The 63rd Annual AECA Conference 2025

Wednesday, October 8 – Friday, October 10

Watch the video above to find out more about AECA’s theme for this year, or read the transcript below.

Hey y’all! Happy January! I’m so excited to tell you about our focus for 2025. The theme for this year is Uniting Our Purpose: Passion Meets Practice. And we chose this theme because we know that we all have this kind of thread, right, that runs through us that connects us – and that thread is the fact that we care for and care about children and their families. But we’ve got to make sure that we’re coming together on the same page. We’ve got to make sure that we’re along the same lines in terms of our thinking about what’s developmentally appropriate for young children, about what’s right in terms of for our practitioners and about how to advocate for ourselves as professionals and about how to advocate for the field in general.

So I’m super excited about this topic. I’m looking forward to what it will bring us this year and the topics of discussion that will come up and things that will bubble up out of that. So I hope that you’ll get involved with that. As we start this new year, January, always for me, for probably most people is full of anticipation and excitement and opportunities for new challenge and I have a new challenge for you. And that is if you are not already involved in your local affiliate, I really challenge you to get involved or get more involved. Serve on the board, volunteer, participate in events, go to meetings, listen to the minutes when they’re read, pay attention to the budget. All of those things are so important to the work that AECA does because those local affiliates really fuel us as an association.

I also really challenge you to think about your work that you do every single day with these children and families and how important it really is. Please do not discount the true impact that you have on these children, on their families, on your colleagues, on everyone that you interact with because the work that you’re doing every single day is so important. I cannot impress upon you enough what a difference you’re making in the lives of so many people.

I look forward to having many more conversations with you throughout 2025. I am so honored to be your AECA president. Please reach out to me if you want to talk, if you have any questions, if there’s ever anything that I can do for you and let me know how I can support you. Take care!

Derek Clark - Thursday Keynote 2025 Conference

Thursday Keynote Speaker

Derek Clark is an inspiring motivational speaker and the author of Never Limit Your Life and the critically acclaimed I Will Never Give Up book series. Derek Clark spent 13 years of his life in the Alameda County foster care system and now shares his inspiring story of resilience and redemption throughout the world. Derek Clark knows first-hand the power of attitude in coping with adversity and overcoming hardship.

As a motivational speaker, Derek inspires youth and adults across this nation to never give up and to not let the past limit their incredible future. He shares his message of courage, hope and perseverance to help others find the strength to Never Give Up. When Derek speaks, it is from his passionate soul. He brings along his guitar to sing the journals of his life. He believes that music is one of the purest ways to touch and communicate with the hearts of the audience. His listeners will be ignited with passion and have the courage to take action and fight their fears. He will inspire and teach you to push yourself beyond your perceived limits. He believes it all comes down to a choice and taking responsibility for the direction of your life. He is proof that you don’t have to let adversity hold you down in life; you have a fascinating and inspiring destiny awaiting you.

You can find out more about Derek on his website here.

Friday Keynote Speaker

Stan Tucker is known to students as the smiling, encouraging “Stan the Man” who they greet with high fives and hugs as he visits schools in metro Atlanta and elsewhere. He is writing his life story, one that involves helping children love reading and writing. It’s a story still being revised as he goes along. Tucker graduated from Kennesaw State in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the Bagwell College of Education. Tucker has long been inspired to be a mentor to children, just as relatives and community members stepped up to mentor him after his father died when he was just 8 years old. He saw teaching as the best way to achieve that goal. But by 2016, he revised his story when he turned an idea to visit schools and give away books into Leap for Literacy.

You can find out more about Stan on his website here.

Stan Tucker - Friday Keynote 2025 Conference

Registration for the 2025 AECA Conference is now open!

We know everyone is concerned about finances right now. And because of that, we are offering a special 3-month early bird registration period for you. Until June 15, active members can register for the full conference for $180, which is less than the regular registration rate last year.

There will be no pre-conference or Saturday sessions. The conference will open with check-in and registration on Wednesday, October 8. The Exhibit Hall Marketplace will open at 9:30am and the first interest session will begin at 10:30am. The last interest session will end on Friday, October 10 at 2:45pm. Full conference registration gives you access to the entire conference.

