I have written before about the power of public speaking, both as a marketing tool and as a way to support charitable organizations. Another great way to share your expertise with others is by speaking at national or regional conferences, and there are a couple of opportunities coming up you may want to think about.

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. – Margaret Fuller

The 11th Annual NAPO-WDC Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference for Professional Organizers will be held in Bethesda, Maryland on Saturday, October 17, 2009, and they are currently accepting speaker applications. For more information about the event or to submit a speaking proposal, visit www.dcorganizers.org.

Of course, the larger the event, the more planning is required, so proposals for national conferences must be submitted much farther in advance. The next national NAPO Conference isn’t until April 2010, but the deadline for speaking proposals is coming up quickly, on July 15. There are a number of options, including 90-minute conference workshops, 3-hour conference mega-sessions, and more intensive 4-hour pre-conference workshops. If you’re a NAPO member, you may also apply to be an Ask the Organizer panelist. Additional details, including topic suggestions, are available on the NAPO website.

I delivered an educational session at the 2006 Professional Organizers in Canada Conference on Organizing Personal Documents (recording available through VW Tapes) and I must admit it was one of my most stressful speaking engagements. There’s a world of difference between sharing your organizing strategies with the general public and sharing them with your peers! My presentation went over quite well with newer organizers, but the more experienced ones did not seem to find it as valuable. If you don’t train or coach other professional organizers on a regular basis, I wouldn’t discourage you from submitting a proposal, but I would encourage you to indicate that your topic is best suited for beginners.

Live and online events take place all the time, so if you know of other upcoming speaking opportunities, please share them in the comments section below.