ANNUAL CONFERENCE

2026 Annual Conference

November 5 | Washington, DC

Attend this high-impact event where leaders in talent, culture, flexibility, and inclusion come together to explore one of the most urgent questions facing organizations today: how do we build the conditions for meaningful connection in the changing world of work?

The 2026 DFA Annual Conference will focus on the Choreographed Connection™ Imperative, examining how organizations can strengthen culture, deepen collaboration, and create a greater sense of community across teams, roles, and work environments.

WHY ATTEND

Technology and AI have made work more connected, yet many people feel more isolated than ever.

Research continues to show that connection is not simply a “nice to have” in the workplace. At the same time, the way we work continues to evolve rapidly. Technology has made communication faster and more efficient, but efficiency alone does not create connection. In environments shaped by distributed teams, digital communication, and increasing automation, it can become easier for people to feel isolated and disconnected from the relationships that help work feel collaborative and meaningful.

This year’s conference will explore what it means to intentionally design for connection in today’s workplace. Through conversations grounded in culture, leadership, collaboration, and community, we’ll examine how organizations can create environments where people feel seen, supported, and connected even as the way work happens continues to change.

WHAT YOU’LL GAIN

Grounded, practical strategies you can bring back to your organization

A deeper understanding of how connection influences engagement, wellbeing, communication, and organizational performance

Research and examples that help support the business case for creating organizations where both performance and people thrive

Opportunities to build relationships with peers who are working through similar challenges and priorities

Date and Location

November 5, 2026, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Akin
2001 K St NW
Washington, DC 20006

Pricing and Registration

*Pricing below excludes taxes and processing fees.

DFA Members

Members – Extra Tickets

Non-Members

Law School, Government, Nonprofit

Early Bird

June 26 – September 25

Free

2 tickets included

$545

$845

$249

Regular

September 26 – October 16

Free

Reserve by September 25

$645

$945

$349

Late

October 17 – October 30

Free

Reserve by September 25

$745

$1,045

$449

2026 Featured Speakers

Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan
CEO
AARP

Brigid Schulte
Award-winning journalist, bestselling author & director of the Better Life Lab at New America

Manoush Zomorodi
Author of Body Electric &
host of NPR’s “TED Radio Hour”

2026 Speakers + Honorees

Kelly Batts
Chief Diversity Officer
Cooley LLP

Jaye Campbell
General Counsel
Appian Corporation

Emma Codd
Partner
Deloitte LLP

Lia Dorsey
Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer
Ogletree Deakins

Nirvana Dove
Chief Culture, Inclusion & Engagement Officer
FBT Gibbons

Stacey Kielbasa
Chief Talent Officer
Chapman and Cutler LLP

Manar Morales
Founder & CEO
DFA

Roy D. Prather, III
Principal
Beveridge & Diamond

David Quigley
Partner
Akin

Mahreen Rashid
EVP, Enterprise Enablement – People, Brand and Technology
Excella

Zakiyyah T. Salim-Williams
Partner & Chief Diversity Officer
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Melissa Schwartz
Partner
Akin

Don A. Smith
Chief Talent & Inclusion Officer
Crowell & Moring LLP

Jason St. John
Chair
Saul Ewing

Peter J. Torcicollo
Co-Managing Partner
FBT Gibbons

2026 Agenda

8:45 AM

Check in & Continental Breakfast

9:15 AM

Welcome

9:20 AM

The Choreographed Connection™ Imperative: Designing Culture in Times of Change

Culture lives at the intersection of our intentions and our interactions. In times of change, connection is often the first thing to erode and the most critical to sustain. Manar Morales, DFA Founder & CEO, opens the day by introducing Choreographed Connection™, the intentional practice of designing the moments, habits, and conditions that make mutual respect, understanding, and responsiveness part of how work happens. She frames how connection within ourselves, with others, and across the organization helps teams navigate change, why every one of us is a culture carrier, and how we can shape culture together when the ground is shifting.