If you need to join AECA or renew your membership, you should do that BEFORE registering. If your membership has expired or is unpaid for the current year, the system will not allow you to register for conference at the member rate. Remember it is less expensive to join and attend the conference as a member than to register as a non-member. For $39, you will receive a year’s membership in AECA and the Southern Early Childhood Association.

If you are a director and plan to register and pay for your staff to attend the conference, you can contact Paul Lazenby at paul@arkansasearlychildhood.org and request a manual registration form.

If you register during the early bird or regular registration period, your registration will include a t-shirt. Make sure you indicate your t-shirt size when you register. You may pick up your t-shirt when you check in for the conference. For those who register late, onsite or just want an extra shirt, limited quantities will be available for sale at the conference for $15.

The 2025 AECA conference will be held at the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel in North Little Rock, AR. Rooms will be available in our block for $110 + tax. Use this link to make your reservation.

AECA will hold its annual business meeting on Friday, Oct. 10 from 7-8 a.m. Everyone is welcome to come learn and participate in a discussion about the work of our association. Active members are eligible to vote. Coffee, juice and a light breakfast will be served. Please indicate on your registration if you plan to attend.

This year’s conference will feature several interest tracks. We look forward to sharing the details of those tracks soon.

Click here to see a preliminary schedule for the whole conference.

The Arkansas Early Childhood Association is excited to invite you to submit a proposal to present at this year’s annual conference, themed “Uniting Our Purpose: Passion Meets Practice,” on October 8-10, 2025, in North Little Rock. Join us as we bring together teachers, directors, trainers, policymakers, faculty, advocates, and other professionals to collaborate and advance our shared mission. This year, we’re focusing on AECA’s five key pillars –develop, contribute, encourage, improve, and provide – through the lens of working together. We’ll explore how our collective efforts can strengthen best practices for children, create positive opportunities for the ECE workforce, and support families. Our goal is to unite the field around delivering top-quality care and education for children while fostering professional growth—and we want you to help turn this passion into practice! In the face of continuing challenges, we thought there was no better time to unify and re-energize the passion of our profession. We want to come together and rediscover the WHY behind the work we do for children, families, and colleagues.

Highlight innovative strategies, research, and practical solutions that connect and align with our theme and mission.
Inspire interaction, collaboration and action among our participants.
Address the needs of young children, families, and/or early childhood professionals.

Submission Details:

How to Submit: Go to this RFP link and complete the proposal form.
Deadline: July 1, 2025
If there are specific questions about your proposal, we will be in touch.

This is an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and contribute to a vibrant, impactful conference. We welcome submissions from anyone who is passionate about early childhood education.

As in previous years, we will also feature several presentation tracks. If your organization is interested in sponsoring a track, DO NOT SUBMIT THIS FORM above. Contact Paul Lazenby directly at 479-287-5798 or via email paul@arkansasearlychildhood.org

We can’t wait to see how your ideas will inspire our community!

The Exhibit Hall Marketplace at AECA has always been the focal point of our conference. This is where people gather – to network, discuss, catch up and, of course, learn. AECA has always admired the amazing early education resources and services our vendors bring each year to show our attendees. Your presence at our conference is what makes it so special. You will have the chance to connect with over 400 participants who are eager to discover tools, ideas, and products to support the kiddos they work with every day.

To keep things fresh, we are changing a few things this year. The 2025 conference will be on a Wednesday through Friday with no pre-conference sessions. Full registration will provide attendees with an all-access pass to the three days of learning (take a look at the schedule below). We are also freshening up our vendor arrangement this year to allow more space and more engagement.

If you’re in (or think you are!!), take a look at the vendor prospectus and registration information. It will hook you up with all the details – dates, times, exhibit set up, sponsorship opportunities, how to register and anything else you need. Don’t wait too long. Our vendor spaces do fill up quickly, and we don’t want you to miss out on the fun and chance to get quality face time with our association members and guests.

Tentative Schedule: You can see a tentative schedule for the conference below.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

7:30-12:00pm
Design company sets up pipe and drape

12:30-5:30pm
Vendors may begin setting up in Exhibit Hall

Snacks available in DeCantillon hospitality room

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

7:30-5:00pm
Conference Registration/Check-in

7:30-9:30am
Vendors can finish setting up

9:30-5:30pm
Exhibit Hall is open

10:30-11:45am
Breakout Session #1

12:00-1:30pm
Lunch break

1:30-2:45pm
Breakout Session #2