We are excited to introduce a new submission type for CHI 2026: Meet-Ups. This is the first time we are running this format, and we are building it in collaboration with the community, aiming to create friendly and accessible spaces for sharing your ideas with peers working in similar areas.
As Meet-Ups Chairs, we have put in place submission criteria, review processes, and a set of expectations. At the same time, we are open to seeing how this new format evolves through the ideas, energy, and creativity you bring.
Why Meet-Ups?
Meet-Ups offer a lightly structured, low-barrier opportunity for attendees to gather around shared interests. Designed to be more casual than other tracks, yet more purposeful than a hallway chat, to create space for informal exchange, collaboration, and creativity. They are inclusive and open to everyone at the conference, regardless of experience or career stage. Whether you are new to the CHI community or a long-time member, Meet-Ups are a space to explore ideas, connect with others, and try something creative.
You are warmly invited to organise a meet-up, attend them, and also support us by helping to review and select relevant proposals. You can do this by signing up to serve as one of our jurors. As jurors, we don’t expect you to provide lengthy reviews in this format. Rather, we ask that you limit your response to a brief summary and a clear decision of acceptance or rejection, based on the stated selection criteria.
What Is a Meet-Up?
A Meet-Up is a max. 90-minute activity, open to all attendees at no additional cost and with no pre-registration required. Each session should be built around a clear theme, idea, or goal. It can take many forms, such as a discussion, collaborative session, community exchange, or creative activity. The format is open, but the focus must be clear and inviting. Your submission should clearly describe the topic, what the session will involve, and the type of participants you hope to engage.
If you are organizing a Meet-Up, you should not enforce the collection of position papers or expressions of interest from participants. In fact, limiting participation through such an application process is against the spirit of open Meet-Ups. Because there are no pre-conference submissions from attendees, it will be difficult to predict how many people will join your session. Selecting an innovative and appealing, yet not too niche or too general, topic will be key to attracting your audience. We encourage you to actively promote your Meet-Up in advance to help attract interest. At the same time, we highly encourage you to consider a plan that can adapt to different group sizes. Whether a small handful of people attend or a large crowd shows up, the session should still be feasible and engaging.
This flexibility is one of the key features of Meet-Ups. They will take place as scheduled, regardless of the number of participants, with actual attendance only becoming clear on the day. We ask that you design your Meet-Up with this in mind.
If you are an attendee interested in joining a Meet-Up, you do not need to submit anything in advance. If the organisers have provided contact information, feel free to reach out, but you are also welcome to just show up and participate (provided there is space in the room).
We are looking for proposals that strike a balance between clear, thoughtful structure and space for spontaneous contributions. Think of it as a pop-up community session with just enough framing to spark meaningful engagement. The table below highlights how Meet-Ups differ from workshops and panels in terms of format, purpose and audience, helping you choose the most suitable venue for your idea and submission.
| TRACK | PRIMARY PURPOSE | STYLE |
| Workshop | Collaborative work and discussion on focused HCI topics | Position papers, hands-on methods, group synthesis |
| Meet-Ups | Social or networking gatherings around shared interests | Informal, participant-led |
| Panels | Structured discussions with audience interaction | Debate, Q&A, expert insights |
Caption: Overview of formats and intended audiences for workshops, panels, and meet-ups
What Makes a Strong Submission?
We encourage Meet-Up proposals that:
- Centre around a shared topic or challenge relevant to the CHI community
- Enable interaction, whether through creative exploration, collaborative thinking, or hands-on exchange
- Welcome newcomers and regulars alike, with clear framing and inclusive design
- Aim for tangible or intangible outcomes, such as building connections, initiating a project, or simply creating a shared experience
You can find full details about the structure, submission requirements, and deadlines on the call.
What Might a Meet-Up Look Like?
To help spark your thinking, here are a few examples of the kinds of themes we would love to see. These are not required or prescriptive, but rather illustrative:
- Board games session: Provide a structured, low-barrier play session centered around board games, encouraging networking and discussions on game design, tangibility, and co-located interaction
- Collaborative design-athon: Encourage groups of participants from different backgrounds and career levels to come together and brainstorm, sketch, or even create a design plan, prototype, or solution to a challenge in your area, all in a fun and low-pressure environment.
- Speed-dating-like event for collaborations: optimize your network opportunities with people working on similar topics, find potential synergies, and make magic happen.
- Speculative dark patterns jam: Invite participants to rapidly generate and share design concepts and scenarios that explore deceptive interactions in imagined technologies, encouraging playful critique, ethical reflection, and conversation around future-facing design practices.
- (Re)Starting community-led venues: Explore how to initiate or revive alternative spaces (e.g. ArtCHI). Share experiences, identify common interests, and develop ideas for independent forums that support experimental, interdisciplinary, or underrepresented work. Consider future workshops, stand-alone events or the launch of a new conference within this domain, and reflect on the structures and communities needed to sustain them.
- Regional community meet-ups: Provide a forum for networking and community building for regional communities and chapters. Connect with others in your geographic area, learn from local initiatives, and discuss challenges or opportunities specific to your context. These Meet-Ups can support stronger regional presence within the broader CHI community.
- Exploring area-specific and cross-community conferences: Discuss the future of venues (e.g., ACM IMX) or explore ways to connect distinct areas (e.g., CUI at IMX). Whether you’re a community member, organiser, or part of a steering committee, this is a space to share experiences, identify overlaps, and develop ideas for events or formats that bridge communities or support emerging topics.
Your topic might be reflective, playful, activist, speculative, or entirely unique. CHI Meet-Ups are your space to experiment and create.
Let’s Co-Create This
This is the first year of CHI Meet-Ups, and we are genuinely looking forward to shaping this format with you. What you propose this year will help define what Meet-Ups can become in the future.
We look forward to receiving exciting, thoughtful, and creative submissions. Please submit your proposals and take part in a Meet-Up.
Laura Cabrera-Quiros, Julian Frommel, Asreen Rostami
The CHI 2026 Meet-Ups Chairs