The 2026 CCCC Annual Convention consists mainly of 75-minute concurrent sessions offered Thursday through late Saturday afternoon, though we also offer other opportunities for connection, conversation, and learning relevant to the theme and vision of the convention. Special presentations by featured speakers will be organized by the Program Chair. Half-day and all-day workshops take place on Wednesday. Special Interest Groups (SIGs), Standing Groups, and Committees or Task Forces will also hold business or discussion meetings throughout the program session slots.
Concurrent and Roundtable Sessions
Members may propose whole sessions: 75-minute sessions consisting of three or more presenters or Engaged Learning Experience sessions (see below for details) with two or more leaders/facilitators. Members may also submit individual proposals for a 30-minute presentation with one to two presenters.
Presenters may propose separately titled papers, performances, digital installations, visual presentations, etc., in whatever format best delivers the presenters’ ideas and engages the audience. In a panel or ensemble performance where more than three speakers/performers are proposed, formats such as position statements and abstracts are acceptable.
The 2026 Convention encourages presenters to engage their best practices as teachers; therefore, every presentation should be designed and delivered with learning goals in mind and means by which panelists and audience members may pursue these goals.
Engaged Learning Experience Sessions
Continuing the 2020 program’s integration of the Engaged Learning Experience (ELE), 2026 will include submission under the ELE category. Engaged Learning Experience sessions are an alternative genre of concurrent session, a dedicated space for invention, problem-solving, and experiential learning. As with all sessions, leaders should think in terms of a learning goal and a means for moving participants toward it. In the case of Engaged Learning Experience sessions, some means for moving toward learning goals might include (things like) problem-solving groups, spoken-word poetry, dramatization/improv, making, role-playing, storytelling.
Poster Sessions
Posters are visual presentations displayed on bulletin boards. Posters will be on display throughout the convention, and members will present/perform and discuss their work at a dedicated session during the convention. During these poster sessions—which can be exploratory and experimental, works-in-progress, new concepts, late-breaking research results—presenters accompany their displays to narrate content, answer questions, and invite conversation.
Proposals for posters will be peer reviewed, and as long as the presenters register for the convention, those accepted will appear on the program. A poster session at this convention is considered to be a speaking role, equivalent in value to a panel presentation, and will be listed as such in the program. See our tips for preparing for your poster session at the CCCC Convention.
Workshop Sessions
Workshops offer opportunities for engaged introductions to new developments in the field and participatory discussion of current ideas and practices. Successful workshop proposals articulate learning goals for the workshop and means for participants to achieve them. Workshop proposals must include a schedule indicating times, registrant activities, and facilitators. Workshops are limited to 30–50 registrants, who will be charged an additional fee.
Preconvention workshops are scheduled for either a full day on Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., or a half-day on Wednesday, either 9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. or 1:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m. Additionally, some workshops will be scheduled as postconvention workshops on Saturday, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Member Groups: SIGs and Standing Groups
Member Groups convene for one-hour business meetings after the last concurrent session on Thursday and Friday, and Standing Groups can also host a sponsored panel. Every Member Group that wishes to hold a business meeting must submit a proposal each year that includes a statement of the group’s interest and potential value to CCCC members, as well as any special space requirements (subject to availability). Presentation titles and speakers will not be listed in the Convention Program. Please click here for the full guidelines.
CCCC Documentarians
Initiated in a virtual format for the 2020 Convention, the CCCC Documentarian role is an opportunity for attendees to participate in a new way, and to take part in a collaborative inquiry into what a convention is and does and for whom–and to teach the rest of us. The Documentarian role has been designed to respond to four primary questions about how attendees experience CCCC:
- What does it mean to attend the convention? The efforts of Documentarians will help the CCCC community better understand the range of attendees’ convention experiences.
- What do we learn at the convention? The Documentarian role is designed not only to document things that happen at the convention and the perspectives of those who experience those things, but to help Documentarians–and those who may benefit from their stories–identify the learning they did by way of their convention experiences.
- What are the outcomes of a convention experience? The results of the Documentarians’ efforts will be made available to the CCCC community in a variety of ways, including both formal and informal publication of the resulting documentary stories and in sessions flagged in the program featuring documentarians.
- What does it mean to be included? How diverse are our experiences? The Documentarian role is meant to provide a new form of convention access to a broad range of attendees.
Because they fill a “speaking” role (technically, a speaking back role), Documentarians will appear on the program.
Documentarians will complete a brief instructional module, attend the convention, choose a path through the convention experience, record some observations about the things they see and hear, and then compose a reflective narrative about their experiences. To support them in their work, they will be given a prompt and a set of guidelines for planning, attending, documenting, and reflecting on their experiences with the convention.
Documentarian roles are available to those with or without another speaking role at the CCCC Convention. For example, it is possible to be on the program solely as a Documentarian or as a panelist and a Documentarian. Documentarians’ products will be realized as a variety of written (i.e., alphabetic—not filmed or audio-recorded) products that capture highlights of, and reflections on, Documentarians’ convention experiences.
Those wishing to serve (and be listed in the program) as Documentarians do not need to submit a proposal for this role, but may indicate their interest in serving as s Documentarian when they submit a proposal for a session as part of the regular review process.
Join us for CCCC 2016! This year’s conference theme, “Writing Strategies for Action,” will provide a chance to think about the opportunities and challenges that we face as we engage with the work of writing instruction and literacy development.
