NESHCo 2026: The Craft of Connection | Speaker Proposal Submission Portal
Ready to make an impact? This is your chance to step into the spotlight at the largest healthcare communications conference in the region. NESHCo is looking for fresh perspectives, innovative approaches, and real-world stories that help our community grow. We look forward to receive your proposal!
Vermont is a state celebrated for its artisanal traditions, intentional craftsmanship, and strong sense of community. “The Craft of Connection” draws from that heritage to highlight the care, precision, and thoughtfulness required in effective healthcare communication. Today, those qualities matter more than ever. In an era of shrinking budgets, leaner teams, and growing expectations, healthcare communicators are being asked to do more with what they have — relying on ingenuity, empathy, and collaboration to create lasting impact.
Every message, like a finely crafted object, should be designed deliberately, built to last, and meaningful for its audience. This theme emphasizes purposeful, human-centered strategies and invites us to explore how to design with intention, communicate with clarity, and sustain the craft of connection across people, platforms, and generations.
Conference Tracks:
- Connecting with Patients & Communities: The most enduring healthcare connections are built on trust, empathy, and authenticity — not big budgets. From crafting stories that clarify complex topics to finding low-cost, high-impact outreach strategies, participants will learn about intentional, resourceful strategies to strengthen community bonds.
- Connecting Across Teams & Silos: Behind every strong external message is an internal network of aligned, motivated people. This track focuses on how communicators can bridge departments, break down silos, and build a shared sense of purpose — especially when teams are stretched thin. Learn practical methods for improving collaboration, increasing efficiency, and encouraging a culture where everyone feels and is part of the story you’re telling.
- Connecting with Purpose: With growing demands and fewer resources, communicating with purpose has never been more important. This track explores aligning projects, campaigns, and messages in a way that feels authentically mission driven. Participants will learn how to prioritize what truly matters, measure meaningful impact, and sustain a sense of purpose in a world that can tend to reward speed over thoughtfulness.
- Connecting Through Innovation: Innovation isn’t about having more tools. It’s about using the right tools with creativity and care. This track examines how to bring craftsmanship into the digital era, using technology as a partner to extend, not replace, human connection. From practical AI applications to scrappy content strategies and automation hacks, discover how to make modern tools work harder for you and your audiences.
Who Should Submit?
NESHCo welcomes a wide range of presentations and panelists. To ensure sessions are effective and useful to our audience, preference is given to sessions which have one or more panelists affiliated with a healthcare organization. Additionally, preference is given to proposals with a link to the New England area and/or panelists that are NESHCo members. However, geographic location, participation from provider organizations, and membership to NESHCo are not requirements to submit.
NESHCo welcomes a wide range of presentations and panelists. To ensure sessions are effective and useful to our audience, preference is given to sessions which have one or more panelists affiliated with a healthcare organization. Additionally, preference is given to proposals with a link to the New England area and/or panelists that are NESHCo members. However, geographic location, participation from provider organizations, and membership to NESHCo are not requirements to submit.
Excited About Our Theme but Not Sure Where to Begin?
Let Our Sample Sessions Spark Your Ideas.
To help you get started, we’ve included sample session topics for each conference track. You’re welcome to build on them, remix them, or go in a totally new direction — they’re simply there to inspire and guide.