SAVE THE DATE: The International Listening Association Invites the World to Explore Listening This September

​The International Listening Association will host its 47th Annual Convention virtually September 16–19, 2026, under the theme Questioning Listening and Listening Questions, bringing together a global community of practitioners, educators, and researchers committed to deepening the theory and practice of listening. The convention introduces a new program format designed around pre-selected listening questions rather than an open call for proposals, with session times deliberately varied across four days to support participation from members in different time zones worldwide. For NCDD members, the ILA convention offers a valuable opportunity to strengthen one of the most essential and often overlooked capacities in dialogue and deliberation work — the ability to listen with genuine attention and care. The ILA's commitment to advancing listening practice aligns directly with NCDD's mission to foster meaningful civic conversation and strengthen the relational foundations of democratic life.

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The International Listening Association (ILA) will host its 47th Annual Convention virtually this September 16–19, 2026, under the theme Questioning Listening and Listening Questions. By moving the convention online, the ILA is deliberately expanding its global reach — bringing together practitioners, researchers, educators, and listening advocates from across the world to engage with one of the most foundational yet underexamined skills in dialogue, deliberation, and civic life. For the NCDD network, the ILA convention represents a natural point of connection: listening is not incidental to dialogue and deliberation practice but essential to it, and the ILA's four-decade commitment to deepening understanding of how people hear and attend to one another makes it a meaningful partner field for anyone working to improve the quality of public conversation.

This year's convention introduces a thoughtfully redesigned program format, developed by convention designer Annie Rappeport, that departs from the traditional call for proposals model. Rather than soliciting open submissions, the convention team has built programming around pre-designed listening questions, with selected members invited to contribute to specific components. Session times have been deliberately varied across the four-day schedule to accommodate participants in different global time zones, with daily blocks spanning morning, afternoon, and overnight hours based on U.S. Central Time. Registration will open through the ILA's Kiku platform, and those interested in contributing to convention logistics — particularly individuals with experience organizing or managing virtual events — are encouraged to reach out to the ILA's Operations Manager at [email protected].

​Listening is the often invisible infrastructure of every dialogue and deliberation process. When it breaks down — when participants talk past one another, when voices go unheard, when the conditions for genuine attention are absent — no facilitation method can fully compensate. The ILA's annual gathering offers NCDD members a rich opportunity to deepen their understanding of listening as a discipline, connect with a global community of practitioners who take it seriously, and bring those insights back into their own facilitation, civic engagement, and community dialogue work. NCDD encourages members to save the dates, use the time zone converter linked on the convention page, and plan to join. Full details and registration information are available at https://www.listen.org/2026-ila-convention