By Matt Harrington, BCBA · Behaviorist Book Club · Research-backed answers for behavior analysts
Non-behavioral keynote speakers are invited to behavior analysis conferences for several reasons: to expand the field's perspective on human behavior beyond its standard technical vocabulary, to build bridges with other disciplines and communities, to demonstrate the relevance of behavioral science to broader cultural conversations, and to attract broader audiences to behavioral science events. Speakers like John Lithgow, who have deep expertise in understanding and shaping human behavior through performance, bring perspectives that can challenge and enrich how behavior analysts think about motivation, learning, audience response, and the social context of behavior.
Opening remarks at behavior analysis conferences establish the shared frame of reference for the entire event. They signal the organizers' priorities and values, identify the key themes that will run through the program, welcome and orient attendees, and create the motivational conditions under which subsequent sessions will be received. Well-crafted opening remarks increase attendee engagement, communicate the importance of the gathering to the field, and set a tone of scientific rigor, collaborative inquiry, and shared purpose that ideally pervades the rest of the conference.
CEU documentation for conference attendance should include the event name, dates, provider, and the specific sessions attended that correspond to the CEU hours being claimed. Beyond the formal documentation requirement, BCBAs benefit from maintaining a professional learning journal in which they record key insights, questions raised, and specific practice changes inspired by conference content. This reflection increases the probability that conference learning is translated into clinical action rather than fading with time. BACB ethics require that CEU content be genuinely educational, and reflective documentation supports that requirement.
The Autism Partnership Foundation is an organization rooted in the behavioral science community with a focus on autism services and research. APF Con is its conference event, bringing together researchers, practitioners, families, and advocates with a shared interest in advancing evidence-based approaches to autism intervention. The foundation has been associated with a commitment to rigorous, research-based ABA practice and with educational content for practitioners at multiple levels of experience. APF Con events typically feature research presentations, clinical workshops, and keynote addresses designed to advance professional knowledge and practice.
Professional conferences can contribute to BACB continuing education requirements when they are offered by BACB Authorized Continuing Education providers or through other approved CEU sources. The BACB requires BCBAs to complete 32 continuing education units in each 2-year certification cycle, including specific hours in ethics and supervision. Conference CEUs can apply to these requirements, but practitioners should verify that conference sessions are approved for the specific CEU categories they need. Some conferences offer both general and ethics-specific CEU sessions, allowing practitioners to address multiple CEU requirements within a single event.
A valuable keynote for behavior analysts engages with topics of genuine relevance to the field — whether directly clinical, methodological, ethical, or broadly humanistic — and does so in a way that challenges, inspires, or reframes how practitioners think about their work. The best keynotes combine intellectual substance with emotional resonance, leaving attendees with both new ideas and renewed motivation. For non-behavioral keynotes specifically, value comes from the speaker's authentic expertise in understanding or shaping human behavior in their own domain and the genuine insights that expertise provides, not from a superficial connection to behavioral science.
Applying keynote insights to clinical practice begins with identifying the specific ideas or perspectives that resonated most strongly and asking: what in my clinical work does this connect to? How might this perspective change how I think about a current clinical challenge? Is there a specific behavior, client relationship, or team dynamic this insight might help me understand differently? Writing down these connections while they are fresh, and then deliberately returning to them when relevant clinical situations arise, creates a bridge between inspirational conference content and practical clinical application.
In-person conferences provide learning experiences that online courses cannot replicate: direct interaction with leading researchers and practitioners, informal corridor conversations that often yield more insight than formal presentations, the experience of being embedded in a professional community, the social reinforcement of shared scientific and ethical commitments, and the breadth of exposure to content across multiple sessions in a compressed time period. Online courses offer convenience and accessibility and are excellent for structured content acquisition. A comprehensive professional development plan ideally incorporates both, using online courses for targeted skill development and conferences for community, inspiration, and broad exposure.
BCBAs can share conference learning with supervisees in several ways: by scheduling a post-conference debriefing session with the team to share key themes and insights, by assigning readings related to topics encountered at the conference, by implementing specific practice changes inspired by conference content and explaining the rationale to supervisees, by sharing session handouts or resources with supervisees where permitted, and by encouraging supervisees to attend conferences themselves. Modeling active engagement with professional development signals to supervisees that lifelong learning is a core professional value rather than a compliance exercise.
When engaging with keynotes from non-behavioral speakers, BCBAs should ask: Is this speaker's account of human behavior consistent with behavioral science principles, or does it rely on mentalistic or unverifiable constructs? Are the claims made empirically supported or primarily anecdotal? Does the speaker's domain expertise translate meaningfully to the clinical contexts in which behavior analysts work? Are there aspects of this perspective that productively challenge behavioral assumptions, and if so, what would it mean to take those challenges seriously? Critical engagement with non-behavioral perspectives enriches the field more than either uncritical acceptance or reflexive dismissal.
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APF Con 2023 Opening Remarks & Keynote — Autism Partnership Foundation · 40 BACB General CEUs · $0
Take This Course →40 BACB General CEUs · $0 · Autism Partnership Foundation
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.