TECNA Summer Conference 2026

>Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Meeting Location: Quorum at University City Science Center, 3675 Market Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104

8:30am – Continental Breakfast

9:00am – Welcome & Speaker - Moving Forward with Values-Aligned AI Integration
Speaker: Remy Reya
In a moment of significant pressure and uncertainty, AI offers a unique opportunity for nonprofits to sustain their impact and avoid staff burnout, if harnessed thoughtfully. But only 9% of nonprofits feel ready to adopt AI responsibly. This session will walk us through the next phase of our AI journeys: going from one-off experimentation to systematic innovation and sector AI leadership.

10:15am – Breakouts

Breakout 1 - Banking Goodwill: Building Policymaker Trust Before You Need It
You don’t want the first time a policymaker hears from your organization to be when you or one of your companies need something or are in crisis. This facilitated discussion explores high-impact, low-cost ways for TECNA members to build genuine relationships as your advocate with their elected officials, from roundtables and company tours to in-district meetings and ongoing communication, all without crossing into formal lobbying. Join us to swap practical tactics and learn why making a “deposit” of trust through educational engagement now pays dividends when a critical issue arises later.

Breakout 2 - Events: Price Point, Profitability & Creative Best Practices
Events are one of the most powerful ways your organization delivers on its mission at scale, but are they working as hard for your bottom line and your team as they do for your members? In this interactive discussion, we’ll dig into the nuts and bolts of profitable event planning, from setting the right price point and accurately calculating staff time to the creative tricks of the trade that seasoned planners swear by. Come ready to share what’s worked, troubleshoot what hasn’t, and walk away with practical strategies to fine-tune your events so they deliver mission impact and sustain your organization financially.

11:30am - Lunch & Tabletop Discussions: 2iC (Second in Command), Events, Membership, Talent

11:30am - TECNA Member CEO Lunch Breakout: Leading through Values-Aligned AI Integration*
Organizational leaders face unique challenges around AI adoption: board pressure, staff resistance, public pressure to take a stand on AI’s risks, and more (all on top of existing challenges). How can leaders meet this moment with strength, rather than letting AI integration efforts break trust with their teams or become a waste of time and money? In this session, we will pull back the curtain on what it means to steward our organizations into the AI era responsibly. Participants will learn frameworks for operationalizing organizational values amid rapid technological shifts, where to stay flexible vs. hold firm, and how to meaningfully bring team members along for the journey.
*Note: This session is open only to TECNA Member CEOs.

1:00pm – Speaker - From Metrics to Meaning: Building a Community Impact Report That Actually Lands
Speaker: Avvey Peters
You’re tracking the right things: membership renewal, event participation, sponsorship dollars raised. But when your Board asks, “are we making a difference?” or an elected official wants to know “why does your organization matter?”, the spreadsheet doesn’t cut it. This session bridges the gap between the value you deliver to your members and the broader impact story your city, state/province, or region actually needs to hear. We’ll walk through the essential building blocks of a Community Impact Report, translating what you do for the tech sector into economic, civic, and workforce outcomes that resonate far beyond your membership base. You’ll leave with a practical framework you can start using immediately, and a clearer answer to the question those external stakeholders are really asking: "So what?"

2:15pm – Breakouts

Breakout 1 - Creative Engagement
Every membership has them: the companies and departments that stay on the sidelines … founders heads-down in startup mode, unsocial engineers focused on building, HR teams rarely heard from. In this interactive session, we’ll explore three proven best practices TECNA members use to deliver real, mission-based value to these traditionally unengaged audiences and bring them into the fold through mission delivery. Come ready to share your own wins and challenges and leave with high-impact mission-driven ideas for turning the disengaged into active, invested participants.

Breakout 2 - The Membership Journey, Not a Renewal Notice
Renewal is not where the membership experience begins to matter. It’s where the results of the full journey show up. This session will explore how TECNA members can move beyond (but also augment) recruitment and retention tactics to design clearer, more intentional member journeys: from first impression, to activation, to ongoing value, to renewal. We will examine common friction points, the critical role of the first 90 days of member experience, and how marketing can serve as a listening function to help organizations recognize what members value, where they disengage, and what needs to change. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for identifying the moments that matter most, the value drivers that make the most difference, and ways to strengthen how their organization helps members and participants company discover, realize and expand value over time.

3:15pm - Break

3:30pm - Building on the TECNA Member Survey Data and Member Use

4:00pm - Breakouts

Breakout 1 - The Data Center Discussion in Your Region
Data centers are sparking heated debate in communities across the continent, and the conversation is often long on emotion and short on facts. In this interactive session, hear from TECNA members who have stepped into the fray as conveners, advocates, and truth-tellers, separating fact from fiction on data center development and its real value to their regions. Come with questions and discuss how your organization can claim its role as a trusted thought leader that may help shape an informed, balanced conversation in your own backyard.

Breakout 2 - Deep Diving Dues Structures
This is the question the TECNA team fields most: how should we structure our membership dues and how do our peers structure dues? This roll-up-your-sleeves benchmarking session brings members together for a candid, peer-to-peer exchange on the mechanics of dues models: flat-rate versus tiered, headcount- or revenue-based formulas, industry-based pricing and everything in between. We’ll also be exploring how organizations define membership categories and build their sponsorship packages. Come prepared to share your own dues structure, membership makeup, and sponsorship offerings, and leave with a comparative view of peer organizations and concrete pricing and packaging ideas you can put to work back home.

5:00pm - Adjourn

Dinner on Your Own
Need ideas for dinner? The PACT team has some recommendations - below!