What speaker audiences really want as we enter 2026: Insights from 2025 that are shaping smarter programming
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A new year has a way of inviting reflection before momentum takes over. As we look ahead to 2026 events, the question we heard most often last year wasn’t about what’s new — it was about what’s sustainable:
How do we create programming that’s meaningful, responsible, and resonant — while working within the real capacity of both planners building events and audiences showing up to them?
After a year spent listening closely — to planners, to audiences, and to the quieter signals in what people searched for and explored deeply on our website, and ultimately booked — one truth stood out:
Capacity. Cultivation. Connection.
Capacity
In 2025, planners spent the most time exploring speakers and content aligned with the issues their audiences are actively navigating at work and in the world:
DEIB, Tech & AI, Business Strategy & Leadership, Wellness & Work-Life Balance, and Social Justice & Humanitarianism.
These interests sit alongside a shared reality. Planners are working within tighter timelines and constraints, while audiences are engaging with topics that carry real cognitive and emotional weight. Capacity, then, is about calibration. Programming that respects the time and bandwidth it takes to plan well — and the way people are able to engage once they arrive. Speakers who bring clarity without overload, depth without performative demands, and insight that informs rather than exhausts.
When capacity is honored on both sides, programming lands with greater focus, trust, and impact.
Cultivation
The speakers that planners spent the most time with brought depth with application. Voices like Ruha Benjamin, Paula Stone Williams, Kimberly Bryant, Brandeis Marshall, Molly Kawahata, and Jaz Ampaw-Farr offer frameworks, context, and insight that audiences can actually use — often across disciplines.
Ruha Benjamin, in particular, generated the highest number of direct inquiries, reinforcing a broader shift we’re seeing: planners are prioritizing speakers who combine credibility, care, and practical relevance when addressing complex or sensitive topics.
Cultivation means being intentional. Choosing speakers who can responsibly guide conversations — including those that feel complex — in ways that remain impactful in 2026.
Connection
If last year showed us anything, it’s that connection is foundational to well-received events. Planners weren’t just browsing our site last year; they were searching with purpose. Mary Abbajay, the most-searched speaker on our site, reflects a continued demand for tools that strengthen everyday working relationships and improve how people collaborate in real life.
Connection is what turns events from transactions into moments of alignment — between leaders and teams, ideas and action, speakers and audiences.
As we step into 2026, our role remains the same: to partner with you in building programs that feel thoughtful, relevant, and respected.
We’re here to help you:
assess real capacity across planning constraints and audience engagement
cultivate lineups that balance insight with application
and connect with speakers who foster trust, clarity, and momentum
Email us anytime to chat through your constraints and we'll ensure you're set up for a successful year of programming!