9:40 AM

A Fireside Chat on Caregiving & Connection: Seeing our Humanity at Work with Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan

Since joining AARP, Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan has made caregiving central to her leadership agenda, pushing businesses to support the 63 million Americans juggling caregiving and careers, many carrying the equivalent of a second full-time job while absorbing real financial and emotional strain. In this fireside chat, she shares why caregiving, often invisible and isolating, is exactly the kind of responsibility this year’s conference theme calls on leaders to design for: recognizing what people carry through the door so they feel seen and supported, not just accommodated. She also explores how a culture that makes room for care, through everyday norms and leadership behavior as much as policy, builds the trust and connection that help people and organizations thrive.

10:10 AM

Break

10:20 AM

From Policy to Practice: How People Leaders Shape Culture

Building on the Choreographed Connection™ framework introduced in the opening, this panel brings together talent and culture leaders to explore what it looks like in practice. As new ways of working, digital communication, and AI reshape the workplace, panelists share how they are bringing mutual respect, understanding, and responsiveness into the employee experience, and how those everyday choices shape culture, collaboration, and belonging across their organizations.

11:00 AM

Listening to Lead: Building Connection & Culture After A Merger

Discover how a thoughtful approach to post-merger integration is helping a newly combined firm build one culture by listening first and preserving the best of each legacy organization. This session explores how inviting candid feedback, acting on what people share, and fostering transparency and shared ownership can strengthen connection, ease the challenges of change, and lay the foundation for a stronger shared future.

11:30 AM

Choreographed Connection™ Activity

11:50 AM

Lunch

12:50 PM

Time to Care: Rethinking Overwork and Who Provides Care: A Fireside Chat with Brigid Schulte

Burnout is often treated as a personal problem to be solved with better boundaries or time management. Brigid Schulte, award-winning journalist, author of “Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life”, and director of the Better Life Lab at New America, argues the real solutions lie in how work itself is designed. In this fireside chat, she explores how a culture of overwork takes a toll on wellbeing and leaves little room for care. She also shares findings from New America’s new report on how providing care changes men, showing how caring reshapes the way people connect, lead, and show up at work, and why making room for care strengthens culture for everyone.

1:30 PM

Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2026: A Global Outlook

Since 2021, Deloitte’s Women @ Work: A Global Outlook has tracked women’s experiences in the workplace. Now in its sixth year, the 2026 report surveyed 7,500 women across 15 countries. Emma Codd, Partner, Deloitte LLP will walk through the key findings and the factors that most strongly predict how long women stay with an employer.

1:50 PM

Culture Catalysts in Action

Meet this year’s Culture Catalyst Award honorees, leaders who carry culture work forward in ways that make a lasting difference for their people and their organizations. In this conversation, they share the personal journeys that drew them to this work and why it matters to them, along with how they have embedded it into the fabric of their organizations: shaping everyday norms, earning buy-in from leadership, and sustaining momentum through constant change. Attendees will leave with fresh perspective and practical ideas to bring back to their own teams.

2:30 PM

Break

2:50 PM

Meeting the Moment: What’s Top of Mind for Leaders Navigating Culture & Change

Managing partners and corporate legal leaders are navigating change on many fronts at once: AI and new technology, shifting client expectations, evolving talent needs, and the growing complexity of keeping a firm or department aligned and connected. In this candid conversation, leaders from both sides of the client relationship share what is top of mind as they steer culture through this moment, the decisions they are weighing, and how they balance business pressures with the conditions that help people do their best work. They also explore what it takes to lead culture from the top, where connection is part of the strategy rather than separate from it.

3:35 PM

Choreographed Connection™ Activity

3:50 PM

Reclaiming Your Wellbeing: A Fireside Chat with Manoush Zomorodi

Manoush Zomorodi closes the conference with a fireside chat on her new book “Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being”, drawing on one of the largest public health studies of its kind to reveal how screen-filled, sedentary workdays are reshaping our bodies as much as our attention. Her research offers a hopeful reframe: reconnecting with our physical selves, even in small ways, can change how we feel, think, and show up for one another. Attendees will leave with a science-backed, practical way to carry the day’s ideas forward, starting with themselves.

4:20 PM

Closing Remarks

CLE and SHRM Credits

The 2026 Annual Conference has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 4.3 hours of total CLE credit. Of these, 4.3 qualifies as hours of credit for diversity, inclusion and elimination of bias (BCLE Reg. 302:1). DFA’s financial hardship policy is available here.

The 2026 Annual Conference has been approved for 4 SHRM Professional Development Credits. DFA is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.