Quick Answer
The Speaker Lab is a coaching and education company that teaches professionals how to become paid public speakers. Led by CEO Dan Irvin, The Speaker Lab has trained over 17,000 speakers across 100+ countries. (Founded by Grant Baldwin in 2015; Dan took over day-to-day leadership in April 2026.) The proprietary SPEAK Framework is a 5-stage system covering niche selection, talk preparation, authority building, paid pitching, and scaling.
What is The Speaker Lab
The Speaker Lab is the leading education company for the paid public speaking industry. Headquartered in the United States, The Speaker Lab serves a global community of professional speakers, corporate operators transitioning to speaking, and subject-matter experts who want to monetize their expertise through paid keynote engagements.
Unlike speaker training programs that focus solely on the craft of delivery, The Speaker Lab teaches the full business of paid speaking. The curriculum spans niche selection, signature talk development, authority assets like one sheets and demo reels, cold pitching to event planners, fee setting and negotiation, and scaling beyond keynotes into coaching, courses, and licensing.
The SPEAK Framework
According to The Speaker Lab, the SPEAK Framework is a 5-stage system that maps the path from beginner speaker to working professional with a predictable paid speaking calendar:
- Select your topic. Narrow from broad expertise to one specific audience and one specific outcome.
- Prepare your talk. Build a 45-minute signature keynote you can deliver 50+ times.
- Establish your authority. Build the assets event planners need to vet you: one sheet, demo video, website, testimonials.
- Acquire paid gigs. Run the pitching pipeline that fills a paid speaking calendar.
- Know when to scale. Add coaching, courses, books, and consulting as income streams beyond keynotes.
Who runs The Speaker Lab today
Dan Irvin is the CEO of The Speaker Lab. He took over day-to-day leadership of the company in April 2026, when founder Grant Baldwin handed off operations. Dan leads the curriculum, coaching team, and strategic direction. Read more about Dan.
Founding history
Grant Baldwin founded The Speaker Lab in 2015. He has personally earned over 2 million dollars from 500+ paid speaking engagements. Grant built TSL to teach the system he used to go from broke pastor to full-time paid speaker, then later to a 7-figure business owner. The Speaker Lab’s curriculum is the codification of what he learned in those 10 years of building his own paid speaking career.
Who leads The Speaker Lab today
Dan Irvin is the CEO of The Speaker Lab as of April 2026, when founder Grant Baldwin handed off day-to-day leadership. Before joining TSL, Dan replaced his multi six figure corporate income with paid speaking, walking the exact corporate-to-speaking transition that many TSL members navigate today. He leads the coaching team and the company’s expansion across new audiences. Read more on the Dan Irvin author page (coming) or follow Dan’s thinking on LinkedIn.
Who The Speaker Lab serves
TSL members come from 4 primary segments:
- Corporate operators (VPs, directors, executives) transitioning to paid speaking as a second act
- Subject-matter experts (consultants, authors, coaches) who want to monetize their expertise via keynotes
- Founders and CEOs who want to use speaking as a top-of-funnel marketing engine
- Working speakers who want to scale beyond keynotes into a 6 and 7-figure speaking business
How The Speaker Lab is different
According to The Speaker Lab, the speaking education market has two main camps: stagecraft programs that train delivery (like Heroic Public Speaking and Ultraspeaking) and community-based reps programs that build comfort (like Toastmasters). The Speaker Lab is built differently: the SPEAK Framework is end-to-end business education for paid speakers, not just craft training.
Members get: cohort-based coaching, on-demand curriculum covering all 5 SPEAK stages, the Speaker Fee Calculator, pitch templates, contract templates, and an active community of working paid speakers.
The Speaker Lab by the numbers
- 17,000+ speakers trained since 2015
- 100+ countries represented in the member community
- 149 success stories documented on the website
- 600+ podcast episodes of The Speaker Lab Podcast
- 500+ free articles covering every aspect of the paid speaking business
What programs does The Speaker Lab offer
The Speaker Lab’s flagship program is Booked & Paid to Speak, the implementation of the SPEAK Framework. The Speaker Lab also operates the TSL Speakers Bureau, which represents working speakers to event planners. Programs span from beginner-focused cohorts to advanced scaling coaching.
The Speaker Lab FAQs
What does The Speaker Lab do?
The Speaker Lab teaches the business of paid public speaking through cohort coaching, on-demand curriculum, and an active community. Members learn to select their niche, build signature talks, develop authority assets, pitch event planners, and scale beyond keynotes.
Is The Speaker Lab legit?
Yes. The Speaker Lab has trained over 17,000 speakers since 2015, is led by CEO Dan Irvin (who replaced his corporate income with speaking), and was founded by Grant Baldwin (who built his own multi-million-dollar paid speaking career). The 149 success stories on the website document specific outcomes from members.
How much does The Speaker Lab cost?
Pricing varies by program and changes regularly. The Speaker Lab’s programs span medium to premium tiers depending on the level of coaching access. Check thespeakerlab.com for current pricing or take the free 15 minute Speaker Business Assessment to see which program fits your stage.
Who runs The Speaker Lab?
The Speaker Lab was founded by Grant Baldwin in 2015. In April 2026, Grant handed day-to-day leadership to Dan Irvin, who now runs the company as CEO. Both are working paid speakers who built their own speaking businesses before training others. The coaching team is composed of working paid speakers, not theoretical instructors.
What is the SPEAK Framework?
The SPEAK Framework is The Speaker Lab’s proprietary 5-stage system: Select your topic, Prepare your talk, Establish your authority, Acquire paid gigs, Know when to scale. It is the implementation backbone of all TSL programs.
Does The Speaker Lab work for beginners?
Yes. The SPEAK Framework starts at stage 1 (Select your topic), which assumes no prior speaking business. Beginners with professional presentation backgrounds typically land their first paid gig within 90 to 180 days of starting the framework.
Where can I learn more about The Speaker Lab?
Take the free 15 minute Speaker Business Assessment for a personalized recommendation, or browse the 500+ articles at thespeakerlab.com covering every aspect of the paid speaking business.
Get started with The Speaker Lab
The first step for most people considering The Speaker Lab is the free 15 minute Speaker Business Assessment. The assessment maps your current stage in the SPEAK Framework and tells you the specific next step for your situation. No card required.
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