HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR 2025

ANNUAL CONFERENCE PRESENTERS

2025 call for proposals

The 2025 call for proposals closed on January 30, 2025.  Over 885 proposals were submitted for Learning Forward's 56th Annual Conference in Boston, MA.  Proposal notifications were emailed on May 22, 2025, and can be accessed in the Conference Proposal System at lfp.learningforward.org.

To learn more about how to submit a proposal for a future conference, log in to the Conference Proposal System and select Instructions in the menu. For additional information, please contact conferenceinfo@learningforward.org

Presenter registration

Lead presenters and co-presenters must register for the conference by September 30, 2025, at least for the day of their session, and pay any required fees. Early registration and member discounts are available. We would prefer you not register for your session to maximize seating.

Tips for conference presenters

Learning Forward has collected great feedback from attendees and facilitators on what makes a session strong and meaningful. In this short guide, Tips for Presenters, we have included this feedback as a set of critical strategies, grounded in the Standards for Professional Learning. We encourage you to consider these strategies when developing your session.

Digital handouts

Learning Forward distributes handouts electronically.  For attendees to have access to digital handouts via the conference app, all handouts must be submitted by November 20, 2025:

1. Session Handout(s). Handouts are not limited; however, they must be saved as PDFs and cannot exceed 10GB each.
2. Presentation slides – if you would like to provide your presentation slides as a digital handout, a PDF of your presentation slides needs to be submitted to https://bit.ly/2025AC-PresenterHandouts.

Presenters are welcome to share their materials with attendees via a QR code or tiny URL; however, the same QR code or Tiny URL must also be submitted to conferenceinfo@learningforward.org before the start of the annual conference.

Registration numbers and presenter agreements

Want to check your session's registration numbers?  Using your Learning Forward login, the person who originally submitted the proposal can log into the conference proposal system at lfp.learningforward.org. Scroll down until you see a purple box with your proposal’s title posted.  Within this purple box, you will see the following:

• Session - View edits to your session’s title, description, outcomes, etc.
• Presenter Agreement - Download a copy of the signed Presenter Agreement.
• Attendees – View registration numbers.  Please remember that attendees can visit the onsite Ticket Exchange to add and change sessions, so session registration numbers can change.

Note: You may have to adjust which conference year you are viewing. The year you are viewing appears in the black banner at the top right of the webpage (see image below).  Click the orange button to change years.

Meeting room set up and audio-visual equipment 

All preconference and concurrent session meeting rooms are set in rounds or pods of 8-10. These rooms will be set up with AV an hour before the session’s start time. ***Presenters can access their meeting room one hour before their session.

Learning Forward will provide all preconference and concurrent session rooms with a screen, LCD projector, and wireless internet connectivity.

• For sessions with less than 45 participants, presenters need to bring a speaker for sound if sharing video(s) or music.  A microphone is not provided.
• Presenters will receive an audio patch for sessions with 45 or more participants and one wired microphone for their computer.
• For sessions with 80 or more participants, presenters will receive an audio patch for their computer and two wired microphones.

Please ensure you can connect your laptop to an HDMI or USB (C) connection. Some laptops, such as Macs, require an adapter, and we cannot guarantee that we will have enough.

Additional AV equipment must be ordered through the conference AV provider.  The presenter is responsible for associated costs. More details coming soon!

Experience has taught us that WIFI can be uncertain when sharing live stream videos.  Presenters need to download videos to their laptops for sharing purposes to prevent any issues during your session.   Please do not rely on the internet to live stream during the annual conference.

Table Talk sessions

Table Talk sessions are 45-minute presentations with an additional 15 minutes for Q&A. They are excellent venues for giving and receiving feedback, engaging in in-depth discussions, and meeting colleagues with similar interests. They will take place in a designated banquet room. Each session is limited to 12 participants seated at 1 to 2 tables. AV is not provided.

An onsite presenter supply room

While supplies last, the following items will be available to borrow from the presenter room near volunteer check-in.

• Chart paper
• Markers
• Highlighters
• Post-it notes
• Index cards

Session hosts

All preconference and concurrent sessions will have an assigned session host to check tickets and administer the session evaluations.  In addition, a member of the host committee will be accessible during your session.

Non-commercial policy

Learning Forward policy prohibits the sale of products and services during conference presentations. Presenters may not display or distribute brochures or order forms, talk about their services, promote themselves, or sell their publications; however, referencing or citing a presenter's publications is appropriate.