Bold Thinkers Wanted

HLTH 2024 speaker applications are now closed

Please see our timeline for agenda planning below

Increasing Our Healthspan in 2024

While our life expectancy in the US has finally rebounded after the pandemic, less and less of these years are being spent in good health. The average proportion of life spent in good health has been on a slow, but steady decline over the past three decades. How do we give people more healthy years to spend doing what they love with the people that they love?

This question is at the core of what we’re looking to uncover through our HLTH 2024 agenda. We will walk through the adverse health events plaguing us at each stage of our life from birth to death and the solutions available (or not yet created) to help people lead a healthier, longer life. And we need the boldest and brightest leaders in the industry to help us get there!

Our agenda will feature…

Effective strategies for working within the confines of our current health system
Novel care models being tested and proven to improve outcomes and contain costs
The prominent role of AI as we continue to modernize the practice of medicine
The role of public health and policy in driving health decisions
What it takes to start, run and remain in the business of healthcare
Founder journeys and the investors supporting them
Emerging tech and solutions on the fringes of our traditional system
How we can drive improvements in employer-sponsored health
The increasing demand for consumer health & wellness solutions
The impact of breakthrough therapies on patient care and access
Condition-specific contributors to a decreased lifespan from early to late life
How to effectively address inequities still persisting throughout our system
And more!

Learn more about this year's agenda direction.

Take me to the blog >

Speaker Application FAQs:

Speaker Submission Deadline:

May 31, 2024 at 5 pm EST

*There will be no extensions

Submission Guidelines:

Limit to 1 submission per Executive. Multiple submissions will not be reviewed.
Full panel submissions will not be accepted. Please focus on just one specific executive in each application.
We are committed to feature new voices on our stages, fostering a diverse range of perspectives and ideas each year:
- HLTH will only accept a maximum of 2 speakers from any one organization to speak on the main program to ensure diversity of perspectives across our agenda. The main/premier stage will be considered separately.
- Limit to submitting 4 executives from 1 organization for consideration. We will not review any more than 4. At the end of the day, we book speakers, not companies.
- If you have been a HLTH speaker for the past 2 years (2022 & 2023) you will not be eligible to speak for a 3rd consecutive year. Let’s talk again in 2025! Exceptions will be made for exceptional moderators! Speaking at ViVE will not count towards total consecutive years. Exceptions may apply for the main stage in rare circumstances.
Please confirm that the proposed speaker is 100% available for OCT 20 - 23, 2024 BEFORE submitting.

Rolling Basis:

We accept applications on a rolling basis so we recommend that you apply early. *Your chances of being selected will decrease as the deadline approaches.

Receiving a Response:

We will respond back to every application by August 14th. Please limit any questions regarding the status of your application until after that date. Great things take time to create! Please do not wait for us to reach out to register for the event. We will refund or transfer your ticket to a colleague if selected as a speaker.

Cancellations:

WELL by HLTH:

Potential speakers interested in the WELL by HLTH program can use this same application form. We will consider all applicants for all stages.

Speaker Compensation:

HLTH is not pay-to-play and does not pay honorariums to speakers or accept sponsorship dollars for a main agenda speaking role. If you are interested in sponsoring HLTH 2024, please reach out to sponsors@hlth.com.
HLTH does not cover travel & accommodations for speakers.
Confirmed speakers receive a complimentary pass to attend HLTH, but we are not able to offer complimentary guest passes to speakers’ teams.

Key dates to remember:

Tips for Being Selected:

Although there is no set formula to ensure your application is accepted, we have a few tips to help you stand out:

1. Focus on the entirety of your experience, not just your current role.

2. Be different! If you think against the standard grain, tell us why.

3. Think bigger than just your corner of the health ecosystem. How can you influence the entire industry?

4. If you spoke on the exact same topic previously, we will find out. Please be unique for our HLTH audience.

5. Tell us what’s new! We love to be the first place for news to drop, so save big announcements for our stages.

6. Prove you won’t shy away from hard questions and are comfortable going off-script. If you know your Comms/PR teams will highly censor your comments, we may not be the event for you.

Please keep in mind that we receive well over 2,000 applications and accept only 5-10%. Our decisions are not personal. We appreciate all of the time each and every one of you put into your application. We’re doing our best to curate the most impactful program possible, so your patience and understanding of our process is appreciated.

Our HLTH agenda covers a wide breadth of topics that impact the entire health ecosystem, but healthcare is big and complex, as you know. We will never be able to cover everything for everyone. We love your passion for specific topics, but please understand that our event is only 4 days long with a limited number of sessions so we have to make some tough calls on what topics get covered each year. Maybe we should expand HLTH to 2 weeks long? Just kidding, but we hope you get our point.

