LavaCon 2026 Call for Speakers

The 24^th LavaCon Conference on Content Strategy and User Experience

LavaCon started in Hawaii (hence our name) to help organizations use state-of-the-art authoring technologies to reduce publication and support costs, generate revenue, and improve the customer experience.

However, LavaCon is more than just a conference. It’s a gathering place where content professionals share best practices and lessons learned, network with peers, and build professional relationships that will last for years to come.

Overview

The next LavaCon is scheduled for 25–28 October 2026 in Charlotte, NC (a hub for American Airlines).

LavaCon is known for having the very best content professionals as speakers. We are also known for a fantastic attendee experience, featuring live music, fun networking events, and more.

Conference Theme

Our 2026 theme is:

Beyond Proof of Concept: How Companies Are Actually Using AI to
Reduce Costs and Generate Revenue—Without Laying Off Their Content Teams

About LavaCon

One of the attractions of LavaCon to me is how sassy (for the lack of a better term) it is. It gets big names from major companies covering really important stuff, but there is also a sense of playfulness.   L.R., Senior Content Developer

LavaCon is not a stuffy conference where “learned professors” talk about what attendees can do or should do with enterprise content. Instead, we feature practicing industry professionals who have successfully implemented enterprise content initiatives—the “Rockstars of Content Strategy” so to speak.

As for the “sense of playfulness,” here are sample sessions from previous conferences:

• Content in the Zombie Apocalypse
• Cowabunga! Riding the Crest of the New Content Revolution
• Creating a Global Content Team Is Like Trying to Catch a Unicorn in a Blizzard. You Can Do It, But You Have to Know Where to Look!

We encourage entertaining titles for sessions and workshops.

Audience

The typical LavaCon attendee is a senior content professional who is leading the drive to create unified content experiences across multiple organizational silos (tech pubs, marketing, tech support, training, customer success, etc.).

An equally important focus is on creating content experiences that generate revenue, reduce time to market, reduce production and translation costs, etc.

STC Audience

With the Society for Technical Communication (STC) declaring bankruptcy and cancelling their annual summit, we see a need for Technical Writers to have a new conference to call home. In response, we’re adding a Technical Communication track to the program to help attract that audience. A quote from this year’s attendees:

“I want to let you know how much I enjoyed LavaCon this year. It was just wonderful. You and your team are amazing.

I didn’t know how much I missed my techcom peeps until I was there reconnecting with everyone. I’m so appreciative of the fact that you have kept this going for so long, especially since STC went belly up.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in Charlotte next year. Thank you for your commitment to the profession!”

Judy G-S, PhD

Attendance

We expect 400+ in-person attendees in Charlotte and 200+ virtual attendees.

Workshops and Sessions

Breakout sessions and case studies are 45 minutes long. Pre-conference workshops are either half day or full day.

Note: We live stream and record all sessions in the Grand Ballroom and record all breakout sessions webinar style (slides and audio), so attendees can watch the sessions they did not attend in person. (Workshops are too hands-on to effectively record or stream.)

Case Studies

Surveys show that attendees love case studies! What business or content problems were you experiencing? How to did you solve them? How much did the solution cost vs. the return on investment? Bonus points for sharing before-and-after metrics!

Topics

We are looking for AI topics such as:

• How Your Organization Is Actually Using Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Integrating AI into Content Strategy and Content Generation
• How to Choose AI Platforms That Are Right for You
• The Ethics of Using AI
• Using AI in Regulated Industries
• Introductory Sessions Explaining AI Technology
• Methods and Processes for Human Checking AI Generated Output
• Integrating AI into Content Management Systems
• Writing for AI Findability
• And More

While AI is a hot topic right now, we are also looking for workshops and sessions on topics such as:

• Creating Enterprise Content Strategies
• Creating Stellar Customer Experiences
• Streamlining Enterprise Content Operations
• Integrating MarComm into the Greater Enterprise Content Ecosystem
• How to Search and Return Content from Multiple, Disparate Content Silos
• Reducing Support Costs through Self Service and Support Call Deflection
• And more

While LavaCon attendees tend to be more managerial and strategic than individual contributors, they are directly involved in selecting and implementing technology solutions.

