SLP Toolkit Podcast, Episode 15, Transcript

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Sarah (00:41):

Hey Lisa.

 

Lisa (00:41):

Hi, Sarah.

 

Sarah (00:43):

Have you missed me?

 

Lisa (00:44):

I have, because we got to spend about 92 hours a day together in Boston. And now I haven't seen you in 13 hours and I really didn't know what to do with myself. I wanted to cry and be in the fetal position in the corner, but now we're here and all is well in my world.

 

Sarah (01:02):

It is so weird to not only be stuck in a booth with somebody, for what is it, 10 hours. I don't even know how long that is and then go out all night and then still be sleeping in the same place together. And then we showed up for work on Monday.

 

Lisa (01:15):

Usually we share the same bed too. Not that that's creepy.

 

Sarah (01:19):

That's cute.

 

Lisa (01:20):

No, but usually we have to share a hotel room, not the same bed, but the same bedroom, I guess.

 

Sarah (01:25):

This time we did an Airbnb. So we had our own space, which was nice.

 

Lisa (01:28):

I actually do think that's nice. I was, sometimes I have a little like separation anxiety,

 

Sarah (01:33):

Right.

 

Lisa (01:34):

I don't know why.

 

Sarah (01:35):

One time we did get a hotel that had two rooms. And I was like, when she handed us two keys, I was like, what? Yes, this is a greatest day of my life. And you were like, wait, what is this a mistake?

 

Lisa (01:44):

Well, first of all, it was the element of surprise because we were invited to speak somewhere. And so they booked our hotel accommodations and I was just assuming, I mean, we always have the same hotel room and uh, that time we didn't. And so I just had to process everything and then I'm like, wait, but I'm alone. And you're like, yes. And I'm like, but alone?

 

Sarah (02:05):

I know that was good. So far it worked out just fine. So yeah, this was fun. We did an Airbnb downtown, which, um, I have mixed emotions about it was nice to be downtown. Cause we were close to everything. We could walk to tons of places and it was really fun, but I felt really removed this year. Normally we stay in the leadership hotel, which if you have not been to an ASHA convention because of the size of the crowd, they usually have several hotels that you can get a discount on, but there's typically like the one.

 

Lisa (02:33):

That's connected to the convention.

 

Sarah (02:35):

Right. So we usually pick that one. And so then not only are we with SLPs at this convention day but then we'll run into them in the hotel and in the lobbies and in the bars and restaurants and this time we didn't have that as much. And that made it, made it a little bit less of an experience for me. I really liked that part. I like being around SLPs all the time.

 

Lisa (02:56):

Yeah. But just the dynamics. It was Team Toolkit.

 

Sarah (02:58):

Yeah. We brought with this time we brought some boys with us. One of them lives with me. Um, so I brought—.

 

Lisa (03:05):

Isaac lives with you?

 

Sarah (03:06):

No, no. Mr. B. He came and so that was so fun having him there because he gets it.

 

Lisa (03:13):

Right.

 

Sarah (03:14):

Because I talk about it and he actually listens to me when I talk. So he gets it, but I wanted him to see it. So it was fun to have him there. And then we brought our engineer.

 

Lisa (03:22):

I actually think it was good for both of those boys to see it. Because like you said, our family's here all the time about what we're doing, but, you know, unless you really kind of put it in that bigger perspective, they just know we work a lot and they know that we're doing important things, but they don't really see how that's connected into any kind of real context.

 

Sarah (03:38):

Right.

 

Lisa (03:38):

So same thing with our developer. He's always hearing us talk about these amazing experiences we get to have when we get to travel and meet other people and hear from people that are using our product. But he's just, you know, stuck in his little office, building things and didn't get to see the impact of the software that he has.

 

Sarah (03:57):

Yeah. I know. He loved talking to people who are using this product that he built with his bare hands. You know, that was a really cool experience. And then just to see the magnitude of what it is, I mean, we are probably the only two SLPs he really knows. So anyway, we brought the boys, hence the reason why we ended up getting an Airbnb. So we all had bedrooms. Um, but it was, so it was a different experience this year than typical. Even, um, usually we try to get more involved in activities outside of just the convention hall. And we really didn't do too much of that this time.

 

Lisa (04:30):

It was just hard. I, you know, I think it's kind of funny that we brought these boys thinking it would give us an opportunity to be more involved because they thought, "Oh, hey, like, we'll have some help in the booth."

 

Sarah (04:39):

Right.

 

Lisa (04:39):

This'll be awesome. We'll go to see some courses and we'll get to do this and do that. And nothing. I barely attended the bathroom.

 

Sarah (04:47):

Right, right. We never got to really leave that booth too much. One time we did escape and were so mean that we posted about it. We literally said "the boys are stuck in the booth alone, go ask them really hard questions and harass them."

 

Lisa (05:00):

We really wanted somebody to video it, but…

 

Sarah (05:02):

Nobody sent us a video, but some people did do it and messaged us. And I mean, one of them said that, um, they, they tried to talk to them and they, the boys just kept saying, the girls will be back. They'll be back this afternoon.

 

Lisa (05:13):

Well, even there was one time you weren't there. But, um, I, your husband Trent was left in the booth with me. And I was talking to our SLP blogger friends behind us. And I said, "Hey, Danielle, go, I'm going to step back just a little bit where he can't see me." I said, "Go up and start like asking him some questions." And so we died laughing because I think he didn't know he was alone. Like all of a sudden he had Isaac, at least when we would go leave. And so she did. We were cracking up because he thought like, "Oh my gosh, I'm abandoned. I don't know any of the questions”. Because really he was great at scanning badges. And I was telling people that, you know, when they'd ask what they were going to win, I said "a date with this handsome fellow", and then he'd get all red and blush.

 

Sarah (05:56):

And that's the thing you have to know. Clearly I did not marry somebody like myself. Right. Because we would have killed each other about 12 years ago. He's super quiet and reserved. And I've never seen him talk so much in my life.

 

Lisa (06:10):

I didn't know he had teeth! All those smiles. Like he smiled a lot..

 

Sarah (06:13):

Yeah. I know. Yeah. I was really proud of him. He did a great job, but it was funny. One of the very first people who said something like, "What is this?" And he goes, "It's an app." And then he turned and looked at like our big giant backdrop that has a little—.

 

Lisa (06:25):

Some bullet points.

 

Sarah (06:26):

Some bullet point keywords of what the app does and kind of just read off the thing. And I thought, "Oh, he doesn't even know what this app does." But he picked it up after hearing us for a while. Then he picked it up and I heard him actually telling people what it did. And it was really cool.

 

Lisa (06:37):

I think he had a good time. I think I was good for him to see.

 

Sarah (06:40):

Yeah, it was, it was great. So, um, first and foremost, did we, what did you think about the convention?

 

Lisa (06:49):

Well, I think conventions are always great. So if you guys have been to them, you'll understand. Like, I think my very first convention was before we even had a business. And that first time you even enter into—whether it be the exhibit hall or just that convention area where you pick up your registration, it's this crackle of electricity, of wow. Everybody's here to learn. Everybody is, uh, an SLP. So like that kind of energy of just being surrounded by your people is super, super cool. So this did not disappoint in that sense. And this exhibit hall was the most beautiful exhibit hall.

 

Sarah (07:27):

It was the best exhibit hall I've ever seen too. I don't know about the convention. We, again, we didn't get out much, you guys. So, um, everything we're probably going to talk about in this episode is secondhand from all the SLPs we talked to, but, um, we never really left. But I do think things were really spread out. Um, and so I think it it's, you know, you're walking a lot to get to courses and do things like that. But as far as exhibit halls go? The most beautiful one I've ever. seen. Such a cool location for that.

 

Lisa (07:55):

Really modern.

 

Sarah (07:56):

These were record breaking numbers. Did you know that?

 

Lisa (07:58):

No, I never heard.

 

Sarah (07:59):

They broke records. They expected 18,000. They had over 20,000.

 

Lisa (08:02):

Wow.

 

Sarah (08:03):

Um, and so that's a lot of people kind of packed into this, this one little area of Boston. Um, and anyway, and so, you know, did I, do I like the conventions? I have to say I do. I know there's some mixed opinions out there about them, but again, when are you ever going to be around that many people who get you, they really truly get you. Never once do I have to explain to somebody what I do for a living, you know? And so there is something to me. I think it's funny whenever we go to these we'll be like, kind of at a restaurant or we'll be out somewhere and we'll be like, those are SLPs. Those are SLPs. You know, you just know your people. And so it's, I love being around them. Um, I think the idea of being able to knock out a ton of CEs in a couple of days, you know, that's, that's a real perk. Um, and then to go to the exhibit halls and see what's new and out there,

 

Lisa (08:51):

And get four hundred pens that they'll use over the next 19 years.

 

Sarah (08:54):

That's one regret that we ran out of swag fast. I blew it.

 

Lisa (08:58):

I regret not picking up any swag.

 

Sarah (09:00):

Yeah, that's true. I promise you guys next year: if you came to our booth and we had nothing left, I will prepare for that next year. You just never know.

 

Lisa (09:08):

It was gone by the morning of day two.

 

Sarah (09:10):

It was. So that was my bad. And I apologize for that.

 

Lisa (09:12):

You're fired.

