Skip to form

CPM 2025 Conference – Call for Proposals Form Info 
Conference Theme: Trust, Civility, and Narrative Leadership  
Conference Date: October 14 – 15, 2025 
Proposal Deadline: June 20, 2025 
Notifications Sent: By July 31, 2025 

Conference Overview
The U.S. public consistently reports that civility is essential to a functioning democracy. Yet incivility is—and historically has been—prevalent in political contexts. Public sector administrators encounter this incivility in ways big and small in their daily work. The increasing nationalization of local politics and rising mistrust and devaluation of public sector work create a challenging environment for the work of many government leaders.  
Public sector leaders must manage the public trust through stewardship of public resources and contribute to the common good through accountability and transparency. This year’s conference will offer a new frame for that good work: narrative leadership.
Narrative leadership is a term being championed by Distinguished Professor Chris Koliba. In Professor Koliba’s usage, “narrative leadership”—aka storytelling—is the public administrator’s responsibility and best means to protect democratic norms and standards. Storytelling is a deeply human practice, and stories are inherently about social interactions and their consequences. Narrative leadership, then, is purposefully using stories to highlight and defend democratic values and community.  Public administrators can do narrative leadership in many, many ways, including by:
• Appealing to tradition - “In our community, we have a long tradition of....”
• Highlighting times your community has come together across broad differences to address a shared issue
• Finding opportunities to educate the community about how government works, how policies are formed, etc.
• Telling stories about times when your community was at its best

Planned Conference Sessions
The conference will feature keynote presentations from leading scholars—Professor Ashley Muddiman and Distinguished Professor Chris Koliba—followed by dynamic academic and practitioner breakout sessions. Our second morning will spotlight capstone projects, highlighting the ways many have embodied narrative leadership in action. 
Already planned breakouts include:
• Kim Nakahodo, Deputy City Administrator, City of North Kansas City, MO – Kim will discuss the Citizens Academy she developed and teaches in for her community. In the Academy, Kim teaches about civic structures, norms, and values—including why the pace of government often moves more slowly than private enterprise. Kim will also point to the successes of the Academy, including the ways it has strengthened staff’s relationship with Council. 
• Toni Wheeler, City Attorney, City of Lawrence, KS and Distinguished Professor Jay Johnson, University of Kansas – In 2023, as part of the rematriation project for the Sacred Red Rock, the City of Lawrence issued a formal apology to the Kaw Nation for the actions of city leaders in 1929. Toni Wheeler wrote that apology. She and Professor Johnson will discuss the purpose and art of apology-writing in restoring and building community trust.  
• Melissa Harmer, Communications Director, City of Raymore, MO – Melissa hosts the new Say More in Raymore podcast, which seeks to increase public understanding of the City’s departments and the City’s work on behalf of residents. Melissa will speak about the impetus in starting a podcast and point to some early successes—including how the podcast helped provide in-depth information around a recent critical public safety sales tax measure. 
 
Call for Proposals 
We invite proposals for breakout sessions that explore the ways narrative leadership can be practiced, taught, or supported across the public sector. These presentations should feature practitioner perspectives—the people out there doing this work on a daily basis. Sessions may take the form of presentations, workshops, panels, or interactive roundtables. 
Proposal Topics May Include (but are not limited to): 
These may be full 45min presentations/discussions by themselves, or you can indicate that you’d like to be placed on a panel with others whose work shares a similar thread
• Stories of narrative leadership in public administration that you’ve implemented in your organization  
• Strategies you’ve used for countering incivility in government or community settings 
• Community projects you’ve led or contributed to that reflect democratic values or narrative leadership
• Tools you’ve used for rebuilding trust in public institutions 
• Capstone project case studies that reflect democratic values or narrative leadership 
 
Conference Objectives 
Proposals should help participants: 
• Deepen their understanding of the role of public administrators in carrying out the practices and values of democracy 
• Provide timely and real-life scenarios that practitioners can learn from about leading through distrust and incivility 
• Gain tools and best practices to respond to incivility and rebuild trust in their communities 
• Learn the concept of narrative leadership
Submission Guidelines 
Deadline to submit: June 20, 2025  
Session Criteria
• Length of session: 45 minutes (unless otherwise noted)
o You may submit planning to take the full time, or you may submit and request to be paired with other presenters sharing your theme.
• Format: Proposal should include a title, 150–300 word description, presenter(s) bio(s), and any A/V or space needs 
• Submit to: Form below
• Notifications sent by: July 31, 2025 
• These breakouts will be practitioner-focused for an audience of practitioners. We especially encourage proposals from past CPM participants, public sector professionals, and community leaders who are working at the intersection of democracy, trust, and public service. 
Presenters:*
Proposal Type
How does your session align with the conference objectives?  
Check all that apply.  *