NEC Speakers

Speakers and Sessions

The 2025 National Education Conference (NEC) will take place on May 6-8 2025 at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. Our theme is “Charting the Course.”

Earn up to 7 hours of continuing education and professional development on a variety of topics of interest to government meeting planners and suppliers. Core competencies essential to government meeting planner continuing education include the following:

  1. Education & Programming
  2. Ethics
  3. Facilities and Services
  4. Financial & Contract Management
  5. Logistics
  6. Personal & Professional Development
  7. Protocol
  8. Technology
  9. Travel:  Federal, State, and Local
  10. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  11. Leadership
  12. Business Management

Call for Speakers

SGMP is seeking speakers for the 2025 National Education Conference. All session proposals are due no later than 5:00pm EST on November 29, 2024. 

Educational sessions at the 2025 conference will be 50 or 80 minutes in length and will be presented by a mix of current members and professionals in the industries of government meeting planning, hospitality management, marketing, and logistics. All educational sessions should be focused on government meetings and must fit within at least one of SGMP’s twelve (12) educational core competencies, listed above.

Application Instructions
All speakers must complete and submit an online application by no later than November 29, 2024 at 5pm EST. Applications will not be accepted after the deadline. Incomplete applications will be deleted. Preview the application. Note that you may not submit a paper application - applications must be submitted online at the link below. 

Submit Your Application


Speaker Expenses
Speakers (non-SGMP members) will receive an honorarium of $1,000 plus two nights lodging at the conference hotel, and conference registration. No additional expenses will be covered. Non-SGMP member speakers will be required to make their own travel arrangements. SGMP will not pay for travel.

SGMP will make hotel reservations via rooming list.

If non-SGMP member speakers are requested to make more than one presentation, an additional $200 honorarium per session will be paid.

In accordance with SGMP Policy AC-3, SGMP members presenting programs at the National Education Conference may receive no more than $200 TOTAL (total amount, not per session amount) honorarium to go towards conference registration, airfare, and/or lodging. Conference registration and lodging ARE NOT included.

Supplier or Contract Planner members whose primary services to the government meetings market is education-related (training or speaking) will receive the $1,000 honorarium.