 

Sarah (09:13):

Yeah, I know. So, um, anyway, did we like it? Yes. In talking to other SLPs: very mixed reactions. I think, um, uh, there's a couple of camps. I think there's those of us that really do enjoy that crowd and which I'm really not an extrovert, which I know sounds weird because I talk a lot and I, and I do enjoy talking to people, but I also get some social anxiety and I don't do great in crowds. Um, but for that experience, I, again, I think it's just because I liked the peer part of it. Um, but I think some people are overwhelmed. It's a lot of people cramped, crowded into tiny spaces.

 

Lisa (09:51):

You don't have to, though. I think if you're just going as a participant, I think we have some extra demands because we're exhibiting too. So we're talking to people all day, 9, 10 hours a day. And, um, that's a different experience. But thinking back of when I've gone as just a convention goer, what I think I always liked about it is if you just wanted to do your own thing, you could. Typically, you can network with a friend that you know, um, and find somebody that if you wanted to meet up with either for lunch or for dinner or whatever you can, and even if you go there completely solo.

 

Sarah (10:23):

You'll find someone.

 

Lisa (10:24):

There are always groups like I can remember going. And I want to say maybe it was even May, um, from Exceptional Ed that she was with. Yeah. Guru back then. But when I went to Chicago once, she had organized some local meetups of like, "Hey, if you want to come and meet for pizza, we're going to go here." So there are always those opportunities. It's almost like a cruise ship where you can do nothing or do everything. It's really what you're in the mood for.

 

Sarah (10:50):

That's up to you. I agree. If it's so overwhelming to be kind of on all day, then you can go duck out and kind of do your own thing. Um, but I've, I have gone to conventions again, pre-business and met people in a session that I ended up hanging out with for a little while. Um, I think it's nice to have a buddy. I, you know, but that's just, that's just what I think about it. So I do think some people are overwhelmed by it. So we get that. I get that that might be kind of not your thing to be with, again, a lot of people

 

Lisa (11:20):

And you're doing a lot of learning. So if you're going to session after session after session, you're drained anyways. So if you have those pressures on top of you to have to remember things like manners?

 

Sarah (11:29):

Right!

 

Lisa (11:30):

And just, no, but just to be social, like there's certain expectations. But I will say when I have not been locked to my booth, 24/7, I have run into old college professors, which is super cool. Like I have, um, I went to the Arizona State University and one of my primary professors was Dr. Leonard LaPointe, who is now I think somewhere in Florida, I want to say FSU, but I ran into him just on an escalator once. And I was like, this is so cool. Or one of my grad school friends that now lives in Toronto when we were, um, both in Chicago at that convention, we were able to meet up, and I hadn't seen her in years. So things like that

 

Sarah (12:11):

I'm sure there's people you went to college with, but they've moved since college.

 

Lisa (12:15):

So that was that example.

 

Sarah (12:17):

Trying to get together with your, your cohort was, is the best.

 

Lisa (12:21):

So just to catch up and, and just to have fun. And so there are just, it's a unique place that draws a lot of different people together and you can do nothing or do everything.

 

Sarah (12:32):

Yeah. Yeah. I do think that's so—if you've never gone, you've got to go once at least. I think it's totally worth, um, the experience is really kind of a trip. Like I know it's expensive. I also know the timing's not great. The week before. Thanksgiving is probably not the best time in the world for us to be trying to take time off. Um, and so that can be really hard, but try and find at least one opportunity to go in your lifetime

 

Lisa (12:56):

And try to be creative too when you're thinking about funding. A lot of times, you know, I always think back of when I was working as the lead SLP in our district and I would hear requests for things. And so I'd always hear kind of like the administration's response to what they wanted to hear if you were requesting something like time off. Sometimes it would just be, they would give you the paid time off, which is great. Other times they would offer to pay for the convention if you would take what you learned and brought it back and presented to your entire group.

 

Sarah (13:24):

Right.

 

Lisa (13:24):

So offer things like that, say, "Hey, I'll go for our group, I'll get this information. I'll present to our group." And even if you've never presented before, it's, doesn't have to be this like crazy, scary, you know, formal thing where you're like the researcher in front of the group. It's just, "Hey, this is what I learned. Here are my takeaways. Here's some materials." And, um, that's a great way to get it covered where you don't have to then maybe come up with all of those funds by yourself.

 

Sarah (13:50):

Yeah, it's true. Cause it is. It's expensive. I mean, we worked in a district that wouldn't even give me the paid time off to go. Right. So it is what it is. Um, as far as courses went and feedback from SLPs, we, again, we didn't get out. We went to one course.

 

Lisa (14:05):

But I do want to say that one, I heard there was a amazing panel and there was this one standout on the panel, this tall blonde.

 

Sarah (14:13):

We'll talk about that in just a second. But as we talked to other people, that's one of the first questions I ask people who stopped by the booth because I want to know, I want to know the great courses that are out there and what people are learning. Um, and again, mixed reviews there too. Um, uh, for, for a couple of reasons, 1.) Um, there is an a, we've felt this because we've gone to conferences solely to attend sessions. Um, there is, it's really hard to find practical sessions sometimes. So you're going to what you think might be more practical. And then it's very research and theory. And, um, as practicing clinicians with the caseload that we have and the demands we have, I need information. I need you to tell me what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not bagging research. It is so critically important to this field. Um, but it, it, there's just, there needs to be more balance there where if you're, if we're going to talk research, I want to know the outcomes in the sense of what can I do,

 

Lisa (15:12):

Right. I need to study parameters. I just want kind of like the highlight reel and then how that applies to me as a clinician or how it could, because I know a lot of times that research, it doesn't have a direct, um, outcome because what you get from those studies is we need to study more about this, this, and this.

 

Sarah (15:29):

Right.

 

Lisa (15:29):

But I think what they could do is work with clinicians and say, "Hey, these were some of our questions, go out there, try this, see how this works." And, you know, I wish we could work more collaboratively with our researchers to get some practice of that information to really then again, drive what needs to happen next.

 

Sarah (15:48):

Well, we did an entire podcast, a podcast episode about this very thing with Meredith and the disconnect between research and practice. Um, and so you see it at the convention. I think a lot, um, ASHA is very, you know, science heavy. They just, you know, that, that tends to be a lot of what we're seeing as far as, as presenters. Meredith talked about why researchers need to go out and present. Um, and so I think her suggestion on that podcast episode was ASHA could do us a solid and let us know: is this going to be practical or more research heavy, like in the actual description of it?

 

Lisa (16:24):

Well, and I think they could do us a solid too by maybe offering a research and clinical track.

 

Sarah (16:30):

Yeah!

 

Lisa (16:30):

So like, just make sure that the offerings are balanced, where if you see that nine out of 10 are all research-based and "didn't you look at the statistics".

 

Sarah (16:39):

Okay. ASHA has a great app. That's what allows you to see what's in the exhibit hall and all of the courses and stuff. And so you can look and you can, you can filter by research or, um, I don't remember how it was worded, but something like to allude that it's for more clinical and it does look like it's half and half, but I'm telling you those ones listed as clinical aren't always clinical.

 

Lisa (16:58):

Oh I see.

 

Sarah (16:59):

And so I had people telling me that they went to go into a course that looked promising and then sat through a lot of theory. And so it, it's just the reality of things. And, you know, here's the good news is we do have people like Meredith who love that stuff. And then she comes in and summarizes it for us. I love it too, because then I was able to go, "Oh my gosh, that one does sound interesting. I do want to learn more about it." Um, and so shout out to Meredith with The Informed SLP for doing that for us. First of all, she dumbs it down for me a little bit, because I don't always understand what the heck they're even talking about. Um, and then too, it's the highlight reel, right? It's like, here's the most recent information that's out there. Here's what you guys need to be, what you need to know. And that to me is more valuable than me trying to sit through those sessions.

 

Lisa (17:45):

Or what happens is then you just don't sit through them. You don't even give it a chance.

 

Sarah (17:49):

I talk to a lot of people who left sessions.

 

Lisa (17:50):

Yeah. 

 

Sarah (17:50):

Because you're not going to waste your time.

 

Lisa (17:53):

No.

Sarah (17:53):

Then it sounds like also, um, the ones that were, you know, the sessions that were probably more practical and relevant to, especially school-based SLPs were either in smaller rooms or they just fill up really fast. So you're doing a lot of overflow. You're doing a lot of sitting on the floor. Um, and even if you show up really early, there's not enough seats. So there's those kinds of problems. But I don't want to bag ASHA for that part because I can't even imagine logistically now how they figure this out. How do they really know which ones are going to be the courses? I mean, obviously when you have like MGW and Pam Crook presenting on social thinking, you're giving them a huge room.

 

Lisa (18:28):

I thought it was MG Dubya. But here's, okay, so here we are. We're a couple of problem solvers. I think that they offer those ways to build your schedule in advance. Have you seen that? Like when you go and I, I, again, I have not been able to use it.

 

Sarah (18:43):

Just kind of say which ones you're going to go to. Groups in Texas do that. Some of them kind of require you to kind of sign up for your courses so they know.

 

Lisa (18:51):

Maybe. But even ASHA has a scheduler where you can build it out online and select the classes that look interesting to you. So then you can print a schedule. I wish they would take it that next step to extract that data and then say, okay, we can see there's a heavy interest in this course. And if they did that, then it could maybe solve some of those overflow problems or people getting, you know, not getting into sessions, even if they were there 30 minutes earlier, whatever the case may be.

 

Sarah (19:19):

Yeah. I think that would be a great solution to that. Cause that's a bummer. You, you trek. Again, you're going far to some of these classes you get there, you get there early and then there's no seat for you, um, is really kind of a bummer.

 

Lisa (19:30):

They always do say "so if you do go to a convention, always have a couple of backups". So if you can't get into this, because you don't want to be doing that in the moment, you'll miss like 15 minutes of the session. If you think you're going to one, and then you're like, "Oh, sweet, this is full. What's next?" And then you hop on to try to like sift through the courses that might, you might always also have an interest in. So just kind of, I like that book. I like the app is great, but the book, I could just circle then and have it with me in my—

 

Sarah (19:56):

It is overwhelming. There's a ton of courses. I always have that FOMO feeling too, where it's like, "Oh, I've got like five things I want to go see in that same hour." And it's been, I'm afraid I'm gonna miss one. And then again, that's when you get really annoyed though, cause you pick one and then it's not great. And then you— anyway.

 

Lisa (20:10):

You've got five in one hour and then zero in another.

 

Sarah (20:12):

It's tough. I get it. But I think you go in with an open mind and the key is, is, you know, these things are gonna happen, but you're, you're still gonna find something that, you know, adds value. You always know the safe ones to go to are going to be anything from social thinking or Sarah Ward or, um, Nina Reeves and Scott Yares right. There's always going to be those ones where, you know the practical ones and to try to at least get into a few of those, if you can. Um, and then I have to tell you, this is why we created Summit. So there's online opportunities out there for you to learn. And we're getting really great speakers. And our number one request for them is "can you please make it practical?" You only get an hour, you know Hey, give me the resources at the end, hand me that slide so I can go see the research you did. But if you could just spend the hour giving me things I can actually use in therapy the next day that, and that's what all of our presenters have been able to do. It's online, it's at your convenience. Um, and so that's a really great opportunity to be able to also get really quality information.

 

Lisa (21:15):

Right.

 

Sarah (21:15):

And we've got another one coming up the week of January 7th, which is really, really exciting. Um, okay, what else? Oh, one thing, and I don't know if this is true, you guys, but I had several people tell me, so I'm going to say it, but again, I guess in the opening ceremony when they were, um, I think the, the president of ASHA was speaking to somebody was there was no mention of schools.

 

Lisa (21:37):

But did they mention other settings?

Sarah (21:40):

Sounded like they were talking about kind of the what's happening and schools was never mentioned. So again, if I'm wrong, let me know. And I will do a, you know, I will, I will clear this up, but, um, when I hear things like that, my first reaction is "seriously?" We are more than half of the speech language pathologists that are members of ASHA that are in the schools. More than half. And so this is where I get on my soap box a little bit. I am tired of not being heard, people. I really, really am when we are a huge population of SLPs. We need to be seen and we need to be heard. And, um, you know, again, maybe this is just, I need a mindset, a mind shift on this, but I don't always think we're very recognized. And, um, I think that's unfortunate. I think the pendulum might be swinging a little bit though, because what I did learn from probably this convention more than others, because of the neighbors that we had is they are seeing the influence of those of us on social media who do have larger audiences. And again, a lot of those are going to be our blogger friends who have huge audiences. And I think ASHA is seeing that, you know, these are the people that we want to hear from. These are the people who, you know, again are making kind of a difference, um, for us because of the, the reach they have to audiences. So I hope things are going to change, um, that forum, they did a few months back all about the schools.

 

Lisa (23:16):

Virtual home.

 

Sarah (23:16):

Yeah. It was just a starting point. I mean, let's be real, there was not a lot of solutions given, but it was a starting point at least. I think there's things happening, some momentum maybe where we're thinking, you know, school SLPs need more support. So we'll see.

 

Lisa (23:30):

I will tell you one of the things I noticed this time that I have not, I think, ever noticed in any convention we've done is we've got a lot of students up to our booth. And when we asked them what fields they wanted to go into or what setting, not field, a lot of them said schools. And I was super impressed because I know that that's another pendulum that needs to shift that there wasn't a lot of credibility given to the role of a school-based SLP when I was in university over 20 years ago. And even we've had some grad students work with us with SLP Toolkit and said that there was still pretty much that dichotomy of medical versus school-based.

 

Sarah (24:06):

Right.

 

Lisa (24:06):

And I think there is a more of a respect of, yeah, I do want to work with kids. I do want to work in a school setting. And the thing that comes out now is almost like the respect of "it is a hard job." That is the kind of setting where you need to know a lot about a lot. You get exposure to lots of different ages and different types of disabilities that you work with. So that was a little bit of a shift that I think I had not seen in talking to students in the past.

 

Sarah (24:34):

You're right. I feel like typically when you ask them where they're going to go, it's medical always.

 

Lisa (24:39):

Right always.

 

Sarah (24:39):

And I did talk to a lot that were going into the schools that have been loving their school externships.

 

Lisa (24:43):

Yay!

 

Sarah (24:43):

I know. And I have to say, I, this is again where I want that big pendulum swing is the fact that school-based SLPs are badass.

 

Lisa (24:51):

Respect.

 

Sarah (24:52):

Seriously. I mean, there is no doubt that amazing depth of knowledge, um, that school-based SLPs have to have in order to be effective in the schools. There, there is nothing quite like it.

 

Lisa (25:03):

Not just the knowledge, the organization, the—the interpersonal skills.

 

Sarah (25:07):

The administration skills, that paperwork. Yeah.

 

Lisa (25:10):

Um, and just even the interpersonal collaboration skills to work within a team effectively. And it's, um, it's definitely a different setting than even it was like, you know, the demands are different than it was even 10, 15 years ago. So you have to be, like you said, a bad-ass to work in the school setting.

 

Sarah (25:29):

So I think things are going to change. I really do think we're going to start to get the recognition and the support that we deserve. Um, here's one thing is we aren't somebody who just sits around and talks a lot of crap about something, like "we're ignored, nobody cares," um, and not do anything about it.

 

Lisa (25:41):

Right.

 

Sarah (25:41):

And so I did, um, I was talking to people. I do want to get more involved. Um, you know, if ASHA ever wants to call us, we're happy to get them some—.

 

Lisa (25:55):

Sarah's number 602—.

 

Sarah (25:55):

No, but really like we're both members of 616, which is the group, um, for school-based SLPs. I need to get more involved there. Um, and I need to see what we can do. We talked a lot about, um, obviously we all know the problems of school-based SLPs, almost all of it revolves around caseload size. Um, I know that they're trying to figure out how they can get involved when those decisions are made at state levels. And so, um, I was talking to Jenna Rayburn actually for a long time about, um, advocating and, uh, our role as advocates for not only our school that we're in, but the district and state level, um, and how difficult that is for us to do. I mean, one just time-wise, time to go out on the streets and picket. Um, and so what is it that we can do? And she gave a great example of, um, she went to her district and advocated for the 3:1 service delivery model and what she was able, how she was able to do that so successfully is because she got all of the resources and research from ASHA. They have an entire section about why it's an effective model. She printed that all out and then took that to the district.

 

Lisa (27:02):

Right.

 

Sarah (27:02):

And so that's the kind of thing that needs to be happening from—if ASHA can give us the tools, then I will go take those to the right people. Um, but you know, if I have to go and do all the research and dig up all the information, it's just not going to happen. Yeah. It's just not, not with all the other things that we have to handle.

 

Lisa (27:20):

Ain't nobody got time for that.

 

Sarah (27:21):

No. So off—kind of off the soapbox there, except know that we do hear you guys, we do see what's going on, we know, we've been there, and we do want to do whatever it takes to help. And so we are, we're going to see, you know, how we can get more involved. So there's that. Okay. Let's talk about our neighbors.

 

Lisa (27:40):

Oh, the best! I love them.

 

Sarah (27:42):

We were on Party Island.

 

Lisa (27:45):

SL Party Island.

 

Sarah (27:47):

Yeah. It was really amazing. We, um, right to the, to the left of us was our besties at Little Bee.

 

Lisa (27:55):

They are literally some of the most lovely human beings I've ever met in my life.

 

Sarah (27:59):

Ever.

 

Lisa (28:00):

And even when they bring—so it's Heidi and her husband, Chris are always there. And then oftentimes Chris brings his sister, Summer. And they're just so nice and funny,

 

Sarah (28:10):

And funny. And Heidi never leaves that booth.

 

Lisa (28:13):

I know.

 

Sarah (28:14):

She is a rock star and she is always there. First of all, they're always slammed. They always are doing demos of their amazing apps, which we have talked a lot about because we genuinely love them. We will never talk about things that we don't actually use and believe in. We love their apps. Um, and they've, they're just beautifully done and really, really helpful. And so they were out there doing demos the whole time and, and, and, uh, Heidi's always out there.

 

Lisa (28:37):

And then my feet hurt. So Chris gave me his used insoles, which I highly appreciated.

