2026 Northern New England Planning Conference

Manchester, New Hampshire

October 21 - 23, 2026 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown, 700 Elm Street, Manchester, New Hampshire

Call for Sessions

DEADLINE: Monday, March 2nd, 2026

The Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA) is pleased to host its 2026 Conference from Wednesday, October 21 through Friday, October 23 at the Doubletree, Manchester NH. We are planning this multi-day conference to provide opportunities for engagement, collaboration, and (re)establishing partnerships with your colleagues, new and old, throughout New England.

As we begin planning for the 2026 conference, help shape this year’s NNECAPA Conference by submitting your session proposal! The Conference Committee seeks your session proposals that will provide our conference attendees with a program that is interactive, informative, and inspirational! Submissions can cover any planning issues that are relevant to the range of New England communities.

The following is intended to be a guide for possible sessions based on survey data from past conferences, but we welcome any ideas that you think will be worth sharing.

Let’s celebrate our successes! It doesn’t matter the topic but tell us how you got it done: partners, funding streams and tools, ordinance reforms, community engagement, etc.!
Economic development and planning works hand in hand. How have you leveraged both disciplines to get things done?
ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini - how is AI transforming your work? What other tech are you using?
Solar arrays, battery storage, electrification: Tell us all about these new land uses and how you have tackled the unknowns.
How are you incorporating resiliency and sustainability into your work? Modeling, funding, and ordinance reforms all require rethinking the way we plan for the future.
Putting science, or art, in planning: do you just love stormwater, nature-based solutions, and green infrastructure and want to tell us about it? How have you used art or storytelling to inspire change?
Do you work in a planning-adjacent or allied field and have information to share that would improve the planning profession, or are you a planner with a favorite allied field partnership that has had unexpected benefits to share?
We want to know your hard-won wisdom, preferred approaches, maxims, and rules of thumb to better project management, development review, navigating volunteer committees, and engaging with non-planners to support your work. Tell us your tips and tricks!

Session Formats

We look forward to offering attendees a highly engaging conference experience. We strongly encourage session proposals that: share and prioritize lessons learned; inspire attendees with a new way of thinking about or doing the work of planning; are solutions-based and offer meaningful take-aways; and engage attendees in brainstorming and problem-solving. The Committee is seeking a diverse mix of session proposals that are approximately 45 to 75 minutes in length (except for mobile sessions) for our program. Sessions may be in any of the following formats:

Presentation or Panel Discussion with Q&A (engage the audience)
On-site or Mobile Workshop (mini, ½ day, or full day)
Rapid, multi-part presentation (i.e. pecha kucha, “shorts”)
Audience Participation
Peer-to-peer Discussion
Another new or innovative format

Submit your ideas.

Send your proposals to the Conference Committee by Monday, March 2, 2026, using the link below. It is important that you provide enough information so that the Committee can evaluate your proposal. If needed, the Committee will follow up for additional information.

The Conference Committee will review all submitted proposals and develop a program that provides a variety of options for attendees and incorporates feedback from previous conference surveys.

Please submit your proposal via this this form

Preparing for the Conference

Once a general program has been established, the Conference Committee may reach out to those who have identified themselves as speakers or session organizers for additional information or a preview of the presentation to ensure the content is consistent with the submission and that the session meets the goals of the conference. Final presentation slides and handouts will be due in digital format to the Conference Committee by Friday, October 9th at 5:00pm. This will help ensure that we can troubleshoot any IT needs and manage smooth transitions between sessions. By submitting a session proposal, you are acknowledging this deadline.

Due to the limited budget for the conference, we are unable to offer travel expenses, honorariums, complimentary registrations, or lodging for session speakers. By submitting a session proposal, you are acknowledging this policy and understand that you will be responsible for covering the cost of your attendance if you are selected to present. As session organizer, you are responsible for communicating this policy to your co-presenters.

Please submit questions about this request for submissions or general conference inquiries to Nancy Kilbride, NNECAPA Administrator, at eventsyourwaynh22@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance for sharing your ideas and contributing to the success of the Conference!

NNECAPA 2026 Host Committee

Save the Date ~ Future Northern NE Planning Conferences: