How to find speaking opportunities: a handbook for lawyers

You can be an experienced lawyer, lead a team and have useful ideas to share, yet have no obvious route onto a conference program. Knowing your subject and knowing how to secure a speaking role are different skills. The second can be learnt.

Start with The Profession’s Opportunities page. We are building it into the central place for the legal profession to discover opportunities, including calls for speakers. Membership allows you to be alerted when an opportunity matching your preferences is published, so keeping an eye on what is available can become part of your professional routine.

Alongside responding to opportunities, you can help create them. A useful proposal can become a webinar, panel or roundtable because you have identified a problem an audience wants to discuss and offered a credible way to address it. You do not have to wait for an invitation to start that conversation.

This handbook explains both approaches: finding a relevant opening and making a thoughtful pitch. It also covers what happens after an organiser says they are interested, what different speaking roles require, and how to discuss fees and other arrangements. It is written for Australian practitioners, including those preparing for their first speaking role.

Start with The Profession’s Opportunities page

Make Opportunities your regular starting point. Choose the Speaking category, then use the available search and filters to narrow the possibilities. Read the full brief: the intended audience, eligibility, subject, format, location, timing and application requirements matter more than the event’s profile alone.

Save relevant listings to your shortlist and record any closing date and next action. Some opportunities are ongoing; others have a defined application window. Check whether the organiser wants an abstract, a panel contribution, a practical presentation or another form of contribution before adapting your proposal.

If you are a member, set your preferences so you can be alerted when matching opportunities are published. Think about the areas in which you can contribute, the audiences you want to reach and what you can realistically accommodate. Alerts help you notice an opening; a considered application explains why you are right for it.

Keep returning as the collection grows. Our ambition is for The Profession to be the first place legal professionals look for these opportunities. Use it to discover possibilities, then draw on the steps below to turn a promising listing or an idea of your own into a useful contribution.

Decide what you want speaking to do

Before building a list of conferences, choose your purpose. You might want to help colleagues navigate partnership, influence how firms allocate opportunities, build a professional profile, connect with potential clients or develop a paid speaking practice. Those aims can overlap, but they do not always lead to the same event.

A small discussion with practice leaders may serve an organisational-change goal better than a large general audience. A university session can be rewarding if you want to support emerging lawyers. A client-sector conference is useful when your experience addresses an issue that its members actually face.

Write down your preferred audience, geography, online availability and realistic time budget. Include preparation and travel, not just stage time. Choose an initial goal you can control: for example, develop two proposals and send six considered approaches over a month. An invitation is an outcome, not a deadline you can guarantee.

Turn your passion into a session someone can programme

“Leadership” is a subject area. An organiser needs a sharper proposition: a recognisable problem, a credible perspective and something the audience will take away.

Use this sentence: “I help [audience] understand or do [specific thing], drawing on [relevant experience].” For example: “I help senior associates prepare for a partnership discussion by explaining how to gather evidence of their contribution and ask clear questions about the process.” Only claim experience you actually have.

Your authority may come from building a practice, supervising teams, sponsoring colleagues, changing a process, returning from leave, working regionally or navigating a transition. Separate personal experience from research findings. You can describe what happened in your setting without treating it as the experience of every practitioner.

Four possible session concepts

• From mentoring to sponsorship: for partners and team leaders; explore the difference between advice and active advocacy, then identify practical opportunities to put someone forward.

• The partnership conversation: for senior associates; prepare a contribution record, formulate questions about criteria and agree a useful follow-up.

• Who gets the career-making work? for practice leaders; examine how stretch assignments and client exposure are allocated, and design a review of local practices.

• Leading through a career transition: for experienced practitioners; explore boundaries, delegation and rebuilding professional visibility after a change in role or working pattern.

These are proposal ideas, not claims that any particular method guarantees promotion or retention. Choose a topic where you can offer specific examples, acknowledge limits and answer questions. Look beyond legal events: your leadership experience may also belong in a management or professional-services program.

