2026 MEDA Annual Conference – Request for Speakers

The 2026 MEDA Annual Conference will be held on April 26-28, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay, Cambridge, Maryland

Theme: The A-MAZING World of Economic Development: Navigating Complexity. Embracing Innovation. Driving Impact.

Economic development can feel like a maze—full of turns, detours, and emerging pathways. From new tools like AI to evolving expectations around housing, workforce, and quality of place, the work is increasingly complex. But within the maze lies opportunity. MEDA’s 2026 Annual Conference will guide practitioners through the intersections of strategy, technology, community, and industry, helping them chart a smarter, more impactful course. It’s not just a maze—it’s A-MAZING work.

Call for speaker suggestions: MEDA is seeking both speaker suggestions and topic ideas for sessions at the 2026 Annual Conference. The sessions, speakers, and/or topics must be relevant to the conference theme and be of interest to a wide audience from across Maryland. We are seeking keynote speakers, success stories, and panel discussion ideas.

Submission Process:

Please complete the online form (below) no later than 5:00 pm on Monday, November 3, 2025.

MEDA is looking for recommendations from our members about the speakers they’d like to hear from and/or the topics they are navigating in this A-MAZING profession and want to learn more about. Greater emphasis will be given to those speakers who are recommended by a MEDA member (versus self-nomination).

Late proposals will not be considered. MEDA does not permit sales-oriented activities (such as product promotion, services, or consultations) as part of the Annual Conference. If a commercial representative is included on a panel, they are asked to speak broadly about industry best practices, with a minimal focus on their particular commercial entity, and only as it relates to the topic or project being discussed.

MEDA’s educational sessions are typically 1 hour to 1.5 hours in length and focus on issues of interest to economic development professionals. It is strongly recommended that a proposed session align with the conference theme to ensure that MEDA presents a balanced conference with diverse viewpoints.

MEDA’s Program Development Committee may add or substitute speakers to achieve its desired level of diversity. MEDA will make the final decisions on speakers and invite them directly.

Contact Information:

Any questions regarding this process may be directed to Sandy Dubay, sandy@medamd.com.

2026 MEDA Annual Conference - Request for Speakers

  • Individual completing this form:

  • Submission Idea

  • Please tell us why you'd like to hear from this individual and what you'd like them to talk about, or about your topic suggestion and why it would be a relevant topic to explore. (750 character max)