The conference began when the three co-founders attended a Leadership West event where West Valley police and fire chiefs gathered on a panel to talk about serious issues including school violence, suicide and Black Lives Matter. The panel discussion came six days after a student murder-suicide at a Glendale high school. Rogers, a police chief, prosecutor and others said the warning signs had been on social media but no one talked to someone who could have stopped it. “‘There’s always people talking and communicating. Our problem is, how do we get them to talk to us?’” Rogers recalled of that moment. That led to the first Speak Up conference in January. She said they are expecting 5,000 participants at the January 2018 conference.