Call for Presentations
September 14-17, 2025 | Minneapolis, Minnesota
Submission Deadline: Friday, January 10, 2025
Thank you for considering a presentation proposal! To fully understand the process of submitting a proposal and how they are assessed, you should read the important information on this page, as well as the Q&A section below.
Direct questions not answered here to the Society at [email protected].
Would you like to share your expertise with hundreds of benefits professionals at the 44th Annual Employee Benefits Symposium? The Society is accepting presentation proposals to curate an educational experience that reflects the diverse skills, interests and backgrounds of the employee benefits profession. If you are a benefits industry professional and an experienced, engaging presenter, here’s what we’re looking for:
- “Hot” industry topics and issues, new techniques, strategic viewpoints, case studies and emerging trends
- Topics of interest to and aimed at knowledgeable, experienced corporate benefits and compensation professionals
- Topics that focus mainly on answers, results or solutions and ROI, not the (often well-known) problems or issues.
- A mid-to-advanced level presentation that can be covered in a 60 minute session, including time for questions.
- A "deep dive" into a critical benefits-related topic. Symposium attendees look for topics at an indepth level they haven't heard anywhere else.
- An objective presentation that does not give the appearance of endorsing any particular company or product.
How Content is Selected
The submission process is very competitive. Proposals are assessed with two main standards: content level, and content objectivity. The session description and learning objectives you provide are critical to the assessment process.
Content Level: Symposium attendees are experienced professionals and look for a deep dive into the content. Proposals describing or covering information at a "basic" or "overview" level, or topics intended for an early-career professional are not likely to be a good fit for this audience.
Content Objectivity: Proposals must be written in a manner that recognizes the value of objective education, free from any promotion of a specific company, platform or service represented by the speaker(s). The Education committee takes this metric very seriously and will not consider any proposal with a sales or promotional slant.
We receive a large volume of proposals each year, and proposals not meeting these standards will not be selected.
Who is the Symposium audience?
- Diverse. Attendees represent corporations, consulting firms, health care organizations, hospitals, banks, insurance companies and brokerages, investment and administration firms, along with multiemployer and public employee benefit plans, and other organizations involved in the employee benefits space.
- Experienced. A typical Symposium attendee has 10 or more years of experience and looks for topics at the mid-to-advanced level.
- Engaged. Many attendees have, or are pursuing the CEBS, GBA, RPA or CMS designation in the U.S. or Canada.
Submitting a Presentation Proposal
In order to ensure that each proposal is received and considered by the education committee, we require all proposals to be submitted online.
Required components include speaker contact information, a session title, topic description and three takeaways or learning outcomes.
There is no limit to how many proposals can be submitted. Each proposal must be submitted individually. Selection of proposals and speakers will be determined in April 2025.
Q: Who attends the Symposium?
A: Attendees represent primarily corporations, consulting firms, health care organizations, hospitals, banks, insurance companies, investment and administration firms, along with multiemployer and public employee benefit plans, and other organizations in the employee benefits space in the U.S. and Canada.
It’s helpful to know that many attendees have or are pursuing the CEBS, GBA, RPA or CMS designations in the U.S. or Canada. Overall, the Symposium audience is a very knowledgeable and experienced group that looks for mid-to-advanced level topics.
Q: When is the Symposium? Will it be in-person?
A: The Symposium is scheduled for September 14-17, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota with all sessions offered in-person. The Society continues to follow federal, state and venue health guidelines and requirements to make the Symposium a comfortable and safe environment to focus on learning.
Q: Is ISCEBS or International Foundation membership required to submit a proposal?
A: We welcome proposals from any qualified presenters, member or non-member.
Q: Can I submit a proposal for another speaker, like my client, boss or colleague?
A: You’re welcome to submit a proposal on behalf of someone else. When doing so, it is important to remember that an educational session is an opportunity to share objective information, and the session description should not give the appearance of endorsing or promoting an organization’s service or product.
Q: My proposal is a case study that involves a specific vendor or service provider. What's the best way to describe it within the Society's content objectivity guidelines?
A: Case studies are a popular session format and usually give a great snapshot of how a team solved a problem and their takeaways, and often involve a specific vendor partner. Regardless if the speaker is the plan sponsor or the service provider, you're encouraged to approach your proposal as a "problem – solutions – lessons learned" structure and framing the service provider's role as a checklist of how the plan sponsor selected this vendor, how they partnered, and what other plan sponsors should do and consider when faced with a similar issue.