 

Sarah (28:42):

Chris is the funniest. And he's great because again, another husband of an SLP, but he can talk the talk. Yeah. I don't think you'll know for quite a while that he's not actually an SLP. So stump him sometime, if you ever, if you're ever next to him, but anyway, love them. They were the first people, other probably business owners, that we ever really met. And it was our very first convention. It was in Fort Worth and it was at the Texas State Association. And, um, I am, uh, I do fan girl. I will not lie. I fan girl a little. Well, Heidi is the O.G. of bloggers. If you do not remember, she had started Mommy Speech Blog years ago. This was like the beginning of blogging. Um, and so I knew who she was already and we were walking into our convention for that first day to go into our booth. And we see her and I, like, kind of geek out a little bit. Well, they ended up being next to us in the exhibit hall. And, um, so we started talking to them and because you're setting close quarters for so many days, we genuinely became friends and they were so helpful. They gave us a ton of about how to survive, you know, as exhibitors and what we needed to get out of the experience.

 

Lisa (29:46):

They were the example. We were the non-example. So I think that even like when we're walking into that convention center, I mean, Sarah and I didn't know what we were doing. We just knew we were in Texas and everybody is beautiful and has their, you know, high hair and high heels. And so we're like, all right, let's do this. And so we showed up that first day in heels, like to stand in an exhibit booth. It's hard enough when you have tennis shoes on. But I remember, um, Heidi and her team walking ahead of us in the crosswalk with converse jeans and t-shirts, and we just kind of look at each other, like, all right, wardrobe fail. And then when we get in there, I think too, like we did our best with our booth design.

 

Sarah (30:22):

Oh, it was the jankiest poster that I made. And I'm no graphic designer. It was terrible.

 

Lisa (30:27):

Well, you know, again, you don't, until you look at it--

 

Sarah (30:30):

I'm going to table off, with our tree logo, you remember that.

 

Lisa (30:36):

I do! It's amazing!

 

Sarah (30:36):

It's so bad.

 

Lisa (30:36):

Um, so like, I just think, like, we're next to Little Bee who, um, Chris, Heidi's husband, is the graphic designer for everything in the app and their backdrop and everything. And so, we're like "Alright, there might be a couple things we could change next year, next time we exhibit." So--

 

Sarah (30:52):

Yeah. They made us feel so comfortable. They've been our friends ever since. We are genuinely would call them our friends.

 

Lisa (30:57):

So who else was on SLP or it's actually it's SLParty Island. [Unintelligible]

 

Sarah (31:02):

Yeah. So then behind us is the bloggers and I'm going to give you five seconds to name them all, go!

 

Lisa (31:13):

Uhhh...

 

Sarah (31:13):

Ha! I knew you were gonna freeze, I knew you were gonna freeze!

 

Lisa (31:13):

I don't like pressure!

 

Sarah (31:13):

So we had—are we ready? I know [overlapping of many names]. Oh my gosh. Did we get them all? I hope so. I think so. I think there was like 10 of them. And you guys, we don't have to tell you anything about them. You know, these people, they are as big of a deal as it gets. I had seen them a few years ago at a convention pre-SLP Toolkit days and like fangirled hard, hard enough to the point where like, I just stalked them from distances.

 

Lisa (31:49):

You weirdo!

 

Sarah (31:50):

It was so embarrassing, right? Cause it was like, I didn't want to approach them. I just like would watch them from like, you know, a distance because these girls are recognizable. They're, you know, their brands, you know what they're doing for this field. And so they are a big deal. Um, and so over the years, because of our collaboration with them, we have gotten to know them.

 

Lisa (32:10):

All so lovely.

 

Sarah (32:12):

Yeah. And get to call them friends. And I mean, these girls just could not be any bigger bosses. Their booth is swamped all the time. They have the best swag.

 

Lisa (32:21):

Well, and not only I think like people, I always kind of look at this group of ladies is how, uh, I think a lot of people might look at them how my teenage daughter looks at the YouTubers that she thinks she can just slap something up on YouTube and be like living in a mansion in LA. And I'm like, "no, honey, there's so much work that, that goes behind this." And that's what I look at that group of women. And they are business bosses. Like they have to do marketing and creation of materials and sales and, and put themselves out there. And they are just literally boss ladies each and every one of them.

 

Sarah (32:54):

I'm glad you made that point because I don't think people understand that.

 

Lisa (32:58):

No, I wouldn't have!

 

Sarah (32:58):

It is a full-time job, if not more.

 

Lisa (33:01):

Right.

 

Sarah (33:02):

Um, and, and we got a glimpse of that, even in our, um, the blog that we have, which we don't blog, you know, that's just part of our business. It's not our only business. Um, and so, you know, we don't blog probably as much as we even should, and even trying to manage our social media, I don't do it half as good as they do. And it's a full-time job. Yeah.

 

Lisa (33:22):

They're legit. So they are, they, you know, I respect what they're doing. Totally.

 

Sarah (33:28):

And let's not also forget that they are pioneers really, because up until a certain point, there was a couple of websites. I always think of Speaking of Speech.

 

Lisa (33:37):

Yes.

 

Sarah (33:37):

You know, dot com is where we could get some downloadables, um, and some resources and visuals. Um, but up until this group of bloggers, um, never before, did we have access to so much practical information and, you know, say what you will about it, I think there are some mixed feelings and I see comments out there about it. Um, but these are people who saw a problem and decided that they were going to come up with a solution to it.

 

Lisa (34:01):

Right.

 

Sarah (34:01):

And so they use what they know they use, what their experience is. They find things that, you know, they, they create things that don't exist. They are willing to share their honest experiences in life. What they are doing is really, really huge. And I think deserve to get recognition for that because, um, it it's, it's a big deal. And so yes, as, and we'll talk about Lisa's presentation she did too. As business owners, we have a huge ethical responsibility to make sure that the products that we're putting out there are research-based and, um, effective. And you know, that we're not just making like these crazy claims. Um, and so it's really, really important that we're very thoughtful about that. Um, and for the most part, you can't say that these girls aren't doing that, they're amazing. They really, really are. So we, and we love them. Uh, first of all, they're freaking hysterical. And when I think is the best is, um, they take kind of turns in there because there's so many of them. And so if they don't want to be really kind of talking to people, they better freaking hide because like, they, like, you can't go anywhere and not see one of them and somebody not recognize them.

 

Lisa (35:07):

Or if you want to, if they want to eat lunch, they hid. Like Jenna hid in between our two exhibit, um, backdrops to eat a sandwich so she could eat a sandwich without having to talk to someone with her mouth full of sandwich.

 

Sarah (35:19):

Right. Right. And they're so nice. And I actually had asked Jenna one time, like, "Do you like this?" Because literally, I mean, I think she can't even go to the grocery store in that area without like somebody probably commenting. And I'm like, do you really like this? And she was like, I really do. I really do. I love to talk to these people and I appreciate them. And yeah, so anyway, so fun. So then next to the bloggers was our bestie, Jennie who we've had on the podcast. And she spent time in Phoenix with us.

 

Lisa (35:45):

Bjorn Speech sound cues.

 

Sarah (35:47):

And if you don't know Jennie? Your loss.

 

Lisa (35:49):

And her whole crew was the best.

 

Sarah (35:52):

Okay, can you name them?

 

Lisa (35:53):

Oh my gosh. Okay. Ready. [Overlapping names fired rapidly between Lisa and Sarah].

 

Sarah (36:04):

Alright. I hope we got all of them. So that crew [unintelligible], we got to hang out with them. They are a blast. Um, but one thing talking about like these, you know, being a little bit more recognizable, like the bloggers and stuff, Jenny made everybody pins that said #ASHAFamous on them, which I thought was so funny because honestly only at an ASHA convention does anyone know who you are.

 

Lisa (36:28):

But that is weird. So I think that was actually kind of funny, even for, like, your husband to see. Cause he's like, all right. Cause people would come up and they're like, I feel like I'm meeting a celebrity and he just kinda looked over like, and I think not just, he was, sometimes we look over like "Who? Who's here?" And they're like, "No, no, we want our picture with you." And we're like, "Oh, okay, sure, no problem."

 

Sarah (36:49):

Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I don't know what to do with that. Um, I mean, let me start by saying, we love when you say hi to us, we love, I don't care where I am: please say hi, please give me a hug. Please talk to us. Um, I don't know how to — the fact that you think I'm not that you think I am something. It is very odd. I don't think Lisa and I ever in a million years thought we would be here, in this place we're in right now. This is just not what we signed up for at all. But when we, you start a business and with social media, we had to put ourselves out there. I mean, really like our brand is just as important sometimes as our product. And so we're, we are out there. And so we, we know, you know, as our audience grows that that people may see us in a, in a kind of a weird way, but I, I don't know what to do with it.

 

Lisa (37:35):

Right. It is. And it, because I think what my perception always is is we have this office, you and I look at each other every day, you're welcome, and you know, occasionally have people drop in, like, you know, we have administrative, um, support. We have our developer that drops in every now and then, but we're in this office all day just doing our thing. And so when we get out of here, we, I don't think we kind of remember that we do put ourselves out, like we do this podcast. We post things on Instagram and things like that, where you just don't feel it until you get to somewhere where people actually are like, Oh, you really do listen. We're up to 12 listeners now on your phone.

 

Sarah (38:12):

Yeah, we did. I think we're up to like 20 at least.

 

Lisa (38:16):

Oh wow. Double digits.

 

Sarah (38:18):

Pretty impressive stuff. Um, but yeah, so that, part's kind of a, it's kind of a weird feeling. Um, but the, the thing about social media is, is we know you too. Like, I genuinely feel like we're friends and I love engaging with people and I love, um, that connection we're making. And so it's this in real life moment, you know, where it's like—.

