NCDD2023 Call for Proposals Officially Opens

NCDD’s 2023 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation is coming up October 13-15 in Atlanta, Georgia. NCDD conferences bring together hundreds of the most active, thoughtful, and influential people involved in public engagement and group process work across the U.S. and Canada.

Today we’re announcing our call for proposals for our concurrent sessions at NCDD 2023. We’re interested in finding creative ways to highlight the best of what’s happening in public engagement, group process, community problem-solving, civic tech, and arts-based dialogue — and we know you have lots of ideas!

Check out the Application for Session Leaders now to see what we ask for, and start cooking up those great proposals we’ve come to expect from our network! If you’re looking for ideas and inspiration, look over the fabulous sessions offered at the 2018 and 2016 NCDD conferences.

Please note that the deadline for proposals is Friday, April 14th.

If your work involves dialogue and deliberation, or you want to get involved with this work, you’ll love this conference. Imagine spending three days with some of the most amazing leaders in this field, forming new relationships and reconnecting with old colleagues and friends, hearing about innovative new approaches to the challenges you’re facing, and exploring together how we can shape the future of this important movement, all while using innovative group techniques there’s really nothing like it. 

Here is some guidance for those thinking about presenting sessions at NCDD 2023…

Our theme for the 2023 conference is Our Return: Reconnect, Reflect, Renew, Recommit.

It will be nearly five years since our last in-person national conference, and we want to focus on the opportunities that coming together in person will allow us - the opportunities to reconnect, reflect, renew, and recommit to our work. Join us as we: 

• Reconnect with one another, sharing our experiences, practices, learning, and passions
• Reflect on our community, celebrate our history, and examine opportunities for growth
• Renew our purpose in bringing communities together in conversations that matter
• Recommit to these practices, this community, and our collective next steps

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​NCDD 2023 will be a return to our roots - gathering together to make connections, expand our learning, explore new possibilities, and chart a course for our community of practice.

We encourage session proposals which will help attendees network, reflect on our work and practices, learn new skills, and/or explore new efforts, projects, and collaborations. Sessions which are interactive in nature, including sessions which get participants involved in experiencing a process, discussing challenges with one another, or working together to advance our community of practice are encouraged. 

Some advice for potential session leaders:

1. Identify great co-presenters.  Most workshops at NCDD conferences are collaborative efforts involving multiple presenters from different organizations and universities. Have you thought about who you can co-present with? Now’s the time to contact them to see if they’d like to offer a session with you! (Use the NCDD Main Discussion list and the comments below to put out feelers for potential co-presenters if you’d like. NCDD has also created a Collaborative Document to help facilitate connections.)
2. Look over past workshop descriptions. Peruse the list of workshops from NCDD Denver to get a sense of the kinds of sessions the planning team selects. Sessions focused on innovative solutions to common challenges, ways to take this work to scale or to new audiences, and deep dives into great projects (and thoughtful explorations of failed projects!) are especially welcome.
3. Be innovative with your session.  NCDD attendees are usually not too impressed with traditional panels or long speeches. Get them engaging with you and each other! Think about how you can get them out of their seats and moving around the room. And think about what you’d like to learn from them (not just what they can learn from you). 
4. Share your stories.  NCDDers prefer hearing your stories to getting a run-down of your organization or methodology.  People are interested in learning about what you did, what you learned, and how they may be able to learn from your experience.
5. Share the latest.  What’s the latest research? What are the latest innovations in the field? What new challenges are you facing? What are your latest accomplishments?
6. Create a working session. What is the next innovation we can create together? What tools or resources can we build to help more communities? Challenge participants to work together to build the next best steps for our field and our communities. 

Not quite ready to draw up a proposal yet? Use the comment field, Collaborative Doc, (and/or the NCDD Main Discussion listserv) to float your ideas by other NCDDers and members of the planning team. We may be able to match you up with potential co-presenters who can address the same challenge or issue you’re interested in focusing on.

Deadline for submissions

To have your session proposal considered, we need you to submit the session application by the end of the day on Friday, April 14th. Members of the conference planning team will review the proposals and plan to respond by email to the first contact listed in your proposal by May 15th.

Don’t forget that the super early bird tickets are NOW AVAILABLE! Get yours at this great low rate before it goes up!