• Content Governance
• How to Choose a Content Management System that Is Right for You
• How to Choose a Translation Vendor that Is Right for You
• What Is Structured Authoring and DITA, What Are the Benefits, etc.
• How Structured Authoring and CMSs Reduce Translation Costs
• What are Taxonomies and How Do You Create Them?
• What Is Content Modeling and How Do You Do It?
• How to Create and Maintain a Knowledge Management System
• How to Perform Content Inventories and Content Audits
• How does Controlled Vocabulary Improve the Customer Experience?
• And more

We are always looking for session on how to manage content development:

• How to Estimate Content Initiatives
• How to Build a Business Case for Management Support and Funding
• How to Manage Local Content Teams
• How to Manage Global Content Teams
• How to Manage Difficult Employees
• Case Studies Including Before-and-After Metrics
• And more

A LavaCon speaker once surveyed attendees asking what problems they most often face when rolling out enterprise content initiatives. Not one person mentioned technology problems—they were all people problems. Hence, we are looking for sessions such as:

• How to Build a Business Case for Content Initiatives
• Overcoming Resistance to Change
• How to Get Stakeholders to Adopt a Controlled Vocabulary/Common Enterprise Taxonomies/Structured Authoring, etc.
• Show Me the Numbers! Production KPIs, Metrics, Analytics, etc.    (Bonus points for all proposals that show how to leverage metrics.)
• Integrating Subject Matter Experts Into Structured Authoring Ecosystems
• Influence without Authority—How to Get Other Groups to Do What You Need
• The Value of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• And more

We will have a Technical Communication track for individual contributors. Topics of interest include:

• Introduction to Structured Authoring, DITA and Content Management Systems
• What is Metadata and Its Role in Content Management
• Best Practices for Working with Subject Matter Experts
• Advanced DITA Authoring Practices
• How to Create Documentation Plans
• Minimalism in Tech Writing, Using Controlled Vocabularies
• And more

Emerging Technologies

And finally, we’re looking for sessions and workshop on emerging content technologies, such as the latest AI tools, Content 4.0, iXML, etc.

Other Info:

The following terms and conditions apply:

• There is a limit of two speakers per session
• Speakers are comp’ed into the conference as compensation for speaking. We also split workshop revenue with the workshop facilitator(s).
• Panel discussions are welcome, but should be staffed by speakers or attendees who are already at the conference. (Call or email with questions.)
• Non-local speakers agree to stay at the conference hotel to help us fill our room block commitment
• You agree to share on social media that you are speaking at LavaCon as part of our content marketing campaign.
• You can use your branding on the inside of your slide deck, but you must use the LavaCon provided art for your cover slide.
• You agree to turn in your slides in both PDF and PowerPoint format four weeks before the conference. (We pre-load the slides on the conference laptops which are Windows-based, so no Mac- or web-based slides please.)
• Vendors may present case studies if a customer co-presents.
  However, no product demos or promotions are allowed in conference sessions.
• Speakers may invite attendees to see demos in your booth after your presentation. (Contact us if you’d like information on exhibiting at the conference.)
• You own the rights to all your material, but you give LavaCon permission to share materials with conference attendees and to be photographed/videoed at the event.
• You agree to stop by each vendor in the exhibit hall and agree that we may share your contact info with sponsor/exhibitors. (You may unsubscribe at any time.)
• We will provide a discount code for you to share online, and another code to share with others in your organization who want to participate as attendees.

How to Submit

Last year we received 190 proposals for only 70 speaking slots. Please ensure your proposal matches the theme and focus of our conference.

Have a question? Want to pitch an idea before proposing? Contact me at 1+ 562-726-1800  or [email protected], Otherwise submit your proposal here.

Deadline for submitting: Thursday, 12 February 2025

See you in Charlotte!

Jack Molisani
Executive Director