IMPORTANT DATES:
Proposal Submission Period: | February 3 - February 28, 2025 |
Proposal Notification: | Mid-Late April 2025 |
Conference Dates: | Orlando, FL, September 29 - October 1, 2025 |
Core4 is the premier conference for building and refining the core skills every learning and development professional needs to succeed in their career. This conference aims to advance attendees’ careers through new and renewed professional connections, new ideas, new perspectives, skill development, and practical advice in the L&D industry. Core4 presentations are intended to share practical advice and opportunities to learn skills that attendees can immediately apply in their work.
Please review the important information below to ensure you meet the proposal requirements.
What we’re looking for in Core4 proposals
We’re accepting proposals for sessions that strongly connect to one of the four key pillars of the event:
Evaluating Impact
Instructional Design
Training Delivery and Facilitation
Emerging Trends
This year, there are three session formats you can choose from:
Industry Insights:
60-minute traditional presentations
Power Hour:
60-minute interactive sessions
Quick Wins:
30-minute sessions on a narrow theme, software, case study, or skill.
While this event focuses on the fundamental pillars of L&D, it’s not just for beginners. We’re looking for valuable sessions for seasoned professionals looking for new inspiration and introductory sessions for people new to the field.
We’re also watching for talks that can help people shape their career paths in the L&D field and session delivery ideas that foster a sense of connection and community with attendees.
This year’s event takes place September 29-October 1, 2025, in Orlando, Florida–and we’d love to have you play a part in it.
Presenting at Core4 is not only an opportunity to build your professional reputation, but it’s also a chance to use your valuable insights to help others in the L&D community.
To make it easier for you to be here, we offer one complimentary registration for the conference and one night’s stay at the conference hotel for up to two session speakers.
NEW IN 2025: This year, we’ll be live-streaming a small selection of sessions to our virtual conference attendees. Session proposals don’t have to work in a hybrid format to be considered for acceptance. But if your session can easily be adapted for hybrid delivery, note that in your proposal.
Proposal Submission Fields
Several required fields must be completed before submitting a proposal.
Proposal Title
Proposal Type
Track & Area of Focus
Knowledge Level
Target Audience
Proposal Overview
Subject Matter Background
Topic Importance
Session Description
Session Outcomes
Session Agenda
Value Add
Key Perspective
Presented Before
Hybrid Session Format
Speaker Information
Speaker Submission Agreement
Conference Policies
ATD 2025 Core4 Conference Proposal Template (PDF)
Session Proposal
The Proposal Overview is used for internal review use only. It should explain the background of your subject matter/topic, what you will discuss in your session, and what prerequisite would be needed to attend. This description should be written so the selection committee can understand precisely what will be delivered to attendees.
The Session Description is designed to be a short description of your session that, IF SELECTED, would be used for the publicly facing program guide, app, website, and any potential marketing pieces. Please consider this requirement's impact, and you should NOT simply repeat what you entered in the proposal overview. Think of this area regarding what would encourage an attendee to come to the session. Text is limited to 750 characters, so please be succinct.
Please write both descriptions clearly and concisely, including all necessary information. The descriptions should focus on the content that will be delivered, not an editorial on the topic or an advertisement for the speaker or topic. Please write in the second person (you) and avoid references to the speaker and his/her published work by title.
Commercial presentations for products or services may be delivered as sponsored sessions. For information on exhibiting and these session opportunities, contact your ATD Sales representative.
Session Outcomes
These outcomes should demonstrate how a learner can apply learning and content from your session content to their work. Please use action verbs and action-oriented statements, such as explore, discover, utilize, apply, etc. When crafting your outcomes, consider how the attendees can immediately use the tools, skills, or concepts learned in your session to impact their organization or career.
Writing Learner-Focused Job Applications (PDF)
Areas of Focus
Core4 focuses on four key pillars in our field: Evaluating Impact, Instructional Design, Training Delivery and Facilitation, and Emerging Trends. This PDF shares many sub-topics in each pillar if you want session ideas.
ATD 2025 Core4 Conference Areas of Focus (PDF)
Knowledge Level & Target Audience
Most conference participants are individuals charged with developing people, organizational culture, and talent management with various experience levels. Please carefully consider the knowledge level at which your content is appropriate. For your proposal, please specify one attendee level from the list of options.
ATD Core4 Knowledge Levels & Target Audiences (PDF)
Honoraria, Travel Expenses & Complimentary Registration
ATD is a nonprofit educational association with a responsibility to its members to manage its resources carefully.
Speakers will receive one complimentary hotel night at the conference hotel and one complimentary complete conference registration for this event.