When Women Lead 2026 Call for Proposals

When Women Lead provides a one-of-a-kind space for women who are leaders in public education to build greater policy expertise. Presenters should be practicing superintendents, assistant superintendents and other education leaders at the state, district and school levels, with expertise in an area relevant to one or more of the conference learning strands.

The 2026 conference theme is “Unlocking Your Superpower: Bold Transformative Leadership”

Register for When Women Lead 2026 Here!

Proposal Instructions

All concurrent sessions must be led by two to three co-presenters. If a panel presentation format is being used, there must be a maximum of four panelists (including the facilitator of the panel). All sessions must be designed to be interactive, with deep engagement of the audience. You will be notified of your proposal status by the end of January 2026. All co-Presenters must register for the conference at the reduced presenter rate once notified of session acceptance.

Thursday Afternoon

Session Option 1: Policy with Purpose: Creating Our Legacy of Justice through Leadership

Description: We are looking for session presentations that will set the tone for the conference on opening day. These sessions will be presented on Thursday late afternoon following the opening keynote. Selected sessions will focus on what it means to lead for justice as system leaders. Session proposals must be specific and name the policy area through which an exemplar of justice-based leadership is occurring in practice.

Friday Morning

Session Option 2: Policy in Action: Building a Beloved Community of Belonging

Description: We are looking for session presentations that will set the tone for our broader conversation on Friday by presenting at the morning concurrent sessions on a highly effective model of practice of inclusivity and belonging that exists in practice within your organization. Selected sessions will focus on specific models of practice addressing the humanizing practices and policies related to changing and challenging systemic norms that have excluded specific groups.

Session Option 3: Policy Issues Study

Description: We are looking for published authors that can lead a policy issue discussion pulling content from their work related to a high interest policy issue related to conditions of practice in public education today. This session will be structured as a roundtable discussion on one issue from the book, not a general discussion about the full content of the book. Authors can provide a QR code to their audience, which will also be shared in the conference program, to invite participants to buy their book for a deeper read. We celebrate the contributions of our women and nonbinary authors!

Friday Afternoon

Session Option 4: Policy that Transforms: Women at the Forefront of Tech & Innovation

Description: We are looking for session presentations that showcase how Artificial Intelligence is being leveraged for improved learning, support services, and operational designs of school, state or higher education systems. A specific model of practice should be showcased. The opportunities and challenges of implementation should be discussed. This session will showcase women leading in the AI and innovation space, and will include a discussion about why women need to prepare to engage in policy discussions about bias in AI designs.

Session Option 5: Women Rising Together to Take Action

Description: We are looking for Superintendents and Deputy/Assistant  Superintendents who would like to serve as session facilitators to engage a small group of leaders in a less formal conversation about ways in which we want to engage with one another to address the big policy challenges that we are facing today. We invite system leaders to help us lead these critical and safe networking conversations. An engagement protocol will be provided to you by the Conference Planning Committee.