 

Lisa (38:38):

IRL.

 

Sarah (38:39):

I know you guys feel like, you know us because we tell you everything about us. Um, and so we really do appreciate when you will come and talk to us and hang out in our booth. Um, we had a lot of users come by the booth, which for us, um, is super meaningful because you know, there's a lot of insecurity and doubt that gets put out there when, when you're creating a product and putting it out for the world to see. And so there's always that kind of in the back of our minds, like is this product adding value to people's lives? And so when we go to the— we get emails and people tell us, but when we go to the conventions and you come and tell us what it's doing for you?

 

Lisa (39:16):

It's amazing.

 

Sarah (39:18):

It's hard not to like, almost get emotional about it because, um, that's what we created this for. We really, really wanted this to be a resource that made people's lives, easier, work lives, easier, um, and gave people information that made them feel confident about what they were doing. So when you're telling us that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing for you, it makes, you know, all of this so worthwhile for us. Um, and then do you want to talk about like, we would be demoing?

 

Lisa (39:42):

Yeah. It was kind of awesome because you would have people that would just come up and just kinda like, say, I love what you're doing, keep doing it. And then I was doing a demo for one person at the booth and someone walks by and goes, "Just buy it. You'll love it, just buy it." And then she keeps walking and the lady that I'm doing the demo with, and I just kind of look at her and go, I swear, I've never met her ever in my life.

 

Sarah (40:03):

You did hear her say that.

 

Lisa (40:03):

But then she like kind of rounds the corner, this lady, she goes, you can send me my check later. And then what was really cute? She did come back to the booth and she, um, would just chatted for a while. It was that same kind of thing. Like, you know, no, I just, I really love what you guys are doing. You've completely changed how I practice as an SLP. And I think that's the one for me. It literally, I have goosebumps, anytime somebody said that it was, you know, we have clearly put a lot of work into this. There are a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that go into any business. And, but it was for this, it was, we saw this need for ourselves and that we can share it with people and really change, um, how they're feeling about their workload and their systems and give them something that makes them feel more confident. I mean, it's just, there's nothing better, honestly.

 

Sarah (40:49):

It's true. It makes it, it just is. It's an amazing feeling, knowing that we have contributed something. I mean, again, I think we're very like solution-oriented people. Um, but I still don't really think, I appreciated the magnitude of, um, of why us, like, why were we able to, to do something that can really help so many people? Um, it's really hard for me to wrap my head around. And, you guys, if you've got things out there and ideas and solutions that you think are really gonna make a difference in this field, do it like, you know, that's, that's the amazing thing. And I just caught a blog post Jenna put out today, um, on Speech Room News, where she was talking about SLP entrepreneurs and it is so true. We were surrounded by female mostly. I mean, we just, it's just the nature of it, female bosses, you know, who have put themselves out there and, um, are really trying to make contributions to better this field. Um, and it's, it's just a really cool thing. And so that leads me into our things, our next discussion about—Lisa presented.

 

Lisa (41:55):

Oh yeah.

 

Sarah (41:55):

On a panel with some other boss ladies. Um, so we had Megan sent in from Tactus Speech.

 

Lisa (42:01):

She is, she is--I love her.

 

Sarah (42:03):

She is so smart, and so articulate.

 

Lisa (42:06):

She's not like unrelatable in that--I don't feel like I'm a genius, but she is just really well put together. Her, everything she says is super thoughtful and her product is amazing.

 

Sarah (42:18):

Yes.

 

Lisa (42:18):

I just really, really like her a lot.

 

Sarah (42:20):

I do too. And then we had Danielle from Sublime Speech and Exceptional Ed. Um, and then, um, I just went blank. Oh my gosh. Really, Sarah?

 

Lisa (42:30):

Rachel.

 

Sarah (42:30):

Thank you. Rachel Madel. Did I say her name right? Um, from Talking with Tech and then we had May with Exceptional Ed was the host, is that it?

 

Lisa (42:39):

Yes.

 

Sarah (42:40):

Is that right?

 

Lisa (42:40):

Yeah.

 

Sarah (42:41):

Okay. Now we were like going through all of these things and so it was the coolest topic. Um, it was an ethics course. So obviously this wasn't one that needed overflow. Um, because Maureen–

 

Lisa (42:52):

Maybe in 2020, when you're required to have an ethics course, everyone's going to be required to have one, but not in 2018,

 

Sarah (42:58):

Not a packed room. Um, but it was all about the roles of business owners, SLP business owners, um, and following the code of ethics. And I learned something new, I guess it's not, I didn't learn it as something new, but just never had thought about it before that, because we are SLPs. We have to follow the code of ethics in our business practices. Whereas if I owned this business and I was not an SLP, I would not have to. And that is a huge responsibility

 

Lisa (43:27):

So May even pointed out, even in terms of marketing that, um, she's—when you think of even outsourcing for marketing, that she's had to really go through some of the materials with her SLP lens, because, uh, they'll say something she's like, no, no, no, no, we can't say this. And they're like, "Do you want to sell this?" And she goes, yes, but I have to be ethical in how I'm presenting what our product does. And she said, that's actually something that's difficult for their business to grapple with in terms of looking at competing businesses that are not owned by SLPs and make claims that are maybe not true.

 

Sarah (44:00):

Exactly. Right. Yeah. And so, um, the, they, what May did is she had picked out, uh, the code of different ethics and then asked a question and then you guys took, turns answering the questions about all of the different, um, roles we have as business owners and following that. And I learned a lot, you guys did a brilliant job, um, so much so that you've got high accolades from somebody who was involved in writing the ethics, who was on the ethics committee.

 

Lisa (44:27):

It went so well, the whole panel discussion. And at the end, we opened it up for questions. So a couple of people stood up and asked questions and we answered it. And then at the end, there's this gentleman, you know, very refined gentlemen, older gentlemen that stands up and says, "Well, I don't have a question. I just have a comment." And I'm like, "Oh shit, here we go." I know we did good. And then I don't know what this is going to be. And then he stated that he was on the panel or the group that created the ethics and just felt really good about the information that we presented. And--

 

Sarah (45:00):

He complimented you guys. He talked about your courage and, and what that means for you. You know, these are our, this is our livelihood and we've got this kind of burden of responsibility and it was really, really cool.

 

Lisa (45:12):

It was cool. The whole experience. And I think May did a really great job of organizing everything. I know this was something that she's been putting together for a couple of years. She's been involved in technology for a while, and this was kind of her baby to come up with this concept and was gracious enough to invite, um, Toolkit. So we had to fight over who got to be on the panel.

 

Sarah (45:38):

I won, because I didn't have to do it. The winner was the one who didn't have to do it.

 

Lisa (45:42):

No, but it was a great lens of people in different fields. So Danielle's, um, perspective is she's Sublime Speech. So she's got her TPT kind of venue, but then also is involved in Exceptional Ed, which is an online continuing education platform. Rachel is involved in, she does podcasts and does a lot of videos online for, she works in her own clinic that specializes in autism. And then you have Megan from Tactus, um, who has a bunch of apps. And so it was just a really interesting kind of perspective that everyone brought to the questions.

 

Sarah (46:16):

Yeah, it was really good. You guys did it. You guys really knocked it out of the park. Ashley told me she probably needs to, to do this presentation again online so more people can—get in the hands of more people. Um, because one, even if you're not a business owner, um, if you are curious about, you know, who you can trust in the process of other businesses that are out there from these, the companies that you're buying from, um, I thought it was really, really interesting.

 

Lisa (46:40):

So you did have Meredith came to her.

 

Sarah (46:42):

I was going to bring up Meredith as we already talked to her a little bit because thank goodness that she, um, translates all of the, all of the courses that she had for me and my benefit. Um, but anyway, she is one of our favorite humans in every way possible. We, obviously, we talked about her on—with that podcast episode we did with her. She's the perfect balance of science and practice. It's like, so she is like the epitome of somebody who gets both worlds. Her feet are in, is in both worlds. Um, but also she's a boss.

 

Lisa (47:14):

That's super funny and super personable and really likeable.

 

Sarah (47:19):

Yeah. Yeah. And so, um, we have some regrets in the sense of being second, a booth did not allow us to go out and see people we wanted to see and go to other businesses we wanted to go to.

 

Lisa (47:32):

I just want to do a Super-Duper bag.

 

Sarah (47:34):

Yeah. We did not do any Super-Duper bags. I wanted to go to the Parts of Speech shop. Those girls have those great sweatshirts. I just reached out. I'm going to see if I can get one online.

 

Lisa (47:42):

I wanted to go to the main booth. They reached out to us on Facebook and they had a quilt that they were, um, auctioning off. Darn it!

 

Sarah (47:49):

I know! So you guys, our bad, if we did not come see you, it was not for any other reason other than we just got, you know, we're just stuck in our booth and, and couldn't get out like we wanted to.

 

Lisa (48:00):

One highlight for me, I forgot to talk about was I did walk by the Super-Duper booth.

 

Sarah (48:04):

Okay.

 

Lisa (48:04):

And Sharon Weber, the creator of Super-Duper was wearing a zebra suit that matched the bags that they were giving out. So that was quite delightful because these were all neon stripes, not black and white stripes.