Choose a format that suits your experience

• Panel contribution: useful when you have a clear perspective and a few strong examples. Ask for the intended audience, other panellists and questions in advance. A panel still requires preparation.

• Moderating: suits someone who listens closely, frames questions and keeps discussion moving. Pitch your ability to draw out others, rather than treating the role as a shorter speech.

• Fireside conversation: an interviewer-led discussion can make a practical career story accessible without a slide presentation.

• Short presentation or webinar: a contained way to teach one idea and create a sample of your delivery, if recording is agreed.

• Workshop: appropriate when participants will practise a skill or leave with a usable output. It requires an activity design, not simply a longer talk.

• Keynote: a more substantial promise about the audience experience. Pursue it when you have a developed argument and delivery evidence that supports the brief.

Offer one preferred format and a sensible alternative. “A 20-minute practical talk or a moderated conversation” is easier to assess than an offer to speak about anything.

Create an opportunity around a useful idea

Many speaking opportunities begin as a conversation rather than a vacancy. An organiser may have an audience, a regular event series or an issue members keep raising, without having settled on a session. Your proposal can help shape what happens next. Treat this as another way of participating in the profession’s opportunities: you are contributing an idea that a host can develop with you.

Start with an audience problem

Choose a question people already ask you. Perhaps new team leaders struggle with delegation, senior associates want a clearer partnership conversation, or regional practitioners want to exchange approaches to supervising across locations. Describe the practical question, the people who face it and what a short session would help them do.

For example, “I would like to speak about leadership” leaves the organiser to design the event. “Could we run a 45-minute discussion for first-time supervisors on delegating a matter, checking progress and giving feedback?” gives them a proposition they can assess. Support it with experience you actually have and examples you can appropriately share.

Match the idea to a host

Consider who already convenes the audience: your firm’s learning or client team, a professional association, regional network, alumni group, education provider or client-sector organisation. Look at their existing program and identify where your idea could serve their participants. A relationship can help open the conversation, but the audience benefit still needs to be clear.

Ask colleagues who organise or speak at events whether they can introduce you to the appropriate person. Be specific enough that they can forward a short paragraph. An internal lunchtime session can also be a useful first delivery, with feedback and a recording only if those uses are agreed.

Offer a manageable first version

A small roundtable, short webinar or interview may be easier to organise than a new conference session. Suggest a format, approximate duration and two or three takeaways. Explain what you would contribute and ask what would make it useful for the host. You might provide the content while the host manages registrations and moderation, but agree those responsibilities rather than assuming them.

Expect the proposal to evolve. A host might combine your idea with another speaker, narrow the audience or suggest a later program. Ask whether the revised brief still fits your expertise and capacity. If you co-create the event, settle the audience, promotion, budget, registrations and delivery responsibilities before anyone starts making promises.

Find the person who shapes the program

Look for an event producer, program manager, professional-development lead, conference convenor or relevant committee contact on the organiser’s official website. A registration inbox can route an enquiry, but it may not select speakers.

Read the last two programs where available. Note the audience, session lengths, recurring themes and whether speakers are invited or selected through a call for proposals. Search for “call for speakers”, “call for abstracts”, “speaker expression of interest” and “program submissions”, together with the organisation or event name. An abstract call may seek research rather than practitioner commentary; follow the brief.

Build a shortlist of around ten well-matched organisers. Record the event, audience, contact source, proposed topic, submission route, deadline if verified, last approach and next action. Use official closing dates rather than assuming an annual event follows last year’s timetable. Where there is no published call, ask when the program is developed and whether unsolicited proposals are considered.

For listed calls, begin with the brief on The Profession’s Opportunities page and follow its application route. When you are developing a new session idea, The Profession’s events collection can also help you understand an organiser’s audience and previous programs.

Assemble a small, credible speaker pack

You do not need an expensive speaker website to make the first approach. Prepare a concise document or page containing:

• A 60–100 word biography relevant to the audience, with your current role and accurately stated experience.

