You don't need the biggest garden or the flashiest topic to write a strong submission! You need specificity. The Program Selection Committee reads dozens of proposals in every track. The ones that stand out aren't necessarily the most impressive on paper; they're the ones where the reviewer can immediately picture the room, the audience, and what they'll walk away with.

This guide walks through each field in the Submission Components form, with an example of a weaker and a stronger version of the same imagined session so you can see the difference in practice. The example below follows one fictional submission through every field, but the underlying advice applies to any track.

Select Your Track

Choose the track your session most directly speaks to. If your topic genuinely straddles two tracks, pick the one where your specific angle is most useful, and use the secondary track for the other. See the Track Guide for full descriptions.

Title

Your title is doing two jobs: helping the Committee understand your session at a glance, and helping attendees decide whether to walk into your room. A title that describes a category ("Engagement Initiatives") or is overly flowery (excuse our pun) does neither job well — a title that promises a specific result does both.

✗ Weaker Submission	✓ Stronger Submission
"Community Engagement Initiatives" "Smells Like Teen Spirit: Teens and Membership"	"How a Paid Teen Internship Doubled Our Neighborhood Membership"

Presentation Description

This is the Committee's primary evidence for Purpose and Track Fit. Ground it in what actually happened at your institution, specific numbers, specific decisions, specific mistakes, rather than describing the general subject area. A reviewer should finish reading and know exactly what you did, not just what topic you work in.

✗ Weaker Submission	✓ Stronger Submission
"This session will discuss our garden's community engagement programs and the lessons we've learned working with local neighborhoods to increase access and participation."	"Three years ago, our paid teen internship program served six students from one zip code. Today it serves 40 students citywide, and neighborhood membership from those same zip codes has doubled. We'll walk through what changed — stipend funding, a transportation partnership, and a shift from horticulture-only tasks to paid interpretation and events roles — and the missteps that nearly ended the program in year one."
"Learn about our teen internship program and its impact on community engagement."	"A paid teen internship quietly became our most effective membership driver. Hear how — and what almost went wrong."

✗ Weaker Submission

✓ Stronger Submission

"This session will discuss our garden's community engagement programs and the lessons we've learned working with local neighborhoods to increase access and participation."

"Three years ago, our paid teen internship program served six students from one zip code. Today it serves 40 students citywide, and neighborhood membership from those same zip codes has doubled. We'll walk through what changed — stipend funding, a transportation partnership, and a shift from horticulture-only tasks to paid interpretation and events roles — and the missteps that nearly ended the program in year one."

"Learn about our teen internship program and its impact on community engagement."

"A paid teen internship quietly became our most effective membership driver. Hear how — and what almost went wrong."

Why This, Why Now

This field directly informs how the Committee scores Relevance and Impact. Don't use it to restate that your topic is important in general. Name the specific pressure, trend, or gap your session responds to, and be concrete about who benefits (which size, budget range, or type of garden).

✗ Weaker Submission	✓ Stronger Submission
"Community engagement is an important topic for gardens of all sizes right now."	"Youth workforce and neighborhood-access programs are increasingly tied to grant eligibility and civic partnerships, but many gardens don't yet pay interns, which limits who can participate. This session gives small and mid-sized gardens (under $2M budget) a replicable, low-cost path to a paid program, including specific budget line items and the partnership ask that makes it fundable."

Learning Outcomes

Describe a concrete change in practice or decision-making, something an attendee can point to afterward and say "I did this because of that session." "Be inspired" is not an outcome; a checklist, template, or specific evaluation criteria are.

✗ Weaker Submission	✓ Stronger Submission
"Attendees will learn about our community engagement programs and be inspired to develop similar initiatives at their own institutions."	"Attendees will leave with a sample stipend budget line, a one-page partnership pitch template for local transit or workforce boards, and three criteria for evaluating whether their current internship structure is unintentionally excluding lower-income applicants."

Audience Engagement

"Slides plus Q&A" describes almost every session at the conference — it doesn't tell the Committee anything about your specific plan. Name the actual activity and roughly how the room's time is spent.

✗ Weaker Submission	✓ Stronger Submission
"We will present slides and take questions at the end."	"Attendees will use a worksheet to audit one of their own current volunteer or internship postings against an access checklist we provide, then share findings in table groups before the closing Q&A."

Common Reasons Strong Topics Still Get Rejected

The submission describes a subject area instead of a specific project, program, or case — reviewers can't picture the actual session.
The proposal reads as promotional ("our garden is a leader in…") or show & tell ("we're going to tell you about our garden") rather than instructive ("here's exactly what we did and what we'd do differently").
Learning Outcomes describe a feeling ("be inspired," "gain awareness") rather than something attendees can act on Monday morning.
The session is framed as relevant to "gardens of all sizes" without ever getting specific about who it's actually useful for or why.
Too many presenters are added for visibility rather than a distinct perspective, diluting focus and time per speaker. Conversely, a strong proposal with only a single perspective is being shared.

After You Submit

Submit by Oct 1, 2026 for optional Committee feedback before the final deadline. Feedback does not guarantee acceptance.

Final deadline: October 30, 2026, 3:00 p.m. ET

Notification of status by early January 2027

Getting Help

The Program Selection Committee is available throughout the submission window to talk through a proposal in progress, help you pick a track, or give informal feedback before you submit. You can find the full list of Program Selection Committee members here.