Speaking Formats

Panel

3-4 speakers, 40 minutes

These sessions are conversational with no slides. HLTH builds diverse panels internally – if you are picky on who you’ll share the stage with, kindly consider another format. We are intentional with these discussions to get to the evidence and support your points quickly rather than broadly speaking about ideals. We are leaving the theoretical “what ifs” behind and discussing how to solve hard problems. If you have high guardrails on what topics we can cover- it may not be the format for you.

Presentation

1 speaker, 20 minutes

Think BIG IDEAS of how to transform health, think TEDTalk meets the Presidential Address. Here we are looking for visionaries who are fed up with the current health system status quo and have novel ideas to change it. We want speakers with gravitas! This stage is not for product pitches, but again big missions — a mission that is WAY bigger than one organization or one solution.

Fireside Chat

1-2 speakers, 1 moderator, 20 minutes

These one-on-one discussions between a moderator and speaker hone in on the speakers’ specific experience and view on the proposed topic. This speaker is uniquely positioned to discuss the topic at hand given their current role and have real evidence to support their message. This will need to be a brand new message for our audience, not rehashed. Use our stage as the catalyst to cement your influence over our health industry.

Point-Counterpoint Discussions

2 speakers, 1 moderator, 40 minutes

A segmented industry brings segmented views and the goal of these discussions is to give the audience a deeper understanding on the nuanced points of view within our industry while perhaps changing a few minds. We’re looking for health leaders who are not afraid of putting their stake in the ground. What’s a topic that you debate over coffee or dinner with industry peers? We want to flush it out.

Moderator

1 moderator for panelist and point-counterpoint discussions

Moderators play a CRUCIAL role in the success of the session. Think of them as the ‘Team Captains’ that the ‘Players’ look to to lead them. We prefer to keep these conversational with no slides. Panels take questions from the moderator and live audience questions (digitally). We typically choose moderators from the media, consulting firms, law firms, VCs, bankers, academia i.e. people that are neutral parties with SME on the topics covered. We hope to find moderators who are polite and considerate of our speakers, but NOT afraid to push or ask the tough questions.

Announcement Presentation

1 moderator for panelist and point-counterpoint discussions

HLTH Content Policies

Speaker Consent

All speakers must explicitly consent to their inclusion in all content submissions prior to applying. Please do not try and convince speakers to participate after they have already been submitted in an application.

Speaker Registration

Confirmed Speakers/Moderators on our main agenda will receive complimentary registration for the full conference. We highly encourage everyone to register for HLTH 2024 as soon as possible to take advantage of lower rates. Prices will increase as we get closer to the event. If you are selected as a speaker your registration will be refunded or transferred to a colleague. You can use the discount code HLTH_SPKAPP_150 for $150 off of your ticket. Register Here.

Speaker Guest Passes

Only the selected speaker will receive a complimentary pass to attend HLTH. We do not provide complimentary guest passes for speakers’ teams.

Submission Acceptance

We accept applications on a rolling basis so we recommend that you apply early. Your chances of being selected will decrease as the deadline approaches. If HLTH is interested in moving forward with your application a member of the Content Team will reach out to schedule a call. We will require direct contact with the proposed speaker before final confirmation.

Receiving a Response

We are not able to provide a response to all who apply due to the extremely large number of applications received. We will only reach out if there is a good fit on the program. Please do not wait for us to reach out to register for the event. We will refund or transfer your ticket to a colleague if selected as a speaker.

Multiple Submissions

Limit to 1 submission per Executive. Multiple submissions will not be reviewed. Limit to 3 executives from 1 organization. We will not review any more than 3. At the end of the day, we book speakers, not companies.

Speaker Cancellations

We take confirmations seriously. If a confirmed speaker cancels at the last minute, we unfortunately will not be able to work with that individual for future events. We do understand emergencies happen and we will evaluate on a case by case basis. HLTH reserves the right to cancel the speaking slot entirely if the proposed speaker can no longer uphold their commitment.

Speaker Changes

The Content Team must approve any speaker changes before a speaker invitation is extended to the potential replacement. Any speakers that are not approved by the Content Team are subject to cancellation by HLTH.

Changes to Session Content

HLTH reserves the right to cancel a session if the speaker is not able to deliver the original concept and speaker(s) listed in the proposal and/or misses key deadlines.

Session Recording

HLTH, Inc. owns the rights to all videos and images. We are happy to share the edited recording link with speakers after the event, but ask that you do not post the session in its entirety externally. Posting clips or quotes is ok if the HLTH event is credited.