Economic Developers Alberta

EDA Xperience 2026 Leaders’ Summit & Conference is being held April 15-17, 2026 at the Pomeroy Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis. This beautiful, modern conference venue offers a stunning backdrop to showcase your organization to economic developers and elected officials from Alberta’s communities and regions.

EDA Xperience 2026 will attract approximately 400 local, national, and international experts in the field of economic development, as well as elected officials from across the province. This forum brings together Alberta’s economic development leaders to discuss current developments in our province, identify practical ways to advance our economy, and support one another. Delegates will be provided with information about Alberta’s current and emerging sector opportunities, updates on economic development issues and trends, best practices, inspiring keynote addresses, and interactive in-person and virtual networking opportunities.

Each year, we look for speakers to address a wide variety of current economic development issues. If you have a hot, relevant topic you'd like to present and believe it will be of interest to our audience, we'd like to hear from you. Whether you are affiliated with academia, government, a nonprofit organization, or the private sector, we invite you to submit your presentation proposal for consideration.

If you would like to be considered as a speaker for EDA Xperience 2026, please fill out this online form no later than November 1, 2025. Please note that we will accept quality submissions as they are received, so all spaces may be filled prior to the specified date. We anticipate receiving more submissions than there are spots available.

Please ensure, before you submit your proposal that:
1. Your presentation is not just a standard powerpoint presentation at a podium. The preference for 2026 will be workshops, not traditional presentations. Think about how you can make the presentation more engaging. Is it a fireside chat, an interview, or an educataional workshop format?
2. Each session will last approximately one hour.

Please note:
- We do not pay speakers.
- We do not accept presentations that focus solely on selling products or services.
- If your presentation is selected by the board subcommittee, you will be offered a speaker rate to register for the event.
- We aim to incorporate different speakers each year, and rarely profile the same speaker twice.

Potential Session Tracks:
1.   Economic Development Fundamentals- Geared specifically to the economic development practitioner. Best practices, trends, real estate, marketing, neighborhood development, workforce development, regional strategies, data management, indigenous partnerships.
2.   Business Retention & Expansion- Supporting entrepreneurship, local startups, business visitation programs, home based business strategies, incubators, accelerators, main street revitalization, co-working spaces.
3.   Business & Investment Attraction- Trade and investment strategies, FDI promotion, regional investment programs, strengthening local assets to build an investment case, trends
4.   Other/Sponsored Sessions/Learning Labs- Facilitated experiences designed to immerse delegates in interactive exercises and discussions.

Submission Deadline: November 1, 2025

First Name *

Last Name *

Email *

Business Name *

Address *

Address 2

City *

State *

Postal Code *

Title/Position *

Best phone number to reach you at *

Any other information you would like to add?

Are you a member in good standing of EDA?

Yes

Did you speak at the EDA conference in 2024 or 2025? *

Yes

Is your organization a sponsor of the 2026 EDA conference? *

Yes

Presentation Title *

Why should your topic be included in the 2026 EDA conference agenda? *

What is the proposed format, and how do you plan to maximize your presentation in an in-person format? *

Presentation Abstract *

(Word limit: 250)

What do you hope attendees will learn from your presentation? *

(Word limit: 250)

Presentation Outline *

(Word limit: 750)

Name/s of presenter/s *

Bios of presenter/s *

Relevant attachments (e.g. PPT, PDF etc.)

Call for Conference Presentations