• Two or three session titles, each with a short description and three audience takeaways.

• Your preferred formats, location, online availability and contact details.

• A suitable headshot with permission for the intended use.

• Any genuine delivery evidence: an approved clip, relevant article, internal teaching experience or a testimonial used with consent.

If you have no public speaking footage, record a short sample explaining one useful idea and label it as a sample. Check the sound, clarity and pace. It does not need a stage or an invented audience. Training or a speaking group can help with delivery if that is the gap; it is separate from finding an organiser.

Make your firm biography and professional profile consistent with the proposal. Do not claim qualifications, awards, clients, outcomes or speaking credits you cannot substantiate. A precise, relevant biography is more persuasive than a long list of unrelated achievements.

Send a pitch that is easy to assess

A strong approach explains why this audience, why this topic and why you. Keep the first email short. Include the core proposal in the message, with a link to supporting material if helpful. Adapt the following example; the bracketed material needs to be replaced with true details.

Example: a direct approach to an organiser

Subject: Session proposal — practical sponsorship for lawyers approaching partnership

Hello [name],

I noticed that [program or organisation] brings together [specific audience]. I am a [role] in private practice, with experience in [relevant responsibility or work].

I would like to propose a session on how practice leaders can move from mentoring colleagues to actively sponsoring their progression. It would cover identifying a concrete opportunity, making an effective introduction and following through after the initial conversation.

The session would suit [audience] as a 20-minute talk with questions, or a moderated discussion. I can contribute [one specific, accurate reason you are qualified to address it], using examples that are appropriate to share.

Would this be relevant to a future program? If so, I would be happy to send a short outline. My brief biography is [link].

Kind regards,
[name]

Example: asking a colleague for an introduction

I am developing a practical session for [audience] on [topic], drawing on my experience of [specific work]. You spoke at [event]; if you think the subject would suit that audience, would you be comfortable introducing me to the person who develops the program? I can send a short paragraph you can forward.

For a formal call for proposals, use its form and word limits instead. Address the selection criteria, learning outcomes and requested evidence. Do not bypass a published process because you have found a senior organiser’s email address.

If there is no stated response timetable, one polite follow-up after roughly one to two weeks is a reasonable starting point. Refer to the original proposal and make it easy to decline or defer. If there is still no response, record it and move on. A full program or a poor fit is not a verdict on your expertise.

Turn the pitch into a short session outline

If the organiser asks for more, send the title, intended audience, format, short description and three takeaways. Here is an illustrative outline to adapt to your actual expertise:

Delegation without losing oversight

Audience: lawyers supervising a team or matter for the first time.

Format: a 25-minute practical presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions.

Description: Moving into supervision changes the work: doing everything yourself is no longer the answer, but handing over a task without a clear brief creates uncertainty. This session examines how to define the outcome, agree sensible checkpoints and make feedback useful. Using a clearly labelled hypothetical matter, participants will work through a short delegation conversation and identify one change to try in their own team.

Takeaways: a clearer task brief; an approach to agreeing checkpoints; and questions that support a useful feedback conversation.

For a panel, pitch the perspective you would bring rather than a complete talk: “I could contribute the experience of [specific work], with examples of [two relevant issues]. I would be comfortable discussing [scope], with a briefing call to coordinate with the chair.” Give the organiser enough detail to see how your contribution complements the discussion.

A good pitch asks for a manageable next step. “Would this fit a future program?” or “Would a short outline be useful?” is easier to answer than a request to “pick your brain”. If the response is positive, move into a briefing conversation before preparing the full session.

What happens after an organiser says “we’re interested”?

An encouraging reply is usually the start of a briefing conversation. Before writing a presentation, find out what the organiser is considering and what still needs approval. A tentative date, exploratory call or request for a biography is not necessarily a confirmed booking.

The first conversation

Expect questions about your experience, proposed topic, audience fit, availability and preferred format. You can ask what prompted the session, what participants already know and what they should leave able to do. Be honest if it is your first public speaking engagement. Relevant teaching, client presentations or internal facilitation may help demonstrate your approach without being described as conference experience.