 

Sarah (48:15):

We can appreciate that as other lovers of a good outfit. Yes. So fantastic.

 

Lisa (48:20):

We need to bring our costume heads next, next year.

 

Sarah (48:22):

Right. So this is a lot longer than we intended it to be, but a lot happened. And so we wanted to debrief, um, and I love that we're debriefing in something that's being recorded, but we haven't said anything offensive, whatever. Um, the other last part would be Boston. It was in Boston. I have never been there before. Um, let me start with my regrets. My regrets was we didn't get out and see as much as I wanted to, which, you know, I have serious issues with FOMO. And so I'm bummed that I didn't, it was, the weather was freezing. We didn't have our suit luggage for the first 24 hours. We had no coats, no nothing to go explore. Um, and so I'm so bummed we didn't see more of it, but from what we saw....

 

Lisa (49:02):

I want to be back, Oh, I can't wait to be back.

 

Sarah (49:05):

If you've never been to Boston, get it on your list. The history, the food, the parks.

 

Lisa (49:12):

Yeah. It's beautiful.

 

Sarah (49:12):

I get think the shopping is amazing, which that's probably what I didn't get to. And I love to do the most. Loved everything about Boston.

 

Lisa (49:20):

The lobster.

 

Sarah (49:20):

People. We had lobster, we feel wicked smart. I got a shirt that says that. Um, anyway, very cool, great location, thrilled it was there.

 

Lisa (49:31):

And excited for Orlando next year, I love getting to travel to different parts of the country

 

Sarah (49:36):

And we will be going to Harry Potter World. And well, maybe even Walt Disney World while we're there next year. So, um, let's start planning that now because —oh, that's the other thing I was going to talk about. We really wanted to do a get together or some kind of a party. Ashley should be about some parties. There should be some dance parties and things happening. We couldn't pull it together, you guys, this time, but let's next year for our Orlando deal. We threw it out there that you guys could ask us some questions and we would attach them to the end of this podcast and you came through. We've got some great questions here. So we're going to try and get through these as fast as possible. So the first question we received. There is not a lot out there for aspiring SLPs. Do you have any tips and tricks to get into grad school? So I don't know if this is specifically referencing that there wasn't a lot of information for aspiring SLPs at ASHA or if this was just a general question about that topic? Um, so thoughts on that?

 

Lisa (50:34):

I don't think at the national convention, I always see a ton of students in general. I know that Texas Speech and Hearing Association students are everywhere. So I think I would maybe start at your local convention first and see what resources are there. Check in with your, your local speech and hearing department, but just start to do some research, even online on broadening your scope of other programs. I think sometimes students can get really focused on "I live in Arizona, so I can only go to Arizona State or University of Arizona or NAU." And there are lots of online programs and other ways that you can get into grad school other than just your local resources. So branch out, network, connect. And, um, but students do go to these big conventions. It is always fun just to get a bus—.

 

Sarah (51:21):

Even undergrad.

 

Lisa (51:21):

And excitement. Yeah. I did meet undergrads.

 

Sarah (51:24):

I expect to see grad students there. I mean, I never went, let's be real. I don't even think I paid my initial dues, but, um, I saw a ton of grad students, but I talked to a lot of undergrad students too. Um, and so that is, that's a good opportunity to network, at least with each other, find each other to get ahold of [inaudible]. They probably have resources and things too. Now we did do a podcast episode with a professor from ASU that could be helpful for you to find that episode. It's with Maria Dixon. Um, but we should also do another podcast episode with tips and tricks. Okay. We'll get on that. All right. Next question. How, uh, what was it like having a booth? So we already kind of talked about this.

 

Sarah (52:01):

It was very painful for my feet.

 

Lisa (52:02):

Yeah.

 

Sarah (52:03):

I'll start there. I mean, I don't think I said this in the earlier episode, but, um, I will not allow chairs in our booth. We have no table. We have no chairs, one just for space reasons, but two, no one is going to approach us. If we're sitting in a chair it's just not, you know, like the most effective way to be inviting. And so I have chairs removed. Um, that being said, I should have splurged for the padding under the carpet. Well, we were standing on concrete for 10 hours.

 

Lisa (52:29):

What I loved is how, um, SLPs are such problem solvers because literally by day three, I felt like the bottoms of my feet were bruised. I mean, not even kidding. It felt like they were just fully bruised. And so I was dying and I was complaining out loud. It was in my head for the first two days or just maybe to you. Um, and then an SLP walked up because we're talking about just the cost of everything. I don't think people realize that you get charged for every single thing. A chair is $70. Carpet is $200. A trash can is $30. Padding is a couple of hundred dollars. So, um, I was just saying, you know, I don't care if it was $3,000, we're paying for it next year. And so she goes, why don't you just get one of those things you put in front of your sink when you're doing dishes, like one of those personal kind of foam pads. And I go, Oh my gosh, that's genius. And yes, even if we don't get the padding for the full booth, we are getting that next year because I will never, ever do that again.

 

Sarah (53:24):

Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I love, I, I, we talked about this again earlier. Love, love, love, love being in the convention hall with our peers and meeting people. Love that part, but it is long days. It is a lot of talking and we have to be on all day. All day, we have to be charming. And I talked mentioned this earlier. I'm actually not that much of an extrovert. So it does take some extra energy to really be putting yourself out there. Um, and so anyway, it's--

 

Lisa (53:53):

Well, did you find too, there were times I just forgot words. Oh, there was one time. I said a sentence five times and said it wrong each time. And then the girl, she just looked at me and she just started laughing and Isaac was standing next to me too. And I'm like, I swear I can speak, but it has just been a really, really long day.

 

Sarah (54:12):

Well, I think it's funny. Cause we say the same things over and over and over and over and over again, like, cause we demo the product and we have the same things that we go through while we're doing it. And even by the end of that, I'm like, what does this app do again?

 

Lisa (54:23):

What's my name?

 

Sarah (54:24):

Exactly.

 

Lisa (54:24):

Who am I? Where am I?

 

Sarah (54:25):

So it's really exhausting. But if you've got a product to share, you have to do it.

 

Lisa (54:31):

Oh. And they do have, I don't know if everyone's aware of this, we get the actual exhibit booths because of just there's two bodies and we have this, um, stuff that we have to demo, but they have member booths. So if there's even anything that you're interested in showing, and it doesn't have to be necessarily SLP related, there are booths there of people that sell scarves and jewelry and whatever. But if you're a first-time exhibitor and you are a member of ASHA, you can sit at the member table. And I think it's only like $300?

 

Sarah (55:01):

I think so too. It's a great way to do it.

 

Lisa (55:03):

So you can network. Do they give you a convention pass too?

 

Sarah (55:08):

I think you have the convention pass included in that.

 

Lisa (55:11):

So just consider that. Look into that as a member table. If that sounds like--

 

Sarah (55:13):

You can only do it once your very first time, right?

 

Lisa (55:15):

Very first time.

 

Sarah (55:15):

But it'll still give you a taste of what it's like to exhibit.

 

Lisa (55:18):

So if you're a crafter or have something you want to sell, go for it. It's a grieve, a captive audience of people that will love all of your stuff.

 

Sarah (55:25):

Yeah. Great idea. Okay. Next question. Who was your biggest SLP celebrity run-in? I like this question because the fact that it says SLP celebrity, cause these are these, this is real. This is real. We have celebrities in our field. Right. Um, and so like Lisa and I geek out every time we see MGW.

 

Lisa (55:41):

I didn't see her this year!

 

Sarah (55:41):

By the way, do you guys all know who I'm talking about? That's our nickname for Michelle Garcia Winner. Who's kind of our obsession. I saw her and Pam Crow--

 

Lisa (55:49):

You saw Michelle?!

 

Sarah (55:49):

I stalked from a distance. I never actually went up and talked to her.

 

Lisa (55:53):

I walked past Pam Kirk like two times.

 

Sarah (55:57):

Yeah.

 

Lisa (55:57):

So I was like saying hi to her in my head, but.

 

Sarah (55:59):

I totally kind of geek out.

 

Lisa (56:00):

And then I did give Nina Reeves a hug,

 

Sarah (56:03):

Love Nina. We had the privilege to work with her during summit. And she's a boss. We love Eric Raj. Every time we see him.

 

Lisa (56:11):

He's a cool dude.

 

Sarah (56:12):

Yeah. I know. I love, love him. Who else? Oh, we met Theresa Richards in real life.

 

Lisa (56:17):

Yeah.

 

Sarah (56:17):

So we've had the opportunity to talk with her online about things because she's another really great business boss. Um, and she's in the medical side of things. So not really related to what it is we do every day, but we watch her from afar.

 

Lisa (56:30):

And watching people, fangirl over her too. That was really funny.

 

Sarah (56:33):

If you're in medical you know who she is. If you're a school SLP, you might not know her maybe as obviously, because she's very involved in dysphasia.

 

Lisa (56:44):

Dysphasia.

 

Sarah (56:44):

I know. Is that how you say it or do you say dysphasia?

 

Lisa (56:46):

I don't ever say it!

 

Sarah (56:52):

Fair! #True! Um, well, you guys, we're going to miss people. We had bloggers next to us too.

 

Sarah (57:00):

I do, I feel like our little party Island is a given. Those are all like people I die over.

