July 2026 | SLP Summit Retrospective Series
What if one hour of your time could reach two million children?
July 2026 | SLP Summit Retrospective Series
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What if one hour of your time could reach two million children?
That's not a marketing claim. It's math — and it's exactly what SLP Summit founder Lisa Kathman calculated after one particular course that has stuck with her ever since.
When Bright Ideas Media's CE Administrator Shontaye Glover Jones presented at SLP Summit in 2020, Lisa did something simple: she took the number of SLPs who attended the session and multiplied it by a typical school-based caseload. The number she landed on was staggering. With just one one-hour course, the knowledge shared that day had the potential to ripple out and touch the lives of over two million children.
"I remember doing the math," Lisa shared on an episode of Bright Conversations. "I think it's probably still on your LinkedIn profile, but the idea of that — with your one-hour course — you could potentially impact, like, 2 million children with the content that you shared."
Sarah cried on Instagram Stories afterward. And honestly? Same.
Why That Number Matters
This is what makes SLP Summit different from a textbook, a workshop, or a one-time training. When an SLP learns something new — a strategy, a framework, a way of seeing a student they'd never considered before — it doesn't stop with them. It flows directly into their therapy room, their IEP meetings, and their hallway conversations. It reaches the kids on their caseload and the next year's caseload and the year after that.
That's the multiplier effect of practical, accessible professional development. And it's been at the heart of SLP Summit since the very beginning.
Built on a Simple Belief
Lisa, Sarah Bevier (co-founder of SLP Toolkit), and Marisha Metz (of SLP Now) started Summit in 2017 because they were tired of PD that didn't translate. Too theoretical. Too expensive. Too far away. Too disconnected from the reality of working in schools with real kids who needed real strategies right away, not after a literature review.
"It was always so theory-based," Marisha remembered. "And I'm like, no, I just need you to tell me what to do tomorrow."
Summit was designed to answer that call. Short, focused, practical courses from people actively working in the field. The presenters were (and still are) people who understood what it meant to be the only SLP in a building, stretched across a massive caseload, looking for something they could actually use.
The Ripple Is Still Going
Nine years and hundreds of thousands of attendees later, the math only gets bigger. Every course presented at SLP Summit creates its own ripple. Every SLP who watches a session and tries something new on Monday morning is passing it on.
Two million was one course, one year.
Imagine what's been set in motion since 2017.
SLP Summit runs twice a year and is free to attend live. If you haven't joined us yet, registration for the next summit is open now. Live streams begin July 27, 2026. Register at bethebrightest.com.
