Affordable Senior Housing

This track offers sessions on federal/state senior affordable housing policy and reform, legal or ethical concerns in senior housing, fair housing compliance, building or asset management best practices, training on any section of the HUD Handbooks, federal/state rules or regulations, as well as grants and loan programs; presentations on  senior housing research (current/future landscape, income, costs, trends, etc.), sustainable & green building principles and practices in senior housing, new development or rehab initiatives, supportive services, or service coordination programs, and other solutions for aging properties and residents.

Aging Services Innovation, Technology, and Design

This track includes topics related to technology-enabled business tools and solutions for aging services and the development and adoption of innovative programs, practices, and services. Topics include construction, expansion and renovation, environments that promote resident independence, as well as the development of new senior housing models that meet evolving consumer expectations. Sessions may feature case studies of adoption and implementation in LANJDE member organizations.

Marketing, Growth & Mission Enhancement

This track offers sessions on best practices related to occupancy, lead generation, market research, emerging consumer trends, effective public communication, and responding to market changes. This includes data collection, advertising, fundraising, and value propositions to reach prospects and drive higher occupancy. Sessions also cover strategies organizations can leverage to communicate with clarity and confidence.

Home & Community Based Services & Home Care

Topics focusing on policy and reform, legal or ethical concerns in Home Care, and solutions for providers and residents in home and community-based services and home care settings.

Operations, Finance, Strategy & Leadership

This track includes sessions on financing models, contract types, new revenue sources, internal cost management, strategies to reduce costs, improve outcomes, and effectively manage risk. Sessions also highlight initiatives to optimize business processes and strategies, programming and approaches that promote DEIB and long-term sustainability, including collaborative partnerships, growth strategies, repositioning, mergers, acquisitions and affiliations.

Public Policy & Legal Issues 

Sessions cover grassroots advocacy, state/national regulatory and legislative issues, initiatives and trends for clinical and operational decision-makers. Topics related to health care and housing reform, social accountability, compliance, risk and liability, litigation, labor law, workforce, and other legal issues.

Workforce Development, Culture & DEIB

Sessions include innovative strategies and solutions for Aging Services Leaders and HR professionals to address the staffing crisis, retention and recruitment, executive transitions, and other related topics. This track also includes topics on leadership best practices, cultural competence and culture change. With a focus on tangible methods to advance DEIB in an organization’s culture, sessions offer practices to cultivate deliberate, equitable and inclusive cultures that empower team members and prioritize well-being.

Draft your responses in advance; the system does not allow you to save your submission or go back to previous sections to make changes. Edits can only be made once all sections are completed.

LeadingAge NJ & DE cannot provide compensation (honorarium, reimbursement, program development, etc.).

Content and speaker changes will not be accepted once a proposal has been submitted. Speakers will have an opportunity to submit updates to content and speaker information if a session is confirmed.

To create a well-rounded program that reflects the full spectrum of expertise and viewpoints in the aging services field, proposal submissions are limited as follows:

• Organizations may submit up to three proposals.
• An individual may be included as an additional speaker/panelist in proposals submitted by others and it will not count toward the limit for their organization. 

Additionally, to promote broad participation in the program, we may limit the number of proposals selected from the same provider organization or business firm/company.

Please Note: Proposals exceeding the submission limits will not be considered for review.

All proposals are peer-reviewed. A committee of LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware members and staff considers the following criteria when evaluating the merits of each proposal:

Relevance & Applicability: Proposals must address pressing issues in aging services with practical, provider-focused strategies. 

Provider Perspectives: Content should reflect real-world challenges and solutions from aging services providers. We encourage applicants to incorporate senior care providers as speakers in your presentation.

Speaker Expertise: Speakers must demonstrate deep knowledge of the topic and provider needs.

LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware urges you to consider the following as you develop content and identify speakers for proposed sessions.

• Tailor your content to the intended audience; focus on relevance and applicability. 
• Proposals should represent a range of perspectives, backgrounds, and life experiences. Racial diversity and balanced gender representation on panels are strongly preferred.
• Show familiarity with aging services through appropriate field-preferred terminology. Refer to LeadingAge’s Anti-Ageism Quick Guide to ensure your proposal reflects person-centered values and language.
• Use methods that foster interaction and meaningful audience participation
• Emphasize Value, Not Promotion. Focus on practices and benefits for providers without marketing products or services
• Keep Panels Focused – Limit panels to four speakers to allow substantive contributions from each

As part of our commitment to delivering an engaging learning experience, we ask all confirmed speakers to adhere to the following guidelines:

Keep the conference dates open. Be available to present during any of the scheduled session dates and times. 

Attend the event in person. Deliver your session live on-site and assume responsibility for all expenses related to your participation (confirmed speakers receive discounted registration)

• Confirmed speakers will incur no registration fee to attend for their session only
• Up to two confirmed speakers will receive complimentary registration on the day of their session or a $150 discount toward their full registration 

LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware reserves the right to change session titles, descriptions, etc. for use in promotional materials. If something is inaccurate or misrepresents your planned presentation, please bring that to our attention. 

To help reviewers understand your session’s value, prepare thoughtful and complete responses for each required proposal component. Here’s what you’ll need to include:

Session Title: list a succinct headline that clearly conveys what your session is about.

Session Narrative: (2,000 character limit) provide a clear, detailed description of the content to be covered in your 60-minute session.

Learning Objectives: outline the key takeaways (specific skills and/or practical knowledge) the audience will gain by attending your session. Please click on this link to determine the appropriate and best action verb for each learning objective: Blooms Taxonomy Verbs. 

Program Diversity: describe how your session will contribute to an inclusive and diverse program with respect to voices, perspectives, populations, topics, education delivery methods, and/or audience engagement.

Education Track: Presentation must fit into one of our educational tracks listed above.

Speaker Information: List job title, organization, contact information for each speaker, as well as a bio to be used for marketing. Speakers should have knowledge of and professional experience with the aging services field.  

For continuing education purposes, we must collect the academic and professional background for each speaker to include:

• Highest Degree Earned
• Major/Discipline
• Academic Institution
• Year Degree was Earned

The conference audience is comprised of professionals from across the continuum of care in the aging services and senior housing sector. This conference attracts C-Suite professionals; middle/senior managers; department directors; administrators; nursing leaders; finance, quality and safety officers; public relations, communications and marketing professionals; human resources and information technology directors; affordable senior housing managers; social service coordinators and occupancy specialists; home and community-based services providers; and more. Professionals in aging services and allied fields (i.e., fundraising, architecture, marketing, education, law, financial management and public administration) also attend the conference.