Call for Speakers: The Annual Conference

Call for Workshop Speakers

The Annual Conference
The Association Conference Committee strives to deliver high quality education that meets animal welfare professionals' needs. Our conference audience is made up of leaders at animal shelters and animal services agencies, across many departments, including CEOs, directors, supervisors, and people who plan to be in leadership roles.

Workshops must be at an intermediate or advanced level.

Workshop tracks for our conference in 2026 are listed below and are subject to change. Sessions will be 60-minutes long, including time for discussion and Q&A.

NEW: 5 Tracks!
- Visionary Leadership (topics for seasoned and growing leaders -
  ex. long-term planning, strategic thinking, fostering creativity and innovation, building emotional intelligence, driving inclusive cultural change, empowering teams and building trust)
- Management & Supervision (topics for new and aspiring managers - ex. short-term planning, organizing people and projects, delegating, problem-solving, overseeing operations, increasing efficiencies, building high-performing teams, risk management, time management)
- Communications & Marketing (ex. crisis communications, internal & external interpersonal skills, conflict resolution, reputation management, accessible digital campaigns, inclusive marketing, innovative promotions on multimedia)
- Fundraising (topics for intermediate and advanced fundraisers - ex. event planning, major donor cultivation and stewardship, capital campaigns, prospect research and analytics, fundraising during uncertainty, inclusive and ethical philanthropy)
- Strategic Workforces (ex. recruitment and retention of staff and volunteers, employee engagement, talent development, workforce planning, recognition and rewards, supporting mental health, compensation & benefits)
Who Should Submit a Proposal:
- Experts on a current 201+ level leadership or management topic fitting into one of the above track topics
- Animal welfare professionals with experience implementing leadership and management initiatives whose expertise fits into one of the above track topics
Speaker Expertise: We welcome speakers who have consulted with or work directly with animal shelters/animal care & control agencies who could jointly co-present a case study of their collaborations/projects for their peers to replicate.

Please do NOT submit proposals for:

Keynote or inspirational speeches
101-level topics, especially for a general audience
Animal welfare operations topics whose target audience is not leadership

Submission Deadlines for Workshop Proposals for The Annual Conference:

2026: Chattanooga, TN, October 26-29: January 12, 2026 deadline
Under which workshop track does your session most belong?*

Communications & MarketingFundraisingManagement & SupervisionStrategic WorkforcesVisionary Leadership
Title of Presentation*
Description of workshop presentation (5-8 sentences) plus (optional) learning objectives*
Target Audience (job title, area of expertise, etc)*
Speaker's Name*

First NameLast Name
Contact Name if different from speaker

First NameLast Name
Organization*
Email*
example@example.com
Daytime Phone Number*
Please enter a valid phone number.
Home Base*

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState / Province

Postal / Zip CodeCountry
Speaker's Website
Brief Speaker Bio*
Links to prior presentations
PDFs or PowerPoints of prior presentations as samples

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Speaker fees for a 60-minute workshop for a nonprofit audience (Note: we offer a modest honorarium to professional speakers only. We offer a travel stipend to all speakers.)*
Notes:
- Please only submit 201 or 301 level (intermediate or advanced) topics
- Our Conference Committee will review submissions in Q1 and will contact you only if there are questions about your submission.
- Final selections will be made in Q2.
- Please note that your email may be added to The Association's enewsletter mailing list - you may unsubscribe from it at any time.
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Call for Workshop Speakers