So Not the Plan
After 23 straight years of showing up, building community, and providing people a reason to give a damn, the Presentation Summit has chosen to go virtual-only in 2025.
That decision, and this moment, are both too big for careful spin or corporate double-speak: the Summit has been DOGE’d. DOGE’d and tariffed. Canadians have been advised not to travel to the U.S.; other countries have put the U.S. on their lists of unsafe places; federal employees have lost their jobs or seen their budgets slashed; and companies with federal contracts have lost a major source of income.
Inclusion isn’t just a value I believe in, it’s the lifeblood of this conference. We make it our business to make you feel like you belong and I do not want to create FOMO that runs counter to those values.
And that hurts. That hurts like no spreadsheet can describe, and you are allowed to hurt right along with me. Together we have spent more than two decades creating something meaningful, inclusive, and resilient. Through recession, pandemics, and a thousand curveballs, the Presentation Summit has remained a heartbeat for so many of us. Season after season, we have gathered. We have connected. We belong.
And it’s exactly those curveballs that have brought us closer together as a community. In 2020, when we couldn’t imagine a time we’d be able to convene again in person, we poured our hearts and souls into creating a new digital world for our community. This world became a virtual space for people to learn, connect, and grow from one another, but it also did something magical: it opened up the Summit to new corners of the world and allowed us to expand our conference family across the globe.
We will bring this same magic to the 2025 Summit, and our value of inclusion remains as strong as ever. Year after year since 2020, we’ve aimed to set the standard for virtual conferences and we intend to double and triple those efforts. How can we make this year’s conference the most human and most inclusive virtual experience imaginable? That will be my mantra for the next four months.
I’m heartbroken to share this news. But I’m also heartened by the spirit, humanity, and connection that I know we’ll bring to this event.
The Presentation Summit opens its virtual doors as wide as possible for this wonderful community of presentation professionals. October 19-22. Priced aggressively. Packed full of humanity, like only we know how to do. And with just a pinch of defiance for seasoning.
Please join me.
www.PresentationSummit.com
12 responses to “Personal Message from Rick Altman”
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I have observed you to have a great ability to adapt to circumstances. This year, circumstances far beyond your control. I look forward to the virtual conference and know you will make it a great conference.
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I am sorry because I know how much work and heart you put into this. Another casualty of this foolish policy
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I share your anger at this unnecessary situation.
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I’m so sorry to hear the Democrapocalypse has hit the Presentation Summit. It infuriates me how DOGE (Destructive Oligarchy’s Greedy Eradication?) are destroying all that actually did make this country great again.
Cancelling the in-person conference breaks my heart as well, but knowing that we have the mostest awesomest virtual summit to look forward to replenishes my heart with joy.
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Rick, kudos to you and your team. As our country hurts, we watch the destruction our government is hurling around the world, we sure have to work hard at maintaining whatever normalcy, creativity and positive energy we can find.
I know you will make the conference awesome. It is so hard to even imagine what our world will look like in October. But your conference will be a bright spot, for sure.
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I am heartbroken for you and for the conference. I can attest that you created an incredibly inclusive environment. When I first attended, I was afraid that it would be hard to break in as an outsider, a newbie, an engineer. But quite the opposite. I felt instantly embraced by everyone.
I remember coming home and telling my daughter how cool it was to sit at lunch and share stories with people from different parts of the world. I am sorry that this is what it has come to. I am sorry that this is what our country has come to.
I will plan to attend virtually. And I will continue to hope that things will get better and that the inclusive in-person experience will someday return.
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I am truly saddened at the loss of this year’s in-person Summit but I completely understand the decision. I hope the in-person event will return in future years.
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Really sorry to hear this. My business is suffering too; so many of my clients were non-profits, gov’t agencies, orgs funded through USAID, etc. Others are simply too scared to spend on professional development, or their own client contracts haven’t come through and they are struggling or closing their doors. It stinks all around.
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I am so sorry you are suffering over a MAJOR reconstruction of ETHICS and INTEGRITY in the government. You and I and almost everyone I know has been negatively impacted in the short-term.
However, DOGE is NOT the enemy! DOGE is cleaning up AFTER the enemy, which is the previous government administration that lies and cheats and steals and blames for their ills, and has polluted the news.
Please look more deeply at the source of your upset, and get some facts. For one little example, billions of dollars spent redecorating offices in WA DC that have stood EMPTY.
That’s just scratching the surface!!!
And your virtual event will be powerful and wonderful as always!
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So sorry to hear this big disruption Rick. I’m confident that you and your team will make this one as amazing as it can be.
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I’m lost for words. The world has become an unfriendly place in some spots…sending positive vibes, we’ll all get through this.
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I will continue to support this conference — and am happy that you still plan to do the virtual version!
Hang in there. Sending hugs and high fives your way.
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