Conference Theme:
To Be a Kid Again: 20 Years of Looking Up
Conference Theme Description:
Whether gazing at the stars in search of new frontiers or turning to mentors for wisdom, looking up represents a quest for something higher. As children, we looked at the world full of wonder and excitement, imagining endless possibilities. This year, we are exploring how we channel that spirit as we seek inspiration, guidance, and broader perspectives.
Conference Discovery Areas
Select the Conference Discovery Areas that most closely align with your presentation proposal
1. Make New Friends, but Keep the Old
Remember the curiosity and courage you had when you introduced yourself to a new group of friends? This theme is about collaboration, influence, leadership, and cross-functional partnerships.
Think: Leadership transitions; building new teams; management; engaging volunteers; donor acquisition and engagement; practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion
2. Getting into Good Trouble
Remember when you believed you could and did so fearlessly?? This theme is about breaking boundaries, innovation, transformation, and challenging the status quo. Share how you’ve failed forward, redefined a system, created an efficiency, or discovered a new trend or way of demonstrating impact.
Think: (Re)thinking purpose, strategic planning, social responsibility, research, Macro/systems work
3. Coloring Outside the Lines
Remember the sense of potential you felt when you found the big box of crayons? This theme is about leveraging perspective and creativity while building or implementing new elements, initiatives, processes, skills, or analytic capabilities. Users may parlay this theme to engage attendees in active discussion, brainstorming, and bringing forward their unique ideas and solutions.
Think: Surprise and delight, new technology, skill building, metrics & data, artificial intelligence, project management, creativity and resourcefulness, micro/tactics work.
4. Connecting at Storytime
Remember the bubbly anticipation of waiting to share your weekend stories with your friends at recess? This theme is about the stories and the language we use to communicate. It reflects on the journeys we bring our donors on to captivate them and share impact. It also reflects on the people who help us change the narratives we tell, through mentorship. You may use this theme to center on fine-tuning storytelling, creating compelling narratives, and harnessing the power of emotive messaging to create meaningful connections.
Think: donor communications, publications and annual reports; impact reports; career development; self-care; inclusive marketing; narrative models
5. The Golden Rule
Remember when you first heard “Treat people the way you want to be treated”? This theme is about personalization, recognition, and honoring the unique and personal interests of our constituents. You may use this theme to discuss community- or donor-centric policies and personalization in donor stewardship approaches.
Think: Special events, naming opportunities, affinity groups, stewardship activities, and donor surveys
How To Draft a Great RFP
Using these categories as a guide, proposals that reflect the expansive depth and breadth nature of donor relations and the realities of today’s workplace are encouraged.
Thank you in advance for the careful and thoughtful effort in proposing a contribution for this year’s ADRP conference, and we look forward to seeing you in Indianapolis on September 15-18, 2024.
To submit a proposal to present a session at the ADRP International Conference you will need to gather the following information. Please read through and prepare your materials before submitting them. All submissions are due March 18, 2024.
The submitter of the speaker proposal will be listed as the Point of Contact for the proposal. For proposals with multiple speakers, we will reach out directly to the point of contact if there are any questions or if we need additional information regarding the proposal.
Speakers for selected sessions will have their name, bio, and headshot published on the ADRP International Conference website and in the conference app. One presenter for each session will receive a discounted speaker rate to register for the full ADRP 2024 Conference. Each speaker will be responsible for any additional expenses required to attend the Annual Conference; such as travel or lodging.