 

Sarah (57:05):

And then just our friends, our friends are there and Paige is one of our besties and she was right down the way. So anyway, lots of fun people to see. Okay. What was your favorite convention swag? Oh, Oh, I got this. I wish I knew the company that gave it to me too, but I love anything squishy or stress balls. I have, um, a desk full of fidgets because I made them and this one was like a yo-yo squishy ball thing that I literally sat and played with in the booth for hours.

 

Lisa (57:32):

I did not get out to get anything. So honestly, the only thing I got was from our neighbors. Jenny gave us her #ASHAFamous pen, which that was phenomenal. It was like a really nice pen too. And then I know as we were packing up, Holly gave me a purple Speech Time Fund Sharpie. So that will always be used.

 

Sarah (57:50):

And she had those cute sunglasses.

 

Lisa (57:51):

I didn't get any of those.

 

Sarah (57:52):

Oh. Maureen gave us, um, pop sockets.

 

Lisa (57:55):

Oh yeah!

 

Sarah (57:57):

It was really good.

 

Lisa (57:58):

I have not unpacked yet. So yeah, I got one of those.

 

Sarah (58:00):

The tiny coasters from, from Beatrice.

 

Lisa (58:03):

And then I think I got a button from our neighbors.

 

Sarah (58:07):

It'll be a lot of buttons, which I'm loving the buttons. So we've done buttons the last two or three years maybe. And it's so fun because people decorate their lanyards with them and I'm seeing more booths doing the buttons. And so I feel like it's like Disneyland.

 

Lisa (58:18):

I was wanting stickers though, because I just got a new lap tape— lap tape, laptop cover. And it's a little bare right now. Yeah.

 

Sarah (58:28):

So we need more stickers people.

 

Lisa (58:30):

I, that was not, I think, encouraging people to send them. Were You like saying we need more stickers, send them to us?

 

Sarah (58:35):

No, no. I'm saying people who give, do swag. Make stickers.

 

Lisa (58:38):

For real. I didn't see—I think we were the only ones that made stickers. Right?

 

Sarah (58:41):

I don't know. I think Jenna had stickers.

 

Lisa (58:44):

Oh, I wish I would have seen those. I know we should've gotten out more.

 

Sarah (58:46):

What's the funniest thing you overheard at ASHA? Oh!

 

Lisa (58:50):

You know what, did you see Meredith posting those? On the Informed SLP?

 

Sarah (58:55):

There was a lot of posts about things she overheard that were really funny.

 

Lisa (58:56):

One was really funny. It was a difference between asses and assess.

 

Sarah (59:01):

Assess, talking about typos.

 

Lisa (59:03):

They found a typo in the presentation, thankfully, before it went live, which I can appreciate.

 

Sarah (59:09):

There was another one I just saw today that said something like "I don't talk a lot." And the other scientists said "really, cause I have qualitative data that says otherwise." I thought that was genius. So, I can't ever think off the top of my head.

 

Lisa (59:20):

You know what? I know, that's the problem, because a lot of times we just, we laugh all day when we're there.

 

Sarah (59:25):

When Jenny Bjorn next to you-- I mean, first of all--

 

Lisa (59:28):

Oh! Let me touch your fanny!

 

Sarah (59:30):

Let me touch your fanny. They were put a lot of hands in fanny packs.

 

Lisa (59:33):

Well, because Sarah and I wear fanny packs. That's where we put our buttons and everything. And so Jenny kept wanting to touch our fanny.

 

Sarah (59:39):

Jenny also made—so she does this thing where she does initiates each of the new girls from her clinic that have come to help for the first time and initiate, is that the right word.

 

Lisa (59:47):

Or haze.

 

Sarah (59:48):

Maybe haze is better. Um, and so she made her wear a paper crown, and then they took all of the, um, tag, um those tag ribbons, the ribbon, the ribbons you put on your ASHA badge. They took all of them, which actually had a ton this year and they made her wear a sash and it was the greatest.

 

Lisa (01:00:05):

A crown and sash, yeah.

 

Sarah (01:00:07):

And she did it. So Shout out to Sarah for just stepping up and doing it. All right. Um, Oh, what did you guys do after hours in Boston? Um, that stays in Boston. There were some late nights.

 

Lisa (01:00:23):

There were some late nights. I will say some of the highlights for me were eating lobster in what was it called? The Oyster House? Uh, yeah, but I couldn't touch it here's me that I ordered this lobster because I love the taste of it. But then I have this like tactile defense, like response. Well, I don't want to touch it. I just want to eat it.

 

Sarah (01:00:43):

And so you didn't know you're getting a whole lobster?

 

Lisa (01:00:46):

Well, I think I did know that. That's what's so funny. I think I'm just kind of a princess and I'm used to people doing things for me and Isaac stepped up, which was awesome. It cracked my lobster and didn't get any of the benefits. I ate all the lobster and he got all the dirty hands. So it worked out, but we got to see the booth where, um, John F. Kennedy was a regular, the former president. And so that was kind of cool. And I also liked that--

 

Sarah (01:01:10):

We went to the old bars. We did a whole night, what we call drink like a Founding Father. So he went to all of the oldest bars. I mean, these bars have been around since like what, late 1700s?

 

Lisa (01:01:19):

And that's the one, the Green Dragon was the one that is where they sent Paul Revere off on his ride, his famous, famous ride. So that was kind of cool just to be in these spots that are, you know, so old where we live in Arizona, you know? So I know A-America as a, you know, the country that we know it today is a newer country, even as compared to when you go over to Europe and see some of those old structures, but here on the West Coast, I mean, we just celebrated our Centennial. I mean, it's, it's, there's nothing old.

 

Sarah (01:01:49):

But we had a lot of fun. Let's just say there were some very tired mornings in that exhibit hall and not enough caffeine. Okay. Um, what's your goal—This is a good one. What's your goal for next year at ASHA? More swag.

 

Lisa (01:02:01):

More swag, a new exhibit.

 

Sarah (01:02:03):

We're getting a whole new exhibit, a booth. Number one. Uh, TSA broke our cases that we stand in our pedestals that also carry all of our things. They broke them. Thanks to TSA.

 

Lisa (01:02:14):

Um, I want padding.

 

Sarah (01:02:14):

So we're getting a whole new booth because of that though. Plus it's time, it's time for a big booth. So we're going to do that.

 

Lisa (01:02:20):

I want more friends in the booth. I want actually some of our users that love our product as much as we do and do some shifts because it is, I mean, I don't think people always understand, like we are there all the time, which is great. We love to be there, but we literally only step out to shove a sandwich in our face and go to the bathroom and it's just not sustainable.

 

Sarah (01:02:41):

We need more help. And then there was one more thing.

 

Lisa (01:02:42):

I wanna see some courses!

 

Sarah (01:02:43):

We want to have a party!

 

Lisa (01:02:46):

Oh. And a party for sure.

 

Sarah (01:02:47):

We want to host a party.

 

Lisa (01:02:48):

And we just need some planning. That's, that is, um, we need to map this out more than like maybe the month before.

 

Sarah (01:02:55):

I have been working on this for months, Lisa. I'm offended you would say that. Four months I've been working on this!

 

Lisa (01:02:59):

I'm talking about like the party and things like that. No, you don't always map out the swag and--

 

Sarah (01:03:03):

We're going to have an argument right now for the first time on our podcast. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But no, I haven't been working on this for months. There's just a lot of details.

 

Lisa (01:03:11):

Right.

 

Sarah (01:03:11):

And so I am going to start earlier. Probably I'm starting now. I've ever actually started working on our new booth and all of that. So next ASHA in Orlando, we are going to, we are going to kill it. All right. How much does it cost to have a booth?

 

Lisa (01:03:23):

Too much.

 

Sarah (01:03:24):

Okay. So here's the deal. I don't know exactly off the top of my head. I want to say the booth itself is somewhere around like $1500, 1000. Something like that. That's not the problem. The problem is like Lisa said, there's a lot of extra little details that costs extra, but it's the travel. It's the swag, it's the hotel, all of the food. So it doesn't cost us a lot of money to be there, which is one of the reasons why we really are only going to probably be doing ASHA. We want to get to more state conventions, but it's very expensive. And then it's also time away from our daily job, which obviously impacts our big picture too. So it's expensive again. Totally worth it. Not complaining. We will always do ASHA. I just, I wish we could get out to conventions more often.

 

Lisa (01:04:07):

I think that's why we get asked. Like, can you go here? Can you go here? Can you exhibit at this one? And typically the answer is no, because it's too much and it's not even just the cost. Like you said, it's the time expense too. It's just, it's too much.

 

Sarah (01:04:21):

Lisa and I are the only, are it pretty much it you guys. And so when we're in that booth all day, we can't answer your emails. And so it, it gets, it's a, it's a lot, again, not complaining. Loved every second of it. Just throwing that out there, being real. All right. Oh, here's—Oh, that's a good one. I can't afford to go to the convention. I already pay so much for dues and sometimes I'm not even sure what ASHA does for me. I, so we talked about that earlier. It is kind of expensive to go to this convention again. Again, I highly recommend it, you guys. It's worth it to do it at least once you, something you really need to see an experience. Um, as far as ASHA dues, that's the other thing, those're coming around the corner. We always all talk. I see everyone talking about the fact that they're right around Christmas time. So it's a hard time to be coughing up that few hundred dollars. Um, here's the deal. This is where we do have to have a bit of a mind shift. Um, because I think what we're wondering is, is maybe again, we're not seeing direct impact, maybe of ASHA in our roles or we've, you know, whatever we think about what they do for school based SLPs, all of that. Here's the deal. We have to be a member of an association that gives us accountability.

