Leadership Conference

Friday:
3pm - Conference check-in begins
6pm - Welcome & Dinner
7:30pm - Activities

Sunday:
8-10am - Breakfast, Chapter Action Plans, & Service Project
*Sunday is a travel day as many chapters must depart early. We provide a light breakfast and optional morning activities for those who can depart at a later time.

Reusable water bottle, comfortable walking shoes, ALD and/or institution-branded clothing, credit card for hotel incidentals

There is no dress code, but you are encouraged to wear ALD or institution-branded clothing on Friday, and anything goes on Saturday and Sunday. Many attendees will opt for business casual attire for Saturday’s Award Luncheon or Dinner. Remember to check the weather forecast before packing! And hotels can sometimes be chilly, so you may want to have a sweater.

Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast and lunch or dinner (depending on the finalized conference schedule), and Sunday breakfast

All attendees will need a credit card for the hotel to keep on file for incidentals (a hold of $100/per night will show as a pending charge until the end of your stay), even if you do not charge anything to the room. If you charge something to your room, the hold will increase - we recommend you do not charge anything to your room. Please reach out to ALD HQ if you do not have a credit card. We recommend that attendees have some money (cash or card) for snacks, activities during free time, and lunch or dinner on Saturday night.

Join the official ALD HQ GroupMe chat. Email conference@nationalald.org to request the link to join.

Hotel Albuquerque
800 Rio Grande Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104

ALD HQ books all rooms and manages reservations for students and advisors.

The hotel check-in is 4 pm and checkout is 11 am.

TBD

TBD

Priority Chapter Registration/Payment: September 7

Final Deadline for Registration Fees and any additional charges: September 20

Individual Attendee Information Forms: September 22

Cancellation without Penalty: September 21

$200 per room/per night

$350

$250

We may invite student and advisor-led presentations. The official schedule for the conference is currently under development. Stay tuned for updates.

Attempts will be made to notify chapters regarding waitlisted students and advisors as soon as possible but may not be available until mid-September. If requesting funding/travel approval from your institution, we recommend that your request includes all potential student and advisor attendees.

Yes, if you need access to the individual attendee information form for your institution’s required documentation, you may email conference@nationalald.org to request a link.

ALD HQ will provide a detailed list of things to do around Albuquerque closer to the start of the conference including free and paid attractions, stuff within walking distance of the hotel, affordable spots for food and snacks, etc. There will be free time Saturday afternoon.

ALD HQ is working on securing a community service project for during the conference.

Rooming for the conference is two attendees to a Two Queen Beds room. ALD Headquarters will make every effort to room student attendees from the same institution, of the same pronouns together. If the institution sends students with different pronouns, ALD Headquarters will room those students with students from another institution, but of the same pronouns.

Advisors will also be roomed in doubles (Two Queen beds) by pronouns unless they indicate they will be paying for a single room on the individual attendee information form. This form will be sent in September.

Roommate requests on the individual attendee information form will only be honored if both attendees list each other’s name as a preferred roommate (pronoun matching is not required). Roommate requests are not guaranteed.

If you have any questions about the rooming policy or would like to submit a request for a group of 3 or 4 students to room together, please email ALD Headquarters at conference@nationalald.org for discussion.

If you register for the conference but cannot attend, you are required to notify ALD Headquarters so that other attendees may be allowed to attend. If you need to cancel your registration, please notify ALD Headquarters at conference@nationalald.org by September 22. Failure to cancel by September 22 will result in forfeiture of your registration fees. Additional charges/payments, such as advisor single rooms or additional nights, may not be refunded. If a chapter had registered and not paid, the fees associated with the registration will be withheld from local dues. If any attendee is a no-show or cancels after 12 pm on the first conference day (Friday), an additional fee of $200 will be charged to the chapter per no-show/canceled attendee.

Yes, travel grants are available for chapters to help offset travel costs for those who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend the conference. Travel grants are to be used for the sole purpose of travel expenses for the 2026 Leadership Conference in San Antonio, TX, 10/30-11/1, 2026. Grants will be disbursed post-conference. If awarded a travel grant and unable to attend, the funds will not be disbursed.

Due to the nature and content of the conference, we encourage chapters to send new leaders or leaders who have not attended in the past. However, if not available, students who have previously attended are welcome to attend again. We recommend students seek out different breakout sessions, as topics tend to repeat year over year.