is yours and the audience is small, or when the terms take something you'd want to keep. WBENC, for example, becomes the exclusive owner of the recording of your session, which is worth knowing before you sign.

When do speakers get paid?

Mostly when someone books them directly, for who they are or what they'll deliver, rather than through an open call. The only large sets of fee figures we found come from US and UK data, so treat them as a rough guide.

Talkadot, a US platform where speakers log their fees, reports a median of US$2,500 per paid talk from January 2023 to March 2026. By format, its median keynote is US$5,000 and its median breakout US$1,500, and startups booking a speaker pay a median of US$1,050. In the UK, a 2025 survey of 250 people who book speakers, commissioned by keynote speaker Alison Edgar, found women averaged £5,248 a booking against £6,029 for men, and the lowest fee paid to a woman was £2,500 against £4,400 for a man.

So when someone asks your fee, have a number ready rather than taking whatever's offered. Work it out the way you'd price your services: your preparation time, your time away from clients, and what the talk is worth to the people buying it.

How does speaking turn into clients?

Slowly, and through what happens after the talk: the people who come up to you, the ones who look you up a month later, and the organizer who recommends you to someone else. Plan the follow-up before you plan the slides.

Among speakers on Talkadot, the median time between an audience member first seeing a speaker and her organization booking that speaker is 4.5 months. That measures talks leading to more talks, and it's the only measured lag we found, so read it as a note about patience rather than a forecast for your client list.

Make yourself easy to find afterwards. The City of Kelowna's Inspired City Summit page still lists every 2026 session with each speaker's email beside it, so anyone among the more than 260 people from 153 non-profits who attended can write to them a year later. Give your room one useful thing to take away (a checklist, a template), mention once how people work with you, connect with whoever came up to you within the week, and write the talk up as a post.

FAQ

Are calls for speakers for 2027 open now?
Yes. As of November 5, 2026, calls for spring and early summer 2027 events close through mid-January, including POSSIBLE (December 11), SHRM HR-X Live! (December 15), TEDxOvertown (January 10) and the Inspired City Summit (January 15). Some fall 2027 calls are open too, like DesignThinkers Toronto (April 16, 2027).

How long is a typical conference session?
Often 45 minutes, including questions. Michigan Celebrates Small Business and GBTA Canada both use 45-minute sessions, while RGD takes 20 or 40-minute talks.

Do I need a speaker reel?
Not for meetups, chamber events or an idea-led stage like TEDxOvertown. Bigger stages often do, as the Halifax and WBENC forms above show, so record everything you can from the start.

Can I send the same talk to several events?
Yes. Keep the core and rewrite the title and takeaways for each audience.

Where to start this month

Keeping a running list of deadlines is its own small job. Athena Collective members have a Speaking board in the member app: calls our team collects from each organizer's own page, with the quoted sentence behind every fact, re-read every week for changes. It puts what closes soonest first, marks each call as a conference, podcast, webinar, or talk or panel, and shows the organizer's rules as checks and the closing time in your time zone. Mark one as Applying and it becomes a plan with reminders. There's no application or revenue minimum to join; the plans are at athenacollective.co/membership.

Whichever way you track them, pick one call that closes before the end of the year and one local group with no deadline at all, and send both this week.