THE NEXT GREAT PERFORMANCE

Community Connections
Build a more equitable and thriving arts community.

Design the Future
Explore transformative ideas and models for the field.

Root and Restore
Recenter with mindfulness and self-care for the road ahead.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Learn new skills and explore new ideas to support you in your day-to-day role and help you advance your career through WAA’s professional development programming. Sharing critical core knowledge, new approaches, and innovative strategies, learn with and from your peers and hear from experts in the field. Professional development offerings include panels, workshops, and a pre-conference symposium. Learn more about our different professional development formats and topics below.

This year’s Professional Development Sessions offer fresh perspectives, innovative ideas, and impactful conversations designed to inspire and empower our community.

Navigate the program through these thematic Journeys:

Down to Business
Sharpen your strategy for effective presenting and touring.

Community Connections
Build a more equitable and thriving arts community.

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FORMATS

Common formats include keynote speakers, panel discussions, presentations, roundtables, webinars, workshops, written papers, or other multimedia formats. There are limited opportunities for in-person sessions at our conference, and WAA will prioritize proposals that take advantage of being face-to-face. We want to center connection through high levels of interaction including play and/or more tangible takeaways physical or otherwise. For example, open dialogue with specialists instead of keynote presentations, hands-on workshops as opposed to PowerPoint deck info dumps, forums to find or implement solutions to our collective and actionable problems over insular brainstorming sessions.

WAA will support the following formats this year: 

  • Forum - Facilitated large group and/or breakout discussion

  • Excursion - Offsite activity, experiences, and tours

  • Panel - Invited Speakers/Moderators

  • Presentation - Info session

  • Workshop - Nuts and bolts, “how-to,” skill building

  • Roundtable/Coffee Talks - Peer networking or learning around a topic of interest

  • Affinity Session - Identity based networking and/or learning. Open to all or closed to those of that identity by host discretion.

Criteria

There are limited opportunities for in-person sessions at our conference, and WAA will prioritize proposals that take advantage of being face-to-face and center connections. Successful proposals have the following characteristics: 

  • The learning is clear and timely, there are relevant and tangible takeaways. 

  • The exchange between attendees and experts and each other is rich. 

  • The experience is tailor-made for professional adult learners. 

  • The topic aligns to one or more of WAA’s values: Informed, Inclusive, Innovative. 

The deadline for Session Proposals has passed for 2025.