 

Lisa (01:05:28):

And credibility.

 

Sarah (01:05:29):

And credibility. So that's what I'm paying for you guys. I am paying to have that certification so that I can show people: I went through rigorous steps to get there. Um, and so it also is the accreditation of universities, right? You wouldn't ever want to go to a university that wasn't accredited by them. Um, and so that's it. There also is a plethora of resources on their webpage. They really do. They've got great data banks of evidence and support in that area. Um, and so...

 

Lisa (01:05:57):

It's separate. The convention is a separate animal, right? So it is two separate things. I do agree. The timing can be really hard because this is often again, you're paying your, if you're going to the convention you're paying for that, you're paying for your ASHA dues. You're paying for your holidays that are coming up in December. I mean, it is a hard time of year, so I'm not sure where the planning came in for having it November every year. I'm sure there was a great decision made along the way as to why that initially came up and then sometimes things just stick. But—

 

Sarah (01:06:27):

I wish I always do think it'd be a great benefit if districts offered, you know, to pay your dues or something, that's just a, that's nothing for them really. And it would just do us a solid. I always think I know some districts do I know contract companies often do, um, because it is—I mean, we spend a lot of our own money on things. I think maybe my mind shift is different too, because I've worked other jobs as a speech language pathologist, um, where I had to have certification and pay for like this kind of national organization to offer me that I had to take tests and do things. So this is just how it is in these fields and is really is about credibility and accountability and things like that. And so anyway, there we go. Did we answer that?

 

Sarah (01:07:07):

I think so.

 

Sarah (01:07:08):

Okay. Then this one, did you get a promo code for the fifth edition Praxis book? Asking for a poor grad student.

 

Lisa (01:07:14):

Aw!

 

Sarah (01:07:14):

Oh man, no. I, again, we never left our booth, so I wasn't out there. Um, I don't even know which company does the practice book.

 

Lisa (01:07:23):

But I would reach out to that [inaudible]. Yeah. Reach out to the company if it's not on their website, email them because oftentimes even if they don't have it posted, just say I heard there was a promo code. Can you still honor it, but for sure, follow up on that.

 

Sarah (01:07:37):

Yep. Um, on this one made me like, want to tear up a little bit. Do you realize how much you have changed the lives of school SLPs with Toolkit? I know like I, I'm kind of getting emotional actually as I think about it. Um, again, we talked about this earlier in the episode. Um, when we hear people say this to us, it's extremely overwhelming. Um, and really kind of surreal. And again, we never thought this is what we would be doing in this point in our lives. We built it because we desperately needed it. And so the fact that it's doing this, something for other people?

 

Lisa (01:08:08):

Is awesome.

 

Sarah (01:08:08):

It's mind blowing. It really, really is mind blowing and really hard to wrap our heads around.

 

Lisa (01:08:13):

And that you share it with us as, because again, we do a lot of work alone, you know, a lot of hours alone. And so that you share that with us is, you know, we thank you. Thank you for sharing that.

 

Sarah (01:08:24):

Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Makes us want to just keep, keep on trucking. Okay. This one is a joke. And so you might have to do some explaining.

 

Lisa (01:08:34):

Huh, me?

 

Sarah (01:08:34):

I haven't. And I haven't been saying the names of the people who ask these questions because you know, some of them, they probably don't want their names said, but I might have to on this one because it's from our friend, Catherine.

 

Lisa (01:08:45):

Uh oh.

 

Sarah (01:08:47):

Would you eat street meat again?

 

Lisa (01:08:54):

Who did that? Well, this connects into that other question of what we did after ASHA, the convention after hours, where there may have been some drinking to our founding fathers that then led to--

 

Sarah (01:09:07):

And when she says "we", she means her. I didn't meet the street meat people. She ate the street meat. This is no joke. There was a man selling chicken. We think it was chicken. Could have been pigeon. On a skewer outside in the streets.

 

Lisa (01:09:20):

In a zipped bag.

 

Sarah (01:09:20):

And I will not name names, but several people ate it. And here's the good news. Nobody got sick.

 

Lisa (01:09:25):

Yeah. Here's the deal. I'm here to live to tell the tale. So...

 

Sarah (01:09:27):

Yeah that, those are the kinds of things where you realize we don't always make the best decisions, but you know what, [Unintelligible]

 

Sarah (01:09:37):

[Unintelligible] That photo's flying around there somewhere, hopefully no one ever posts it. Okay. Oh, here's a good one. What is a favorite business book or podcast of yours? Ooh. Okay. So I just got a new book on marketing from Seth Godin. Did I say that right? Um, and I—it's literally called something like, This is How You Market or something, I'll go look. So I haven't read it yet, but I've heard great things about, and I'm really excited because marketing is something where we have gotten to this point, you know, we have done good enough, obviously because people are using Toolkit, right. So that's good. Uh, I've hit a ceiling, a little bit of a ceiling and I need more help, um, with some, some real marketing efforts. So I'm gonna try and get as far as I can, but then there's probably going to be a point where we have to hire people. Um, the other ones are, we are huge fans of You Are A Badass.

 

Lisa (01:10:27):

Love. I could listen to that over and over.

 

Sarah (01:10:29):

It was game-changing for us. I still listen to it when I need that refresher to remind me.

 

Lisa (01:10:33):

And You Are Badass at Making Money, the sequel. And I really think that those kind of books, it will all depend on where you're at in your stage of your idea or business. So even like, I know when we were really early on with our dreaming of business and just starting out, we liked Big Magic.

 

Sarah (01:10:52):

Uh, you guys, that one changed our lives.

 

Lisa (01:10:54):

Right? So that's what I'm saying. So there's different things.

 

Sarah (01:10:56):

That's not, like, a business book. that's just a book to inspire you to do whatever it was you were created on this earth to do.

 

Lisa (01:11:02):

Right.

 

Sarah (01:11:02):

And we were all, we are all here with gifts and talents. And so, you guys, that one was like really powerful for us as we were in those beginning early stages of "can we really do this?"

 

Lisa (01:11:13):

So there are different resources out there depending on where you're at. Um, so seek them, get the inspiration that you need to do, what you, what you're here to do.

 

Sarah (01:11:23):

I am right now listening to Bernay Brown's newest book called Dare to Lead. Um, I'm really excited about that. It was recommended to us by Jenny Bjorn and so far, I mean, Bernay Brown, anything she wrote, we did all listen to her TED talks. Game-changer. Um, I'm literally looking at my Audible right now just to make sure I haven't missed anything. Um, um, um, Building a Story Brand was really interesting for us. We liked that one. The Five Second Rule, again, not so much about business, but just kind of mind shift changes. That's by Mel Robbins, anything she does, I'm obsessed with.

 

Lisa (01:11:53):

I was only able to listen to that for about five seconds.

 

Sarah (01:11:55):

You didn't like it?

 

Lisa (01:11:56):

It was the same thing over and over, and.

 

Sarah (01:11:59):

I kind of disagree. I really liked it.

 

Lisa (01:12:01):

I just felt like she was yelling at me about five seconds all the time.

 

Sarah (01:12:04):

I liked, I found that one motivational. As far as business related podcasts. Um, I listened to for a long time, I was listening to—everyone knows him. They under Chuck man.

 

Lisa (01:12:14):

What's his—Gary Vaynerchuk.

 

Sarah (01:12:16):

I listened to him for a long time. Um, and he's kind of hard to listen to though sometimes.

 

Lisa (01:12:19):

Sometimes.

 

Sarah (01:12:21):

Yeah. Okay. Um, who else?

 

Lisa (01:12:24):

Um, the girl, you know what I'm talking about, the one you were obsessed with that you saw at.

 

Sarah (01:12:29):

Oh, the Alison Show. So it's kind of more like brand, that she talks more about brand. I'm just obsessed with her in general, because talk about somebody who has figured it out on social media.

 

Lisa (01:12:40):

No, the one with the smooth voice though, too. The one with the brown hair.

 

Sarah (01:12:44):

Oh my gosh. You're talking about Amy Porterfield. Who I, again, stocked from a distance when I met her at the business conference.

 

Lisa (01:12:51):

Yes.

 

Sarah (01:12:52):

Literally. I waited outside her booth, you guys, and tried to get the courage to talk to her. And I, she was so lovely. I'm sure she would have, and I can't.

 

Lisa (01:12:59):

Didn't she work for Tony Robbins too?

 

Sarah (01:13:00):

Yes.

 

Lisa (01:13:02):

Her podcast is really good, really practical, really... You know, I like the ones that are quick too, that I don't have to invest, you know, four hours like this episode today.

 

Sarah (01:13:12):

I know. So sorry, you guys, this one was so long, but we just thought it would be fun for you guys to ask us a question, especially if you weren't at ASHA.

 

Lisa (01:13:19):

So there you go. We are going to do a second episode all about business so we can talk more about that then too. We also have an exciting guest who's coming into the confessional. I can’t wait! Wanna spill?

 

Lisa (01:13:30):

No.

 

Sarah (01:13:30):

Oh, okay. All right. So that, there you go. You guys, thanks for hanging out with us today and we will talk to you soon.