Call for Presentations: NAEP EPIC27

April 11-April 14, 2027 | NASHVILLE, TN

NAEP invites you to submit presentations for our upcoming national EPIC (Educational Procurement Innovation Conference) event where industry leaders gather to share insights, inspire innovation, and review best practices.  

Who can submit presentations for consideration? 

NAEP institutional or associate membership is required to submit a presentation via this form.  
If you are not a NAEP member as previously defined and not participating as an exhibitor or sponsor, please consider submitting your proposal as a keynote or subject matter expert speaker via the guest speaker form.   
If you are uncertain of your membership status, please reach out to Ashley Church at achurch@naepnet.org.

Submissions are due on January 15, 2027 by 11:59PM.  

2027 EPIC Topics of Interest

The following highlights a handful of specific topics of interest for NAEP members. These topics are intended to spark ideas and are not limitations for presentation proposals. Submissions should focus on any functions within a procurement department and educate conference attendees on how you:

• Identified or solved a problem
• Improved an existing process
• Navigated an unexpected challenge
• Supplier Engagement
• Established best practices
• Utilized existing resources to build something better
• Accomplished a wish list item for your department or campus customer

Do you have a story to tell about any of these topics?

• AI utilization in procurement
• Developing and expanding rebates for P-card
• Procurement law for contracts
• Doing more with less
• Tariffs - how different universities are handling and tracking
• The changing federal landscape
• Procurement restrictions by country and sourcing remedies
• Supplier debriefs and best practices
• How to centralize your procurement team
• Acquiring campus buy-in for new procurement models
• Leveraging spend data to educate campus end-users and steer best practices
• Successes managing rogue spend and the pitfalls
• Leveraging common software to streamline processes (e.g., SharePoint)
• Collection and sharing of data and/or contracts through power apps
• Software procurement and compliance
• Communication strategies
• Training campus end-users and suppliers
• Education strategies
• Creating a knowledge base for common technologies
• Implementing tools for procurement operations (e.g., ticketing systems)
• Advanced data analytics: Focusing on the how-to's and applying to your institution's data
• AI usage applied in real procurement situations
• Collaboration with accounts payable and procurement
• AI contracting pitfalls and risks for open and closed AI
• P-card strategies supporting diverse spend
• Procurement operations in the midst of a disaster
• Generating revenue streams to support the procurement department
• How to divide and conquer commodity/category assignments and the related workflow expectations
• Contracting best practices in construction
• Adding more employees
• Supply chain strategies for private universities
• ADA compliance and technology
• How to flex your resources
• Workload balance – handling burnout and recognizing it in employees, including resources
• Small Institution Challenges
• Bid Tabulation and Scorecards

Maybe a different idea?  

We are looking for all hot topics related to higher education procurement. A few high level topic ideas to get your brainstorming going:

• Sustainable Procurement Practices
• Digital Transformation
• Spend Management
• Category Optimization
• Risk Management
• Contract Management and Compliance
• Technology and Innovation in Procurement
• Supplier Relationship Management
• Regulatory Changes and Compliance
• Team Development
• Procurement Career Path Development