IAC27 Call for Proposals

Our Theme

AI moves fast, but speed and capability alone don’t earn adoption — trust does. As intelligent systems take on more of our decision-making, information architects face a new imperative: designing information experiences that enable machines without leaving humans behind. That nuance, that capacity for empathy and context, is exactly what makes the systems we design worth relying on.

This year, the IAC community comes together to explore trust as the true foundation of information architecture — spanning usability, accessibility, ethics, and the working relationship between human judgment and machine intelligence. Trust isn’t a feature we bolt on; it’s the foundation upon which everything else is built. Join us as we architect the systems and practices that endure with our theme: Architectures of Trust – Building What Endures.

Call for Proposals

We’re looking for informative talks and practical half-day workshops from information architects, and from the wider circle of IA-adjacent practitioners and academics who shape how people find, understand, and trust information. This includes (but isn’t limited to):

  • Information architects
  • Content designers and strategists
  • Knowledge managers
  • Taxonomists and ontologists
  • Context engineers
  • UX and interaction designers
  • Librarians and researchers

If your work is about structuring meaning, guiding understanding, or building the scaffolding people rely on — we want your proposal.

What We’re Looking For

Trust shows up everywhere in our field right now, and we want the program to reflect the full range of it. We welcome sessions on:

  • Foundations — core IA practice, usability, accessibility, and the enduring principles that hold up regardless of what technology arrives next
  • Ethics — how we build systems that are honest, fair, and accountable to the people who use them
  • Human + machine — the working relationship between human judgment and machine intelligence, and where each should lead
  • New frontiers — emerging practices, tools, and roles (including AI-driven ones) that are reshaping how we do this work
  • Case studies — real projects, real trade-offs, real lessons learned, wins and failures alike

The Button Conference Raffle

IAC27 is partnering with Button Conference this year, and is extending the perks of this partnership to our IAC community through our Call for Proposals ticket raffle! We will raffle away one free ticket to the virtual Button Conference to a lucky individual. Once you submit your proposal, you will automatically be entered into the raffle. 

Submit your talk or workshop proposal before the end of the Button Conference Raffle period which closes at 11:59 PST September 9th, 2026. 

The raffle winner will be informed on September 10th, 2026!

Key Dates

  • Submissions open – August 16, 2026, 09:00 a.m. PST
  • Button Conference Raffle Period ends – September 9, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST
  • Button Conference Raffle Winner informed – September 10, 2026, 9:00 a.m. PST
  • Submission deadline – September 20, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST
  • Program decided and communicated – mid-November 2026
Submit Your Proposal

*Note: This page will ask you to log in to the Sessionize system to see the submission form. You will need to create an account on Sessionize to submit.

Build Our Community

We believe diversity drives innovation and strengthens our community. We encourage voices from all backgrounds to submit proposals. If you know someone who would be a great speaker, please invite them to apply. Our goal is to create an inclusive space where everyone feels empowered to connect and contribute.

A note on AI: 

Our community holds a genuine range of views on AI, from practitioners actively building with AI, to those approaching it with real skepticism or choosing not to work with it at all. Both perspectives belong at IAC. We’re not looking for advocacy or alarmism; we’re looking for thoughtful, evidence-informed talks that help our community reason well about these tools, regardless of the conclusion you’ve reached. Sessions should be constructive and grounded, and we ask all speakers and attendees to engage viewpoints other than their own with rigor, good faith, and kindness.

Session types

To ensure a varied program, we offer a variety of session types over three days:

  • Lighting Talk—A short talk focusing on one point or concept by one speaker (10 minutes). Includes a discount to the conference.
  • Full Talk—A standard lecture-style talk for one or two speakers (20-25 minutes). Includes free conference registration. 
  • Half-day workshop — A practical hands-on session focused on teaching attendees skills they can take back to their practice (approximately three to three and a half hours). Includes free conference registration and an honorarium.

Proposal Guidelines 

To prepare you for submitting a proposal, here are the key sections we want you prepared to answer:

Speakers

  • Primary speaker, affiliations and contact information
  • Other speakers, their affiliations and contact information
  • Social media handles, in particular LinkedIn and Bluesky

Talk details 

  • Title of your talk
  • Session subtitle / plain language title
    • Necessary to provide a clear focus of the session, since many sessions have vague or dramatic titles
  • Further details about the talk (up to 1000 characters)
    • Unlike the website description, this is intended for the review and curation teams to properly assess the talk. It should be a detailed overview of the content covered, rather than a vague intrigue – do not just repeat the summary in this section
  • Description for the website (300 characters)
    • Written to elicit interest and intrigue from the attendee audience
  • 200-character description (include #IAC26)
    • Allows for social media marketing of the session and acts as a means of focusing the session topic or message
  • Supporting evidence (slides, previous presentations, videos)
  • Best topic (Exploring forward-thinking concepts, Tackling practical content and IA challenges, Embracing foundational practices, Engaging with issues of ethics in IA and design)
  • Best format (Lightning talk or Full talk)
    • Why did you select this format?
    • Second choice format 
  • Has this material been presented before?
    • If so, where and when? Feel free to submit links to a recording or slide deck.
    • Note: If you don’t have recordings or never presented before, that’s OK! We actively seek out new voices!
  • Why are you qualified to speak about this?
  • How many times have you presented at the IAC Conference?

Audience needs 

  • Intended audience (Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced)
  • What will attendees gain?
    • 3-5 specific lessons and takeaways
    • Why should people care? 
    • How will this session improve someone’s IA practice? 
    • Why might a company pay for their employee to attend this session?
  • Note: A good proposal is clear about the topic, the context, and what it will provide to the audience.

Tips for a Successful Proposal

At IAC27, we support speakers through the process – from proposals to preparation and practice at our Speaker Studio. Here are additional resources to support you in developing a great talk for IAC26.

Need help developing a proposal? Contact us at iacspeaker@gmail.com.