Ask what the next step is: a written outline, selection decision, further discussion or booking confirmation. If you are asked to develop substantial bespoke material before selection, clarify how much is needed and whether there is a budget for that work.

Agree the brief and responsibilities

Once there is a booking, get the essentials in writing: date and time zone, venue or platform, audience, role, session length, time for questions, fee or other arrangement, expenses, recording permissions and key deadlines. A panel brief should identify who chairs the discussion and how the speakers will coordinate. For a workshop, agree participant numbers, activities and any materials the host must supply.

Clarify whether you are expected to attend only your session or the full event, join a rehearsal, promote the event, write an accompanying article or stay for networking. These are separate commitments with a real time cost. Confirm who is your main contact and how changes will be communicated.

Supply the practical materials

Organisers may request a short biography, headshot, session description, pronunciation of your name and accessibility requirements. Ask for deadlines, length limits and any slide template. A panel may need no slides; a workshop may need participant instructions. Confirm the actual requirements before building either.

Check the advertised title and description when they are sent for approval. They should promise what you have agreed to deliver. If a session is presented as CPD, ask the provider to confirm its requirements and how it will describe the session; do not invent an entitlement in your own promotional copy.

Prepare for the room or platform

Ask about microphones, sightlines, a lectern or seating, slides, captions, audience questions and the arrival or online check-in time. For a webinar, test audio, screen sharing and how the chair will signal time. Have a copy of essential notes available if the slides fail. Let the organiser know early about any adjustments you need to participate comfortably.

On the day, check in with your contact, confirm the running order and finish within the agreed time. A late start does not automatically mean you can run over. Ask the chair how to adjust if time is cut, and know which example or activity you can leave out while preserving the main takeaway.

Close the loop

Send promised resources promptly, provide an invoice if required and ask for feedback. Confirm any permission before reusing photos, clips or testimonials. Keep your own record of the brief, preparation time, audience and lessons learnt. That record helps you judge future invitations and describe your experience accurately.

Understand the fee and other arrangements

There is no single arrangement that applies to every speaking role. Establish the budget and expectations early enough to make an informed decision. You do not need to apologise for asking, and an invitation does not require you to accept unpaid work.

• A speaking fee: payment for an agreed contribution. Clarify whether the amount includes preparation, briefing calls, rehearsal, the session itself and any follow-up. Extra workshops, written content or repeated delivery may warrant a separate scope.

• An honorarium: a payment acknowledging your contribution. Ask for the amount and process; the label alone does not tell you how much work is expected or whether expenses are included.

• Expenses covered: the organiser pays or reimburses agreed costs, such as travel or accommodation, without a separate speaking fee. Confirm who books, what needs prior approval and when reimbursement occurs.

• A reciprocal or co-hosted arrangement: you and a host each contribute resources. Set out who provides the audience, venue, content and administration, and whether any ticket revenue or costs are shared.

• An unpaid contribution: you choose to give time for a cause, community, professional relationship or learning opportunity. Set a limit on the commitment and decide whether the value is meaningful to you.

A complimentary ticket, promotion or access to a recording may be useful, but ask what is actually included. “Exposure” is difficult to evaluate without an audience, a specific promotional commitment or permission to use material afterwards. Paying for a ticket or sponsorship package is a separate commercial proposition; clarify that distinction if it is part of the offer.

How to ask about money

“Thanks — the brief sounds relevant to my experience. Could you confirm the speaker budget and whether travel is covered? It would also help to know whether the proposed arrangement includes preparation calls, recording and any written material beyond the session.”

If asked for your rate, first establish the scope. Consider preparation, delivery, travel, time away from your practice, requested materials and reuse of the recording. You can offer a fee for a defined package and identify additional work separately. There is no need to invent a market rate or accept a budget before you know the obligations.