Q: I work for or represent a company with a really unique product that nobody else is offering. How can I reach this audience?
A: Like all industries, the benefits space thrives on innovation and new ideas, and the Symposium is a great forum to connect with professionals who may be looking for a new solution. If your proposal can meet the Society's content objectivity standard, we'd love to hear from you.
If you're not sure, another idea to consider is Symposium sponsorship. Many levels are available, with varying rewards, but all offer an avenue to get your company in front of experienced benefits professionals who are often decision-makers in their organizations. If you haven't attended the Symposium before, sponsorship may be a good fit for you to assess how your product or service may dovetail with the attendees' needs, backgrounds and experience.
Q: I am a CEBS graduate. Can I earn CEBS Compliance credit for presenting a session at the Symposium?
A: Yes. Click here for more information.
Q: What specifically are you looking for in a presentation proposal? Do I need to submit a full presentation?
A: A full presentation is not necessary at this time. The submission process does not support attachments. You will be asked to provide:
• Session title and category
• A brief session description, written in objective language not intended to endorse or promote a particular product or service. Speaker qualifications can also be included.
• three session learning outcomes or takeaways
• complete contact information.
Q: How long are the sessions? What should I focus on?
A: Total session time is 60 minutes, which includes introductory remarks and Q&A. Symposium attendees are very experienced and well-versed on the endemic issues and problems. With that in mind, the most successful sessions are generally ones that spend the majority of the time identifying solutions, how-tos or results, with just a quick overview of context and background.
Q: I have a great session idea, but pending legislation or court rulings might change something. How does the Symposium proposal process allow for these possible changes?
A: Should your proposal be accepted and then the content is altered due to legislative or judicial action, Symposium program staff will work with you to allow you time to make any needed adjustments to your presentation.
If you have a great idea based on regulations as they exist today, go ahead and submit it - we want to hear from you!
Q: Are speakers responsible for their own travel expenses?
A: Speakers receive complimentary conference registration and in most cases are eligible for travel expense reimbursement within Society policy. (Please note that ISCEBS does not reimburse expenses for a co-speaker.) Additional details regarding expenses will be provided should your proposal be accepted.
Q: May I add a co-speaker to my proposed session?
A: Yes. The submission form supports up to two speakers, though only one is eligible for travel reimbursement.
Q: Where can I get additional information?
A: Visit the Symposium page for more details, including audience, registration, sponsorship and other special events, or contact the Society at (262) 786-8771 or [email protected].
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The International Society is committed to a culture that embraces diverse experiences and perspectives. Full DEI Statement
Our Partnership With Presenters
Producing a successful Symposium is a collaborative effort between ISCEBS and its presenters. To ensure a mutually beneficial Symposium, we hold our presenters and ourselves to these commitments:
We expect presenters will:
- Work closely with ISCEBS staff prior to the Symposium and meet all deadlines
- Be able to attend the event in-person.
- Recognize that an educational session is an opportunity to share information and should not give the appearance of an endorsement of a particular business, service or product
- Make no substantial changes in session content or format, or change or add presenters without prior approval of ISCEBS staff
- Design and provide a high-quality PowerPoint presentation, easily readable in print and a conference room, in electronic format, by the deadline given (a pdf version of the presentation is not acceptable).
- Participate in the process to submit your session for continuing education (CE) approval for different states/provinces and professions. You may be asked to complete state-specific forms and provide additional information.
- Understand that their presentation will be reproduced in its entirety for attendees and that the session may be audiorecorded.
- Keep in mind that members of the media may be in attendance.
- Acknowledge they are available to speak during any timeframe of the Symposium and as such will not request a time or date change if selected.
In return, ISCEBS will:
- Supply audiovisual equipment (such as a laptop, microphone and projector) for your session.
- Reimburse expenses for one session speaker in accordance with ISCEBS policy. Reimbursement is not available for any co-presenters, regardless of session length or number of sessions.
- Provide a complimentary registration for the Symposium, which includes educational sessions, meal and networking events and the CEBS Conferment.
- Provide you with your evaluation scores and feedback after the conference.
- Provide a platform for professional visibility while we collaborate to make a valuable contribution to the industry’s collective knowledge.
If you have questions about the submission process or the Symposium in general, please contact us at [email protected] or (262) 786-8771.