Below you can find all the relevant information including the next steps and timeline should your session be chosen for the 2025 NETA Conference.
The NETA Conference is dedicated to providing public media professionals with meaningful and relevant connections to the people and ideas that are at the heart of our mission to educate, engage, and entertain. It’s a time to get energized with new ideas, deeper insights, and connections.
Breakout sessions are one of the highlights of the conference and we want to ensure everyone has meaningful, relevant, and interactive learning opportunities. All sessions will be in a hybrid environment with live, in-person presenters. Our platform allows live Q&A from our virtual audience, and we will have a moderator to help you navigate those virtual attendees.
NETA invites our members and public media organizations to submit breakout session proposals for consideration.
While proposals on all relevant areas to public media are welcome, we are seeking to offer sessions produced by NETA members and partners that focus on one or a combination of the following areas:
- Content (production & programming)
- Education (early learning, K-12, youth media, lifelong learning)
- Community Engagement
- Marketing & Communications
- Professional Growth & Station Innovation (strategy, team growth)
Suggested interactive learning format:
- Opening activity/question
- Presentation
- Q&A break
- Share ideas/challenges
Session proposals should be innovative and forward thinking, share new opportunities, demonstrate how impact is measured, and engage unserved and underserved audiences.
Live Breakout Session
All sessions are scheduled to be hybrid and 60 or 90 minutes in length. Every speaker must be in-person. We will not be accepting virtual presenters and speakers at this year’s conference.
As you develop your session ideas, think about how you can incorporate attendee participation and active engagement – both for in-person and virtual participants.
There will be space for up to 30 live breakout sessions scheduled (Mountain Time) on September 15 and 16. Subject to change.
Primary Producer
NETA requests that one primary producer is identified for each session. The primary producer is the main point of contact for NETA and responsible for organizing session content, speakers, and other logistics. The primary producer is responsible for meeting all conference deadlines to ensure the session is included in the conference.
Registration
All accepted primary producers are responsible for registering and attending the in-person conference. The primary producer of the session is responsible for coordinating these details with each of the session speakers. Additional speakers are responsible for in-person registration. All speakers must be registered by August 8, 2025. There are no discounts for speakers or presenters.
Sharing Resources
The primary producers will be responsible for uploading session resources (deck, documents, etc.) based on the breakout session timelines. These resources will be shared with conference attendees and NETA membership following the conference. If your proposal is selected, you will be provided with instructions on uploading your presentation materials.
Session proposals will be selected through a review process that includes systemwide online voting, review by the NETA Peer Learning Communities Executive Committees, NETA Board, and NETA staff.
Tuesday, May 27 - Breakout session RFP form open
Wednesday, May 28 - Breakout session Q&A meeting. Register here
Friday, June 13 - Deadline to submit a session proposal
Wednesday, June 18 - Session voting open
Wednesday, June 25 - Session voting closed
Tuesday, June 17 - Conference registration opens (NETA Members only)
Week of June 30 - Review with NETA Leadership and Conference Curriculum Committee
Tuesday, July 1 - Notification sent to all session submitters (producers have until Wednesday, July 16 to confirm acceptance)
Wednesday, July 16 - Conference registration opens (non-NETA Members)
Tuesday, July 22 - Announce line-up of sessions
Week of July 28 - Strategy meetings with session producers
Friday, August 8 - Deadline for all speakers to be registered for in-person conference
Friday, September 5 - Deadline for final session details in conference platform
Monday, September 8 - Deadline for all final presentations to NETA
September 15 & 16 - Breakout Sessions at conference
Friday, September 19 - Deadline to upload final deck/materials for Public Media Learns