If there is no fee, you could reply: “I can consider this as an unpaid contribution, provided the commitment is one briefing call and the 30-minute session. Could you confirm whether you can cover travel and provide an approved recording for my own portfolio?” Only propose an arrangement you would be comfortable accepting.

For paid work, agree the amount, invoicing details, payment timing, applicable tax treatment, approved expenses and cancellation or rescheduling arrangements. Clarify what happens if the event changes format or you cannot attend. Use your normal business approval and invoicing processes, and resolve unclear terms before accepting.

Decide whether the invitation is worthwhile

Before accepting, clarify who will attend, the session’s purpose, format, length, preparation requirements and expected audience size. Ask who else is speaking, who moderates, what sponsors are involved and whether the event will be recorded or sold on demand.

Clarify ownership and permitted use of slides, recordings and clips, including editing, duration of access and use in advertising. Agree what you may reuse yourself. Check your firm’s approval requirements, conflicts and confidentiality obligations before accepting or sharing examples. Changing a client’s name may not make a story unidentifiable. Use properly authorised material or clearly labelled hypothetical examples.

Ask about accessibility, the technical setup and the moderation of audience questions. Consider whether the program allows a substantive contribution and recognises varied experiences across career stage, culture, disability, caring responsibilities and location. You are offering your perspective; you are not required to represent every practitioner’s experience or disclose personal experiences you prefer to keep private.

Prepare to be useful on the day

For a talk, build around one central idea and a small number of practical takeaways. Rehearse aloud to the actual time available, allowing for questions. Use examples that make the idea concrete and distinguish an observation from a claim supported by research. Give any handout a clear purpose: a conversation checklist, reflection exercise or simple planning page.

For a panel, prepare a short introduction, three points you want to contribute and a few concise examples. Speak with the moderator beforehand about overlap and boundaries. Answer the question first, keep contributions proportionate and leave space for others. You do not need to deliver your entire prepared argument in the first answer.

For moderating, agree the purpose, opening questions, pronunciation of names, time limits and how sensitive questions will be handled. Prepare prompts that invite different perspectives. Your success is measured by the quality of the conversation and what the audience learns.

Afterwards, thank the organiser, send anything promised and ask for specific feedback. Request permission before using a testimonial or recording. Ask whether another program might suit the topic, without assuming a repeat invitation. If attendees want to hear from you, provide an appropriate opt-in route; attendance alone is not permission to add them to your mailing list.

A practical first 30 days

• Week one — discover and define. Visit The Profession’s Opportunities page, explore the Speaking category and save relevant listings. If you are a member, set your matching preferences for alerts. Choose an audience and two session concepts, with three takeaways for each.

• Week two — prepare the offer. Write a short biography and one-page speaker pack. Record a brief sample if useful. Check internal approvals, then identify a handful of hosts whose audiences would benefit from your proposed session.

• Week three — respond and propose. Prepare a tailored application for a suitable listed opportunity, if one fits. Ask for a relevant introduction and send a few considered proposals to potential hosts. Follow the stated application process where there is one. Track each approach and next action.

• Week four — follow through. Follow up where appropriate, refine the proposal using feedback and practise a short version aloud. If an organiser is interested, confirm the brief and terms before building the full presentation. Continue checking new opportunities and member alerts.

Measure the clarity of your offer and the quality of the conversations as well as bookings. Are the same questions coming back? Does one topic prompt a stronger response? Use that information to improve the next proposal. A full program or a slow response is not a verdict on the value of your experience.

Make a start, then build a habit

Begin with The Profession’s Opportunities page and keep it in your regular professional routine. Membership lets you receive alerts when an opportunity matching your preferences is published. As we grow this central destination for the profession, the aim is to make relevant opportunities easier to discover and act on.

At the same time, choose one question you understand through your work and turn it into a useful session proposal. A considered pitch can give an organiser the idea for their next conversation. Whether you are responding to a call or helping shape a new event, the foundations are the same: understand the audience, make a specific offer and agree what delivering it will involve.