Conference Information
Call for Speakers for 2027
We invite practitioners, policymakers, researchers, advocates, funders, community leaders, providers, and people with lived and living experience to share their knowledge, experiences, research, innovations, and lessons learned with a national audience.
We are seeking presentations that offer practical insights, meaningful evidence, innovative approaches, and honest lessons from the field.
What We’re Looking For
We welcome submissions that move beyond defining the problem to demonstrate what is working, what has been learned, what has changed, and what others can take away from the experience.
We want to hear from the people doing the work, learning from the work, and most importantly, those whose lives and communities are impacted by it.
Submission Options
Quick Look Session
(45 minutes)
These shorter (45 minutes) Lecture/ Research Sessions are intended to provide attendees with a quick synopsis of your topic. Presenters should allow time for audience questions and answers.
Lecture/Research Session
(1 hour)
1 hour Lecture/Research Sessions are intended to provide attendees with in-depth presentation and discussion opportunities, featuring a successful practice, program, or research on key issues. This session differs from the 45 minute Quick Look Session in that presenters are expected to engage participants and/or audience discussions for at least 15 minutes.
Skill Building Workshop
(1 hour 15 minutes)
Skill-building workshop sessions are intended to teach a specific skill needed by opioid settlement professionals and include one or more exercises that let attendees practice using and developing this skill. This session differs from a Lecture/Research Session in that attendees will have a hands-on opportunity or practice activity versus a lecture-based session. Abstracts should clearly describe, in detail, how presenters plan to provide and engage participants in the hands-on learning opportunity. Please note that skill building workshops slots are limited.
Submission Details
The Committee would like the below covered in your abstract:
Which of the following Communities of Practice best relates to your presentation?
Prevention & Harm Reduction
Treatment
Recovery
Leadership, Administration & Coordination
Research, Innovation & Evaluation
Advocacy, Transparency, & Accountability
How the presentation relates to the conference values. Focus your presentation on what you have accomplished and how you will move forward. Describe your next steps and plans for future work.
How does the submission align with Exhibit E?
Please Note: Acceptance to present requires that all presenters who will be in-attendance to register and pay to attend the conference. Presenters will receive 50% off of registration fees.
Based on last year’s feedback, preference will be given to the following abstract topics:
Center youth and children impacted by the opioid crisis, including programs for children of parents with OUD, children with prenatal opioid exposure, kinship/grandfamily care, school-based response, and family reunification.
Bring county and city administrator perspectives on fund allocation, distinct from state-level strategy, including rural vs. urban capacity constraints
Offer strategies for advocating for and sustaining programs in unsupportive or hostile political environments, including navigating supplantation risk and multi-year sustainability planning as settlement payments taper.
Explore the role of technology and artificial intelligence to highlight emerging tools and approaches, with attention to practical applications, opportunities, and challenges.
Provide hands-on guidance for building a logic model or theory of change for settlement-funded programs.
Detail how opioid settlement funds can be used to sustain or expand harm reduction interventions that federal funds can not currently support, like syringe access, drug test strips, and other novel overdose prevention interventions.
Clarify outcome measurement approaches, distinguishing individual-level outcomes (e.g., treatment retention) from population-level indicators (e.g., overdose death rates).
Share specific, replicable program-level spending case studies, including real budget figures, especially those with multiple funding sources.
Want to learn more?
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