Public Health Speakers Network

Connecting Public Health Practitioners and Academia for Guest Speaking Opportunities

The Washington State Public Health Speakers Network facilitates connections between public health practitioners interested in serving as guest speakers with academic partners teaching courses or hosting program events for students in public health and related health fields. Through these engagement opportunities, we aim to support the learning of future professionals in the public health workforce. 

How it works: 

• If you are a faculty or staff member in higher education seeking a public health practitioner to speak in a course or at a program event, please complete this form to request a speaker. 

• If you are a public health practitioner in Washington State interested in the opportunity to occasionally serve as a guest speaker in a public health course, or a panel about public health career ways, or similar type of event for college and university students, please complete this form for practitioners to express interest in speaking opportunities. 

• We will do our best to match potential guest speakers with relevant areas of expertise to available speaking opportunities. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the opportunities for speaking in-person or virtual?

• When submitting a request for a guest speaker, one can indicate whether the speaking opportunity is in-person or virtual.
• For in-person speaking opportunities, we will seek to identify potential speakers who have indicated that they live near the location of the speaking opportunity.

Are the opportunities for guest speaking paid or unpaid?

• In most cases, we anticipate that these are unpaid speaking opportunities.  
• In the rare occasion that some type of compensation is offered, that will be coordinated between the individual who initiated the request and the identified speaker.  
• For state employees or others who cannot earn outside compensation while on work time, we encourage individuals to consult with their HR team if they are permitted to accept any compensation, if it is offered. In most cases, state employees would likely need to decline any offers of compensation. 
• For those serving as guest speakers: if any opportunity offered to you is during your normal work hours, please consult with your supervisor about whether this is permitted during your work time. 

Who is the primary intended audience for the speaking opportunities?

• We anticipate that the primary audience are undergraduate or graduate students in public health and related health fields.
• In some cases, there may be opportunities to speak to high school students, if high school teachers reach out with requests for speakers in their classrooms.
• When an individual submits a request for a guest speaker, they will be asked to share more details about the anticipated audience, number of students or other participants, etc. It may be in courses, or career panels, or other events that support the education and development of public health and other health professionals. 

Am I guaranteed an opportunity to serve as a guest speaker if I complete the form?

• No, we are not able to guarantee any matches. It will depend on the number of requests received each year and alignment of requested skillsets and experience. 

If I am seeking a guest speaker, am I guaranteed to be matched to a public health practitioner with relevant expertise and experience?

• No, we are not able to guarantee a match. We will do our best to align requests and match accordingly, but we cannot guarantee that a public health practitioner with relevant experience will be available at the requested time. We encourage individuals seeking a guest speaker to submit the form well in advance of the speaking date, to allow ample time for us to identify a guest speaker with the relevant desired areas of expertise and experience. 

Am I obligated to accept a guest speaking opportunity if the Speakers Network team reaches out to me to share that there is a potential match?

• No, you are not obligated to accept any opportunities. When a potential match aligns with your experience and expertise, we will reach out to you to share more details about the time, location, audience, etc. If you are interested and available to accept, then we will connect you with the individual who requested a speaker. If the time does not work well for you, or if you need to decline for any other reason, that is no problem at all. In that case, we would then reach out to a different potential speaker. 

Is the list of guest speakers publicly available? And is it possible for someone seeking a guest speaker to review the list directly?

• No, the list of public health practitioners who have expressed interest in serving as guest speakers is not publicly available. We will not share the full list directly.  

• When requests for guest speakers are submitted through the form, we will review our list of speakers and initiate a matching process. We will then reach out directly to an individual who has requested a speaker to share if a potential match has been identified. 

If I submit a request for a guest speaker, when should I anticipate a response?

• We will strive to respond to all requests within two to three weeks, however the timeline may depend upon availability of speakers with the requested experience and skillsets.  

• Many of our public health practitioners have very busy schedules and would need a month or more of advance notice of a potential speaking time. Therefore, we encourage individuals requesting a guest speaker to submit the form well in advance of the desired guest speaking date– ideally at least a month and preferably two months or more. 

Are the guest speakers included in the Speakers Network available to provide longer training opportunities?

• We intend for the Speakers Network to be an opportunity for public health practitioners to provide relatively short, informal guest speaking opportunities. In general, we anticipate that most speaking opportunities will be one hour or less and involve minimal advance preparation. We do not facilitate requests for longer or more formal training opportunities. 

Have any additional questions or comments? Reach out to us at AcademicAffairs@doh.wa.gov